Optellum

A message from our CEO Johnathan Watkins: As we approach the end of 2024, I want to take a moment to reflect and share a few thoughts.   It has been a rewarding year, with strong building blocks laid down and some great opportunities mapped out. As ever, our guiding star is the much-needed, life-changing impact we can have on patients. This year, we have delivered on that: making a real difference to the lives of lung cancer patients. Now, we need to push forward and generate that impact at scale, helping us achieve our mission of becoming the leading precision care platform in lung health.   I want to extend my thanks to our team, Board, investors, customers, and partners. Particular thanks go to our clinical champions and the patients for whom we ultimately work. Leading Optellum, I can genuinely say it’s a personal highlight and privilege to interact with and learn from our partner clinicians, people who work day in and day out to make people’s lives better.   On that note of gratitude, I would reaffirm Optellum's determination to ensure we remain at the forefront of driving AI and radiomics technology adoption in healthcare, as we chart a course to even greater success in 2025.   Wishing you all a joyful holiday season and a very Merry Christmas.   Warm regards, Johnathan

Too many people with lung nodules get lost to follow-up.   Since the overwhelming majority of pulmonary nodules are found incidentally in patients being examined for another concern, effective follow-up is vital. Unfortunately, many healthcare systems still lack automated methods to handle incidental pulmonary nodules. Instead, they rely on already overburdened primary care providers and nurse practitioners to manually manage cases and ensure timely referrals to thoracic care teams or nodule clinics.   Each case slipping through the net represents a missed opportunity to provide early, life-saving care.   But how many patients are “lost to follow-up”?   👉 In one study, researchers found that only 36% of patients with newly identified indeterminate pulmonary nodules received any subsequent workup, such as CT, PET, or biopsy[1]. This means over 60% of patients were lost to timely follow-up. 👉 Another paper bolsters these figures, concluding that only 38.4% of patients receive appropriate follow-up care for incidentally detected pulmonary nodules[2].   Given the wider treatment options available and better outcomes associated with early-stage lung cancer diagnoses, any delay in identification is cause for concern. Healthcare systems need automated identification of reported nodules, streamlined workflows, and systems designed to optimize patient management. These tools all exist and are essential to improving lung cancer care and survival rates.   🫁 Learn more about how we’re making a difference with Virtual Nodule Clinic: https://lnkd.in/eVKG4jw3   #LungCancer #MedicalAI #HealthTech   1. https://lnkd.in/emYRWYh7 2. https://lnkd.in/eeN8svXH

What is lung cancer stage shift — and why does it matter? Stage shifting refers to a paradigm change in lung cancer diagnosis towards earlier stages, where treatment is more effective. 💡 Why is this so important? Because early detection dramatically improves survival rates: 👉 Nearly half of all lung cancers in the U.S. are diagnosed at a late stage, where survival rates can be as low as 8% [1,2]. 👉 Early detection transforms outcomes: patients diagnosed at the earliest stage have a survival rate of over 63% [2]. 💡 How Are We Driving Change? Our AI-powered tools are helping healthcare providers identify and manage pulmonary nodules earlier and more precisely. By ensuring incidental findings are followed up appropriately, more patients can receive timely evaluations and potentially life-saving treatments. 💡 The Impact: 👉 Research shows our tools improve management accuracy, leading to about 10 additional cancers in every 100 being acted on sooner [3]. 👉 Our technology increases diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and interobserver agreement, which has the potential to significantly impact care pathways and survival rates [4]. By promoting early detection and precise diagnosis, we're contributing to a future where more people with lung cancer survive. References: [1] https://lnkd.in/dASwwfiX [2] https://lnkd.in/giZPP9sR [3] https://lnkd.in/egBhASSm [4] https://lnkd.in/eNT2prQ9 #LungCancer #StageShift #MedicalResearch

🎬 Exciting news! Our partners at UConn Health were recently featured in a TV news segment discussing their leading lung cancer program.   In the segment, Dr. Omar Ibrahim shares how they're using advanced technology, including Optellum®'s Virtual Nodule Clinic and Lung Cancer Prediction capabilities, to improve the early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer.   The impact? UConn Health is detecting more lung cancer cases at earlier, more treatable stages—saving lives and improving patient outcomes every day.   🎥 Watch the full segment below and see how AI-powered precision medicine is solving lung cancer.   #LungCancerAwareness #EarlyDetection #AIinHealthcare Credit: https://lnkd.in/g_ar87pc

RSNA 2024 has officially wrapped up, and what an experience it’s been!   The conference has proven to be an incredibly productive event for us. From reconnecting with existing partners to exploring opportunities with new ones, we’ve left Chicago having advanced a lot of key business discussions.   We’re also thrilled to hint at an exciting international partnership announcement coming soon—stay tuned for details!   Finally, a huge thank you to the organizers and faculty for putting together such a well-run event that continues to bring the brightest minds in medical imaging and innovation together.   #RSNA2024 #MedicalInnovation #MedicalImaging

The life-changing impact of early lung cancer detection. Early lung cancer detection improves patient outcomes and surgical success rates. Here’s how: ✅ Early-stage cancer is more likely to be localized, so a complete surgical resection is often possible, reducing the risk of recurrence and improving long-term survival. ✅ It reduces the chance of more complex surgery being needed, focusing instead on more limited resections like lobectomy or segmentectomy rather than pneumonectomies. ✅ More varied surgical approaches are available for early-stage disease, including minimally invasive procedures like robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS), meaning fewer complications and shorter hospital stays. ✅ With early intervention, the prognosis is often improved, given the more curative nature of interventions and the reduced need for adjunct treatments that complicate recovery and increase the risk of adverse events. ✅ Surgeons play a central role in lung cancer treatment teams, and early detection allows for better integration of surgery with other treatments if needed. Our platform is used today by clinicians to find more cancers and enroll more patients into their lung nodule programs. This means that providers can diagnose and identify candidates for surgery earlier and improve outcomes. Learn more: optellum.com #LungCancer #EarlyDetection #ThoracicSurgery

Radiologists, lung cancer care begins with you!   Meet our team at RSNA 2024, who will be on the ground sharing how our technology ensures critical radiology findings like lung nodules are properly followed up, driving earlier cancer detection and better patient outcomes.   If improving follow-up care and early cancer detection is a priority for you, connect with one of our team members to learn more:   🤝 Dr. Johnathan Watkins, Chief Executive Officer 🤝 Dr. Vaclav Potesil, Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer 🤝 Ryan Hennen, Vice President, US Sales   #RSNA2024 #Radiology #LungHealth Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

"Early data from the implementation of this technology at UConn Health shows an uptick in lung cancer diagnoses, particularly at earlier stages. Over the past six months, we have identified an increasing number of patients with stage one lung cancer—cases that are now being successfully treated and cured often through resection."   We are thrilled to share a recent article from UConn Today highlighting the significant strides UConn Health has made in early lung cancer detection.    By integrating Optellum's Virtual Nodule Clinic (VNC) software, UConn Health patients have benefited from earlier diagnoses and improved outcomes thanks to the ability to identify and manage lung nodules better.   The VNC software uses artificial intelligence to analyze chest CT scans and radiology reports, identifying and helping to manage incidental lung nodules that might otherwise be overlooked. This proactive approach helps more patients receive timely evaluations, facilitating early intervention when necessary.   Quentin Chometon, Optellum's Vice President of Research and Development, expressed his enthusiasm: "It's fantastic to hear first-hand from our partners about the impact our technology is having on their patients. Dr. Ibrahim and his team at UConn are leading the way in the early diagnosis of lung cancer."   For more information on UConn Health's advancements in lung cancer detection, please read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e4Dh7Gkz   #lungcancerawareness #lungcancer #customersuccess  

🎯 100% Sensitivity & 87% Accuracy 🎯   At the recent Southern Thoracic Surgical Association meeting in Austin, TX, Dr. John Kuckelman from the Division of Thoracic Surgery at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, shared remarkable findings on the impact of Optellum’s AI technology for lung cancer prediction—known as the Lung Cancer Prediction (LCP) score.   The study revealed that the LCP score achieved 100% sensitivity in predicting lung cancer, with an overall accuracy of 87%. Notably, among patients identified by LCP as having lung cancer and referred for biopsy, two-thirds were initially diagnosed as non-cancerous but later underwent surgical resection that confirmed malignancy. This suggests that, at least in the cases studied, LCP outperforms biopsy in predicting early-stage lung cancer!   🌎 What Does This Mean for Patients?   Potentially, more early-stage lung cancer cases can be diagnosed sooner, enabling earlier and more effective treatment while optimizing the use of interventional procedures.   Additionally, LCP is reimbursable at $650 under Medicare and commercial insurance plans. Want to see how Optellum’s LCP can work for you? Request a demo today 👉https://lnkd.in/dgy9Hxzj   Missed the event? View our case study, including insights from Daniel L Miller MD from the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University below 👇 #LungCancer #AIinMedicine #Pulmonology

🫁 November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month 🫁 Our mission is to help healthcare providers diagnose and treat lung disease at the earliest possible stage so patients have the best chance at positive outcomes. As it's Lung Cancer Awareness Month, we wanted to highlight why we focus on lung health. Lung cancer remains one of the most impactful cancers worldwide, but early detection and treatment can significantly mitigate its effects. What is the impact of lung cancer? 👇 Incidence and mortality 👉 Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and the US(1,2). 👉 Lung cancer leads all cancers in mortality rates, accounting for 21% of cancer deaths in the UK and 22% in the US(4). Screening programs 👉 Screening programs are available in both the UK and the US; however the reported uptake rates vary significantly, from as low as 8.6% in some US states(5) to approximately 42% in the UK(6). 💡 This highlights the need for increased public awareness and other strategies for identifying lung nodules. Survival rates 👉 Approximately 9% of people diagnosed with lung cancer in England survive their disease for ten years or more(7). 👉 In the US, between 2013-2019, 48% of lung cancers were only diagnosed once they had metastasized. At this stage, the 5-year survival rate was only 8%. However, when the tumor was identified early at the localized phase, the 5-year survival rate was 63%(8). 💡 This is due to treatment options being more curative in the early stages. What are the risk factors? Smoking and secondhand smoke remain the primary risk factors for lung cancer. Other risk factors include exposure to radon, hazardous chemicals, and environmental pollutants. We support healthcare providers in the early identification and treatment of lung cancer through our Virtual Nodule Clinic, helping to solve lung cancer. Learn more about our work: optellum.com #LungCancerAwarenessMonth #EarlyDetection #LungHealth Sources: https://lnkd.in/dyXZRnjQ https://lnkd.in/dASwwfiX https://lnkd.in/dep44kNi https://lnkd.in/dAe9v2Sq https://lnkd.in/dB6Bbczz https://lnkd.in/dX5G2F_u https://lnkd.in/dpHQSm_Q https://lnkd.in/dU94kFVj