Share this article and save a life!
20% of breast cancer patients need a second surgery. AI just fixed that.
Intermountain Health just deployed something remarkable across their entire system: AI-powered imaging that lets surgeons see cancer margins in real time, right there in the OR.
Think about what this means.
No more waiting days for pathology results to know if you got it all. No more telling 1 in 5 patients they need to come back for another surgery. No more wondering if that edge looks suspicious.
The technology uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) to create cellular-level images of tissue margins instantly. Surgeons can literally see if cancer cells extend to the edge of what they’ve removed, while the patient is still on the table.
Here’s what makes this transformative:
🔬 Real-time visualization at the cellular level
📊 Immediate margin assessment during surgery
🏥 Systemwide deployment, not just a pilot
💡 AI algorithms learning from every case
Dr. Jennifer Tittensor at American Fork Hospital puts it perfectly: “I can visualize margins in real time and make more informed surgical decisions.”
But here’s the bigger story.
This isn’t about replacing pathologists. It’s about giving surgeons superpowers. The same way GPS didn’t replace navigation skills but made every driver more confident.
Intermountain is deploying this from their flagship Salt Lake City hospitals to rural facilities across the Mountain West. That means a patient in rural Utah gets the same cutting-edge cancer surgery as someone in a major medical center.
The data collection from these surgeries will train next-generation AI algorithms. Every surgery makes the system smarter. Every patient contributes to better outcomes for the next.
We’re watching the birth of precision cancer surgery. Where “clear margins” isn’t a hope, it’s a real-time certainty.
This is what happens when we stop asking “Can AI work in healthcare?” and start asking “How fast can we scale it?”
The 200,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer this year deserve nothing less.
♻️ Repost if cancer surgery needs real-time precision, not second chances.
👉 Follow me, Jonathan Govette, for real-time updates on healthcare technology and business news. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangovette/
Share this article and save a life!
Author:
CEO/Co-Founder @ Oatmeal Health | AI Lung Cancer Screening | Almost Became a Doctor | Engineer | Follow to Share What I’ve Learned Along the Way
I help patients get the care they need earlier, preventing late-stage cancer.
That’s been the throughline across three companies and almost 20 years in healthcare. At ReferralMD, we fixed broken referral networks so patients didn’t fall through the cracks. At Oatmeal Health, it’s lung cancer: building the diagnostic and screening infrastructure so the 85% of cases caught too late get caught early instead.
Today as CEO of Oatmeal Health, I lead a team embedding AI into radiology workflows to turn routine lung CT scans into reimbursable cancer risk assessments. We partner with FQHCs to reach underserved communities, and with health systems and payers to make early detection economically sustainable. Think HeartFlow or Cleerly, but for lungs.
Between companies, I advised at Techstars and Plug and Play, mentoring founders building in digital health. That experience shaped how I think about what separates companies that ship from companies that stall: distribution, reimbursement, and clinical trust, not just technology.
I’m a CancerX alumnus, a 3x healthcare founder, and someone who believes the biggest problems in cancer aren’t scientific. They’re operational.
We’re hiring mission-driven builders at Oatmeal Health. If you want to work on something that matters, reach out.
When I’m not working, I’m traveling, mentoring, and keeping up with one very energetic husky. 🐾
Substack – The Oatmeal Bite:
Millions of patients get less care because of who they are, where they live, or how they look. I’m fighting to change that. CEO @OatmealHealth, a startup built for the underserved. The Oatmeal Bite: intel for clinicians, investors, and advocates.
Jonathan Govette
CEO of Oatmeal Health
Substack:
https://oatmealhealthjonathangovette.substack.com/
