Collaboration between technology and healthcare is revolutionizing medicine. Technology has accelerated advances in early disease detection and identified factors that may predict disease development, leading to the increasing popularity of preventive healthcare. Preventive healthcare involves identifying and treating diseases at their earliest stages and offering lifestyle changes and medication to prevent diseases—all with the ultimate goal of maintaining long-term health. Full-body MRIs are gaining popularity in personalized medicine due to technological advances improving their accuracy, speed, and availability.
This article will discuss the role of San Francisco’s technological hubs in advancing healthcare, what preventive healthcare is, how technology is driving it forward, and how Ezra is combining cutting-edge technology with advanced medical imaging to offer accessible preventive health services.
San Francisco is renowned for being a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. It is home to Silicon Valley, influential technology firms, and a multitude of successful startups. The city itself appears to foster innovation - encouraging risk-taking, academic excellence, and early adoption of new technologies. San Francisco has formed a supportive ecosystem whereby the number and diversity of industries provide a network of experienced advisors able to support new ventures and turn them into successes.
The innovative and supportive environment in San Francisco has led to the intersection of the tech industry with healthcare, with over 200 biotech companies based in the San Francisco Bay area. Recognizing this, large healthcare companies have recently opened up campuses in the Bay area to integrate cutting-edge biological technologies and data science. This innovative environment has led to the development of medical technologies, including telemedicine (using electronic technology to provide and support healthcare when distance separates the patients and medical professionals), AI diagnostics, and personalized healthcare.
San Francisco frequently tops lists of the healthiest cities in the US. Tech-savvy San Franciscans want to be proactive about their health and extend their longevity, so they increasingly focus on preventive healthcare to maintain long-term health. Preventive healthcare is an approach to managing health in which measures are taken to detect diseases as early as possible and prevent diseases from occurring. Methods of identifying disease involve healthcare innovations leveraging tech expertise. For example, the full-body MRI scans carried out by Ezra utilize high-spec technology to produce high-quality images of the body to screen for the earliest signs of cancer.
Technological advancements in AI have led to its increasing use in medical settings to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. One such technology that has embraced the use of AI is imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). AI has improved the diagnostic accuracy of imaging techniques; for example, Google-produced AI was able to outperform human radiologists by more accurately detecting breast cancer from mammograms. Companies like Ezra have also used AI, with their FDA-approved AI, which improves the accuracy of screening for prostate cancer from MRI scans, and their Flash AI, which improves the finer details of MRI images to more accurately assess whether abnormalities are present.
Full-body MRI scans are gaining popularity as a method of detecting diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, early in their development. Early diagnosis is key to a positive outcome, as not only are diseases more treatable when they are in their early stages, but treatments do not need to be as aggressive, so they will have less of an impact on quality of life. AI-powered analysis can improve image quality and increase the accuracy of diagnosis. This leads to a personalized plan being implemented based on the accurate, AI-assisted conclusions obtained from the scan.
Digital platforms, such as Ezra’s, utilize technology to create a streamlined customer journey. Users can research and book a full-body scan online using the Ezra HUB and then go to an imaging facility where AI assists in accelerating image acquisition for a faster scan (the Ezra full-body scan only takes one hour), enhancing image quality and screening for abnormalities. AI is further used to assist medical providers in generating Ezra reports. This setup is designed to appeal to the tech-savvy individual, such as those populating San Francisco.
The importance of preventive healthcare is clear through its enabling individuals to maintain their long-term health and wellness. However, many people consider themselves too busy to take the time to put preventive care into action. The health-conscious population of San Francisco cares about their health and is turning to options such as full-body MRIs as a quick but comprehensive method of preventive care. The convenience and accessibility of specialist MRI services - such as Ezra, with multiple locations in and around San Francisco - appeal to those living busy lifestyles but who are still engaged in maintaining their health.
There is a large community of biohackers and those trying to optimize their health in San Francisco. These people attempt to use the latest scientific discoveries and technological interventions to improve their health and live longer. One such technology is full-body MRI scans. These provide individualized, detailed analysis and insight into your body, allowing diseases—such as cancer—to be identified early and warning signs for cardiovascular diseases to be discovered. This enables lifestyle changes and medical interventions to be put in place to prevent their further development.
As AI continues to advance, so its use in healthcare will expand. AI is already being used to assist medical professionals in diagnosis, particularly in imaging techniques, where AI can do so faster and more accurately than traditional methods. AI can also be used in predictive analytics, where it can analyze historical and real-time medical data to identify patterns and predict future medical issues, such as an increased likelihood of developing chronic conditions. These abilities, along with administrative assistance, drug discovery, and individualized therapeutics, will play a key role in shaping the future of healthcare.
The majority of modern healthcare revolves around reactive healthcare, which aims to reduce symptoms and potentially cure established diseases. However, a shift is ongoing, moving healthcare approaches toward preventive and predictive medicine, where diseases are caught early or prevented altogether through medication and lifestyle changes. Predictive technologies, such as those using AI, are key to this as they allow medical professionals to predict whether an individual has a higher risk of a certain disease and focus their resources on these areas.
Healthcare access is an ongoing problem in the US and across the world. Developments in technology are allowing a greater number of people easier access to medical advances. Technology, such as AI, is decreasing the costs of healthcare by improving the functions of diagnostic platforms and optimizing treatment, leading to increased efficiency and decreased costs. San Francisco, as a hub of technological enterprise, is already seeing these benefits. Companies, including Ezra, are utilizing technology to improve access to advanced diagnostic techniques, such as full-body MRIs, making them easily available to the general public.
San Francisco is one of the world’s leading hubs, combining technology and healthcare to expedite healthcare advancements. Technology, such as AI, has been optimized for use in medicine - one example being its use in accurately analyzing full-body MRI scans. Preventive medicine is gaining popularity as a technique to live long and healthy lives, particularly with health-conscious individuals in San Francisco. Preventive medicine has embraced technology as a way to predict an individual’s risk of disease and to improve the identification of early disease or abnormalities using full-body MRI scans. San Francisco is, therefore, an important place where health and technology combine. This has led Ezra to set up multiple locations in and around San Francisco where busy, health-conscious, and tech-savvy individuals can go to get personalized health insights to maintain their long-term health.
If you want to be proactive about your health, why not book an Ezra full-body MRI? Our annual scan catches potential cancer earlier, leveraging AI through the screening process to make it more efficient, affordable, and faster.
