Iowa hospital adds real-time AI assist to catch more colon polyps
UnityPoint Health's Fort Dodge hospital now runs an AI tool during every colonoscopy to flag polyps doctors might otherwise miss, alongside a jump in screening volume.
What happened: UnityPoint Health - Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge, Iowa, has started using an AI system called GI Genius during colonoscopies. The software watches the live video feed from the scope and flags spots that look like polyps, including small or oddly shaped ones that can be easy to miss. Every provider doing colonoscopies at the hospital and its affiliated gastroenterology and surgery clinics is now using it. The hospital also reports a busier screening schedule: more than 1,700 colonoscopies in 2025, roughly 300 more than the year before.
Why it matters: Colorectal cancer is unusual among cancers in that catching it early often means catching it before it's cancer at all, by removing precancerous polyps during a colonoscopy. But not every doctor spots every polyp; detection rates vary, and small or flat growths are the easiest to overlook. A tool that acts as a constant second pair of eyes could help narrow that gap. It's also a small but telling example of AI moving directly into the exam room, not just into scheduling or billing software behind the scenes.
How it works, plainly: As the doctor guides the scope through the colon, the AI analyzes the video in real time and places a marker on screen when it spots something that resembles a polyp. The software doesn't diagnose anything or take any action itself. The physician still decides whether to look closer, biopsy, or remove what's flagged, and remains in charge of the entire procedure. The hospital describes it as an extra layer of attention rather than a replacement for a trained eye.
The rollout: Trinity Regional has made the tool standard rather than a limited trial, so it now runs on essentially every colonoscopy at the hospital. Leaders tie it to a broader effort to expand colon cancer screening access locally, pointing to the jump in procedures done in 2025. What's missing from the hospital's account is any breakdown of how many extra polyps the AI actually helped find, or how much of the volume increase came from the tool itself versus other factors like wider screening outreach.