IBM had put its Watson software system, an application which understands natural language, to work in healthcare.

"One in five medical diagnoses are incomplete or wrong. That's a scary number," IBM Watson vice-president of marketing Stephen Gold told a recent digital health conference in Dublin. "Medical information is doubling every five years and 81 per cent of physicians spend less than five hours a month reading medical journals."

A little over two years ago the Watson system made its debut on the market navigating volumes of speech and big data for quick analysis. Now, oncologists hope it will help them improve the speed and efficacy of cancer treatments.

“Watson takes patient information and compares it against thousands of studies and journals. It provides a simple breakdown of the things the doctor should take into account.”