GekkoCompass FAQ
What GekkoVet is?
GekkoVet Oy is a company, which has developed and owns the software product GekkoCompass.
What GekkoCompass is?
GekkoCompass is a novel digital innovation, which combines veterinary literature with algorithm, creating a list of differential diagnoses with related symptoms and treatments. It works as an online browser-based system which acts like an interactive book providing diagnostic and treatment assistance anywhere and anytime, created by veterinarians to veterinarians.
What is the challenge or problem GekkoCompass solves for veterinarians?
The past challenge has been that it is difficult for veterinarians to remember out by heart all symptoms and values of different diseases in different animal species, as there are tens of thousands symptom-diagnosis combinations. GekkoCompass helps veterinarians to remember all the needed data, which is now placed in one digital tool. Additionally, GekkoCompass will reduce experience created bias by showing also the rare and underdiagnosed diseases in the differential diagnoses list. GekkoCompass is available on-site and provides instant help for a veterinarian in the blink of an eye, saving veterinarians’ time. By using GekkoCompass, veterinarians can be reassured on their decisions as they now have a comprehensive digital tool for reliable medical back-up. GekkoCompass brings therefore peace of mind for its users.
How GekkoCompass will change the daily routines of veterinarians?
From now on veterinarians have interactive help at site real-time and GekkoCompass will be a part of the routine patient process. GekkoCompass provides easy and fast back-up and guidance for many purposes like diagnostics, treatments, and drug dosages.
What kind of veterinarians will benefit the most of GekkoCompass?
Newly graduates and general practitioners will be the ones that benefit the most. Newly graduates will get back-up, knowledge and reassurance when starting the clinical work. General practitioners will now have expertise level knowledge e.g. in internal medicine, extensive diagnostics guidance, and treatment options.
Does an experienced veterinarian need GekkoCompass, and if, in what kind of situations?
Yes, experienced veterinarians will benefit as they can check the details in symptoms, values or treatments and get help especially with rare diseases and in difficult referral cases. Also, a specialist treating a patient outside his/her own field will get valuable back-up. GekkoCompass will also remind the experts of predisposing and subsequent diseases from other fields of veterinary medicine.
What are the data sources of GekkoCompass?
GekkoCompass uses only relevant, validated, globally accepted, and widely used veterinary
literature, from the latest publications and consensus statements. GekkoCompass uses the literature that is used in veterinary medicine studies in Universities. The list of used source material is available at software.
How the quality of the GekkoCompass is validated and how can you ensure that it does not give wrong diagnoses or misleading treatment suggestions?
All suggestions are based on validated data. GekkoCompass suggests only diagnoses based on
the symptom-disease matches that are given in the validated literature. Veterinarian will apply the guidance given by GekkoCompass in practice in each case. Veterinarian needs to take into account the “real-world” situation: patient, its history and the circumstances (environment etc.).
Who is responsible for the diagnoses and treatment decisions when GekkoCompass is used?
Diagnosis and treatment decisions are always made by the treating veterinarian. GekkoCompass brings the veterinary medicine knowledge in a structured, easy, quick access and interactive format for the veterinarian. Like when using textbooks and other literature, the treating veterinarian always makes the actual diagnoses and treatment selections.
How GekkoCompass considers the regional differences in the prevalence of the diseases?
The veterinarian can filter the differential diagnoses list using for example regional filters or
patient characteristics.
What's the benefit of GekkoCompass to the pets and their owners?
GekkoCompass helps the pet owner take the best possible care of their pet as the pet will get the correct diagnosis and suitable treatment quicker and more efficiently. GekkoCompass will remind the treating veterinarian of rare diseases as well as predisposing and subsequent conditions which can be linked to the main diagnosis. With GekkoCompass both the owner and the veterinarian can be confident that all the important signs are notified.
GekkoCompass collects and stores real-world data. What kind of data you have and to what purpose it will be used?
GekkoCompass collects structured data from the cases into its databank. The data includes combinations of chosen symptoms, values, diagnoses and chosen treatments. Also, outcomes of the chosen treatments are possible to collect and store. All data in the databank is always anonymized and available for data extracts only on aggregated level. Individual veterinarian or pet data can never be identified or extracted to the data reports. The benefit of collecting and analyzing real-world data is the possibility to evaluate chosen therapies and their outcomes in broad, heterogenous populations. This is not possible in randomized clinical trials with strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. GekkoCompass is the first global real-world veterinary medicine databank to our knowledge. The worldwide data gathered from real-world cases can be utilized e.g. for guideline formation or for a decision support tool in clinical practice and to generally develop veterinary medicine further. It can also simply provide answers to questions previously infeasible. The goal is to gain real-world data all the way from symptoms to outcomes on a broad global scale to create a pathway for veterinarians to share their collective wisdom and to gain completely new insights for the veterinarian society and for the new veterinary generations.
GekkoCompass is utilizing artificial intelligence in its operations. How GekkoCompass is going to use AI?
Before speaking about AI, let’s speak about data in general. It is important to notice that all symptom, disease and treatment data in GekkoCompass is currently based on scientific research and latest veterinary medicine literature. However, the core of the matter is: when more and more veterinarians use GekkoCompass the more real-world data worldwide will be accumulated into the databank of GekkoCompass. GekkoCompass has been designed to collect and analyze data from the beginning and it has a solid technical data platform to perform complex analyzes. Once enough data (which is always anonymized) exists in this databank, AI tools can be utilized for example to seek for different correlations between certain variables (such as breed, age, symptoms or disease) or to look at regional population deviations – to name only a few.
To conclude, AI is just a practical yet important tool for GekkoCompass to perform complex analyzes from the data that is accumulated into the GekkoCompass databank. Now that the real-world data and the right tools to process it are in place the veterinarians can benefit from the new insights that have been drawn from their collective wisdom.
What is specifically meant, when speaking about machine learning with GekkoCompass?
In GekkoCompass machine learning technologies are used to perform complex analyzes from the collected real-world data to understand e.g. how different variables or correlations are connected to certain diseases or what treatments provide best overall outcomes. In general, GekkoCompass utilizes machine learning in its real-world data management and it has all needed machine learning tools available (e.g. deep learning, neural networks, regression methods). The tools are utilized on needs basis in the various data analyses. The more data is accumulated the wider the range of machine learning tools will be. GekkoCompass data model development is an endless process as more data is accumulated day by day and the data analyzing methods including machine learning will develop at an accelerating pace.
What is the algorithm that is used in creating the differential diagnoses lists?
The algorithm calculates probabilities for different diseases based on the symptoms and findings chosen by the user. Each differential diagnosis gets a disease score, which is based on the added symptoms, laboratory results, diagnostic procedures and the signalment of the patient. If a symptom or a finding is related to a certain disease according to the literature, then it will get points based on the typicality of the symptom or finding in the disease. In other words, if a symptom occurs always or usually in a certain disease, it gets more points when calculating the disease score than the symptoms which just may occur in the disease. If a symptom can never occur in a certain disease, this disease is excluded from the differential diagnoses list when the symptom is added to the symptoms list. The signalment of the patient (for example patient’s species, age, breed, and sex) is also taken into account when calculating the scores for a disease. Our team is constantly working on enhancing the algorithm even further.
Is it possible to integrate GekkoCompass with other solutions like patient information systems?
GekkoCompass can be integrated with any third-party product, that can use data via API.
Who owns GekkoCompass?
GekkoVet Oy owns GekkoCompass. GekkoVet Oy is a privately held company based in Finland, owned by its founders.
Who are the founders of GekkoVet Oy?
GekkoVet Oy’s core team consists of diverse group of people including veterinarians, IT experts, pharmacists, and visionaries, all with extensive experience in international operations.
How GekkoCompass development is funded?
GekkoCompass development is funded privately to large extent. As GekkoCompass is seen as a very promising and innovative product also the Finnish government and the EU have funded GekkoVet.
What kind of public sources have funded GekkoCompass?
The EU has supported us in making GekkoCompass ready for use from both technical solutions and diagnostical information. The support covers the following part: Internal medicine: Dogs & cats.
Who owns the anonymized patient data, which is gathered through GekkoCompass?
GekkoVet Oy owns the data.
Why the name “Gekko”?
Gekko is the lizard that has a panoramic vision and moves fast, ‘360° Vet med in the blink of an eye’.