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AI For Good: This AI Platform Can Detect Cervical Cancer In Just Hours

April 25, 2019

AI

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37-year-old Gauri, a resident of a village in Karnataka, woke up in pain one morning. She was in a lot of discomfort all day and wondered what was happening to her. Few months later, her pain became worse following which her husband took her to the nearest Primary Health Care center. The doctor prescribed some medicines but couldn’t really detect the cause for her pain or discomfort. Gauri’s pain worsened, and she had started to lose weight significantly.

Worried, her husband rushed her to a big hospital in Bangalore, which was a four-hour drive from his village. After running several expensive tests, the couple were in for a rude shock. Gauri was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Ask any oncologist about cancer treatment, and one of the first things they will you is that early detection can go a long way in mitigating mortality. Cervical cancer happens to be among the most commonly occurring types of cancer globally, with nearly 570,000 cases added in 2018 alone.

Although the rate of progression in cervical cancer is comparatively slower than other types, the disease has a high mortality rate. Eight out of 10 women diagnosed, and nine out of 10 women that succumb to this form of cancer live in low to middle income nations. In India, nearly 160 million women are at high risk for developing cervical cancer. Gauri was unfortunately one of them. Could she have had a chance at recovery if her cancer had been detected early? A few years ago, probably not. But today, the answer is yes. Gauri, like millions of other women, have a chance at survival and beating this disease with the help of early detection techniques.

Developed by Adarsh Natarajan, Aindra Systems is an AI-powered med-tech company which focuses on data-driven, patient focused clinical detection. A proprietary AI platform called CervAstra analyses pap smear tests at the point-of-care and categorises results as Normal and Cancerous in a matter of few hours. This sample can be sent to a pathologist for a detailed analysis.

Aindra’s patent-pending offering CervAstra comprises of three products:

  1. Aindra IS
    This is an automated stainer, using state of the art mechatronics and software for staining biological samples mounted on glass slides.
  2. Aindra VX
    Aindra Vision X provides clear and clean images of the slides, enabling quicker turnaround time for pathologists
  3. Aindra AS
    An AI platform that can facilitate computational pathology faster and make an accurate diagnosis.

At this point in time, Aindra Systems deals with plenty of unstructured data especially images. But deep learning capabilities are helping them handling the overload in data. The company is using deep learning to build their core technology of clinical inference from images, coupled with optics, electronics and mechanical systems. They have built a full stack solution, comprised of hardware driven by their AI platform.

One of the biggest challenges in effective treatment of cervical cancer is timely detection. With CervAstra’s strength is being able to provide an initial assessment at the point of care.

Currently, Aindra Systems is conducting clinical studies with Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, pathology center RV Metropolis, Rajarajeshwari Medical College & Hospital and KMC Manipal.

Aindra Systems is one of the early game changers in the field of technology-driven healthcare with a strong social impact quotient. They have been supported by several partners including BIRAC (Department of Biotechnology), US government through the USISTEF programme, Villgro, Millennium Alliance and Government of Karnataka through the Idea2PoC.

In order to continue innovating per industry standards and demand, Aindra Systems relies on the counsel of industry experts such as Dr. Kristian Olson – Director of CAMTECH MGH, Dr. Vani Ravikumar – Founder of RV Metrolpolis Bangalore, Dr. Malathi – Chief Cytopathologist Kidwai Cancer Institute, Dr. Hazarika – HoD Pathology in HCG, Dr. Vamshidhar – RRMC. On the Business advisory, we have Mr. Manoj Gopalakrishna – Ex MD Becton Dickenson, Mr. Aditya Ajmera – Chimco Bio, Mr. Arun Venkatesan – CTO Villgro, Bhushan KC – Binbag and Mr. Vijayasimha – CEO of Audicor.

Aindra Systems was one of the 10 finalists of AI for Good, conducted by NASSCOM CoE DSAI in association with the Government of Karnataka 

 


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