Tata Memorial Hospital, a leading cancer hospital in Mumbai and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) in collaboration are developing radiomics — a technique of extracting essential information from medical scans (not easily discernible by the human eye).
Advanced algorithms and deep learning AI can facilitate the diagnosis of cancer early on by analyzing medical data. The detection tool will help avoid unnecessary chemotherapy for predicted non-responders.
To train the model, the data is being collected from AIIMS, Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Research Centre, Delhi and PG Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. These institutes provide medical scans of cancer cases. A bioimaging bank is being built. The bank facilitates deep learning efforts.
Mostly the data is in the form of slides from medical tests to help diagnose the disease and develop treatments. Human eye cannot always detect tumors. There are identification factors, e.g. texture analysis, elastography to check stiffness of the organ, and tumor hardness. The biobank will indicate prognosis directly from images using specialized algorithms. These algorithms are called prognostication or prediction algorithms. These anticipate a tumor’s aggressiveness, speed of system’s immune response and the chances of patient’s survival (from CT or MRI scans). The final diagnosis and treatment will be made by an experienced doctor-oncologist.
AI models process the information obtained from radiological and pathological images. They employ ML to recognize unique features associated with different types of cancer. They assess changes in tissues and potential malignancies. It results into early detection of cancer.
The images are segmented and annotated. Segmentation outlines tumors and identifies areas with different features. They are then annotated either as malignant, inflammatory or edematous (or swollen with fluid). Biopsy results, histopathology and immunochemistry data are correlated. Diverse algorithms are developed by aligning genomic sequences with images and climical data.
IIT, Bombay contributes the graphics processing units for algorithm testing.
Tata Memorial avoided exposure to radiation on the basis of image analysis. The chest related conditions of ICU patients on the basis of images are diagnosed with 98 per cent accuracy. Chest X-rays are subjected to AI algorithms to identify pathologies such as nodules and pneumothorax.
AI tool will enable oncologists to diagnose cancer with a simple click. Even GPs will be able to diagnose complex cancers.
AI keep learning continuously. This improves accuracy.