One of the most dangerous and fatal diseases known to mankind is Cancer. Nowadays, it is becoming more widespread as carcinogenic pollutants have infiltrated the food chain, air and water.
It begins with a mutation of a cell, which rapidly grows in a huge number, and consequently, a mass known as a tumor is formed by these cancerous cells. Even though more than 100 types of Cancers exist and not all of them cause death, people get scared of the term cancer itself.
Scientists have long been running several trials and experimentations with a view to finding a cure for cancer in today’s world. Though there have been advanced medical research studies worldwide, the bitter reality is that even now, we still don’t have a 100% cure for cancer.
According to the World Health Organisation, Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world, with as many as 9.6 million mortalities in the year 2018 itself and it is still counting in this year.
After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in India as per WHO’s Cancer Report. Though this type of cancer can occur in both genders, it is far more common in women, says a study.
However, in an important step to tackle the disease at an earlier stage, a team of active researchers in India have created an innovative technic to detect breast cancer for women that can overcome the challenges and derive accurate results with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
Founded by Geeta Manjunath, the scanning system is called as NIRAMAI which stands for “Non-Invasive Risk Assessment with Machine Intelligence”. In fact, the procedure does not require any contact for detecting abnormalities.
It uses a special technique called thermography where a thermal device captures thermal pictures in a bid to detect the presence of cancerous cells. Ahead of the test, the patient is made to sit in a room for close to 15 minutes to cool down their body on the whole.
Once it is done, the scanner, which is placed right in front of the patient at a distance of about three feet scans and captures thermal pictures. Since the tumour cells have pretty much high metabolic activity, they have a warmer heat signature when compared to the whole body. This is detected by the thermal scanner. The images are further added to NIRAMAI’s AI software which is later processed to an experienced radiologist for certification.
“AI is the core of our solution because without that a human cannot interpret so many colour points per person. The artificial intelligence which we have developed inside Niramai analyses 4 lakh temperature points per person and provides a breast health report with multiple scores telling about the health,” Geeta said in a statement to ET Health,
NIRAMAI is now available in as many as 30 installations across 10 metropolitan cities across India. They have screened over 12,000 women so far and organised over 50 employee wellness camps.