In many tumour types, the likelihood of executing an effective therapy increases with an early cancer diagnosis. Important strategies include screening at-risk patients without symptoms and quickly looking into those who do. Machine learning algorithms have demonstrated a significant promise to transform the early detection of cancer.
An enlightening discussion with Geetha Manjunath, the founder, CEO, and CTO of NIRMAI, a startup that employs AI and ML for early breast cancer detection, was conducted by INDIAai in honour of Cancer Awareness Month. Jibu Elias, Content & Research Lead at INDIAai, hosted the LinkedIn live.
Every stage of cancer treatment, starting with cancer detection, benefits greatly from AI. Speaking about the use of AI in early cancer detection, Geetha Manjunath stated that there is a 95% survival rate for breast cancer in its earliest stages.
AI can help with treatment planning depending on the needs of each patient if cancer is found in a person, which supports medical professionals. Cancer is a disease that often comes back, even after being completely cured. As a result, the patient will need to have routine checkups. Another area where AI can be useful is this one. She continued, “My favourite is when AI assumes the role of a tiny robotic doctor.
raising consciousness
In rural areas with a paucity of hospitals and skilled doctors, there is a chronic lack of knowledge regarding breast cancer. Point-of-care tools, however, can address this problem.
Primary care facilities may install these gadgets. Training on how to use the gadget should be provided to the healthcare staff at these facilities. Within 15 minutes, the AI-enabled device will provide the report and determine whether the patient needs additional care.
According to Geetha Manjunath, “the screening method can bring about a huge improvement in the field of cancer if we conduct this in every community.”
Diagnosis costs
Cancer treatment and care are very expensive procedures. A second opinion from AI tools can help save money on cancer treatment.
In a similar vein, applying AI to diagnostics can speed up the process of producing results. Early detection by even one or two weeks can save overall costs. Drug development, precision medicine, and many other fields can benefit from AI.
Diagnoses using AI
Thermal picture analysis can be done using AI technologies like thermalytix. Thermal imaging can be used to extract the changes that take place during a cell’s aberrant development. The mapping of the chest’s temperature distribution using thermal imaging. The colours used to identify each temperature.
Geetha Manjunath asserts that “visually analysing Thermal pictures is really challenging.” As a result, Thermalytix employs AI to identify any anomalies in these thermal images, making cancer detection quicker. Depending on the degree of irregularity, various scores are produced.
AI phobia
Many people worry that AI will eventually replace radiologists. Similar to this, some argue that AI functions will never be as intuitive as humans.
Geetha Manjunath responded to the widespread concern about AI by saying, “Radiologists utilising AI will replace radiologists not using AI.”
AI has the capacity to significantly alter society. It shouldn’t be applied to every issue. Keep in mind that the impact of AI can be life-changing.
