Microsoft uses AI tool to detect cervical cancer faster sneller
Microsoft, together with the Indian SRL Diagnostics, has developed a tool that should speed up the detection of cervical cancer via AI. About 67,000 women in India die from this disease every year, more than a quarter of all fatalities worldwide.
To train artificial intelligence technology for early detection of cervical cancer, the team at Microsoft and SRL Diagnostics uploaded “thousands” of Pap smears to the AI system. As a result, the software is now able to detect abnormalities in these photos, even in the early stages of cervical cancer. Doctors therefore only need to analyze the images that give rise to concern according to the AI system. According to the developers, this can save a lot of valuable time.
This time saving is especially important in countries such as India, where there are relatively more cases of cervical cancer and there are too few doctors to provide all patients with the care they need. To illustrate: SRL Diagnostics in the Indian city of Mumbai has to process more than one hundred thousand smears every year, which are normal in 98 percent of the cases. Thanks to the AI software, doctors now only have to focus on the suspect two percent of all Pap smears, which means that treatment of the cancer can be started much faster.
Photo: Microsoft