Health IT, Startups

Qure.ai leverages artificial intelligence to locate abnormalities in head CT scans

In addition to recently launching its head CT scan technology, the startup also has AI-powered chest, abdomen and musculoskeletal image interpretation capabilities.

ai, artificial intelligence, machine learning, brain, technology

Qure.ai, a startup founded in 2016, has unveiled an AI-powered technology that can pinpoint anomalies like bleeds and fractures in head CT scans.

When a patient has head trauma, a CT scan is one of the first tests he or she undergoes. Though time is critical in these situations, a radiologist may not be able to read the scan fast enough.

Qure.ai seeks to speed up the process by leveraging artificial intelligence to screen CT scans in under 10 seconds to find any abnormalities.

In a phone interview, Prashant Warier, cofounder and CEO of Qure.ai, outlined a few use cases for the technology. For one, it has relevance in the emergency care setting and can help prioritize certain cases. The startup’s tool can serve as a reviewer as well; in other words, it can measure the accuracy of a scan that has already been analyzed.

Qure.ai also released the results of a study that took a closer look at its new artificial intelligence technology.

To train the AI, the company utilized 313,318 anonymized head CT scans and their clinical reports. Then, 21,095 of the scans were used to validate the AI algorithms. Plus, the tech’s readings of 491 CT scans were compared to the readings of three radiologists, one of whom was from Mayo Clinic. The results showed Qure.ai’s AI was over 95 percent accurate in locating abnormalities.

The findings from this study were published in a research paper called “Development and Validation of Deep Learning Algorithms for Detection of Critical Findings in Head CT Scans.”

Qure.ai has made a dataset of 491 AI-interpreted head CT scans and the interpretations from the three radiologists available for the public to download.

Making the information publicly available gives other AI companies the chance to validate their algorithms, Warier said. “It allows anybody to compare their performance to our performance,” he added.

In addition to recently launching its head CT scan capabilities, the startup also has chest, abdomen and musculoskeletal image interpretation tools.

Looking forward, Warier summarized what he hopes the future holds for Qure.ai: “For us, success would be that we are able to influence patients’ lives.”

Photo: monsitj, Getty Images

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