Nvidia, which has helped usher in the AI-era in computing through its graphics processing units, took another step in its effort to advance the medical imaging industry with its Project Clara initiative.
The Santa Clara, California-based company announced its Clara Platform, which combines a new GPU-based computing architecture with a software development kit that will allow third-party developers to build applications on top of Clara’s virtual super computing capabilities.
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“The (medical imaging) pipeline from reconstruction to visualization over the last five to 10 years has become a super-computing problem,” Kimberly Powell, vice president of healthcare for Nvidia said in a phone call.
Project Clara, which was introduced by the company earlier this year, makes it possible to run many computing instruments simultaneously, boosting the speed and image quality of instruments like MRIs, CTs and ultrasounds.
The company claims that it’s technology can create higher quality and faster imaging through using AI technology to analyze and refine the data coming from instruments.
“We can now reconstruct images better than every before, we can identify and segment brain tumors better than ever before and we can visualize the images in a way that reveals a lot more insight,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in his speech launching Project Clara.
The idea is by using Clara, providers can utilize cutting-edge deep learning techniques that are increasingly prevalent imaging technology without having to purchase expensive new devices.
“When you have this paradigm shift and this huge explosion of this computational demand – it’s increased 10 times over the last six years – you really have to rethink the computing architecture that serves this important application sort in medical imaging,” Powell told MedCity News in an interview.
Outside partners utilizing the technology include Palo Alto, California-based Subtle Medical, which is developing an application that speeds up the time it takes to get an MRI image and reduces the amount of radiation exposure for patients by up to 90 percent.
Another collaboration is with ImFusion, a German company, which is working on technology that can create a 3D ultrasound from traditional 2D imaging data.
“We are using AI to improve workflow for MRI and PET exams,” said Enhao Gong, founder of Subtle Medical said in a statement. “NVIDIA’s Clara platform will enable us to seamlessly scale our technology to reduce risks from contrast and radiation, taking imaging efficiency and safety to the next level.”
The software development kit is currently available to early access partners, a wider release is scheduled for the second quarter next year.
Picture: Getty Images, wigglestick
