Thiruvananthapuram: A Keralite entrepreneur's startup has developed a digital tool that helps in monitoring the virus spread in COVID-19 patients within seconds using artificial intelligence.
A native of Pattambi in Kerala's Palakkad district, Prashanth Warrier is the co-founder of startup 'Qure.ai' that developed the qXR tool.
This AI-powered tool can interpret the chest X-ray scans of a patient and determine the extent to which the lungs have been affected.
It is already being used at the San Raffaele Hospital in Italy, one of the worst-affected countries.
Thirty-five other hospitals across the globe, including those in India (Mumbai), USA, Mexico, and UK, have also started using the tool. The startup is also holding discussions with the Kerala government.
Apart from checking the disease spread, the tool can also check the chest X-ray reports of those with symptoms to know if they are vulnerable to the disease.
Qure.ai, that applies machine learning to interpret X-ray, MRI, and CT scan reports, is used by about 15 countries to determine ailments such as tuberculosis.
How does the tool function
The chest X-ray scan reports are uploaded to the qXR cloud technology by these hospitals. The tool would analyse these reports and determine the disease progression without the help of a radiologist.
As there are numerous patients, it is not possible to make such an analysis without the software's help. Some hospitals are sending mobile X-ray units to risk-prone areas. The X-ray reports of those showing symptoms are also uploaded to the tool, which would analyse and give a possibility score.
Those with problems would be asked to undergo further tests.
Kerala had used digital technology to aid in medical examination earlier also. The general hospital in Thiruvananthapuram had automated the checking of CT scan reports with the help of Qure.ai on a trial basis in 2018.
