AI to help doctors in selection of the right therapy for prostate cancer patients

New Delhi/Mumbai: Life Sciences Artificial Intelligence company, AIRA Matrix Private Limited announced a collaboration with Muljibhai Patel Urological Hospital, Nadiad (MPUH), a premier urology institute, and Gujarat Imaging Centre, Ahmedabad (GIC), a pioneer diagnostic centre for radiology services.

The collaboration will enable development of Artificial Intelligence based solutions that provide insights from radiology and histopathology data for accurate risk stratification and therapy institution in prostate cancer.

As part of this collaboration, MPUH and GIC will provide domain expertise in uro-oncology, histopathology and radiology and work with the AIRA Matrix team to enable development of a Deep Learning- based solution that augments multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI) and histopathology reporting.

While histopathological examination of a biopsy is the gold standard in the diagnosis and grading of prostate cancer, it is an invasive process that is cumbersome to the patient and needs a longer turnaround time for reporting. In comparison, mpMRI is an important non-invasive modality in the diagnosis, staging and follow up of prostate cancer with a shorter turnaround time. However, the accuracy of mpMRI for these procedures lags histopathology based reporting. AIRA Matrix believes that mpMRI performance can be augmented using Deep Learning networks trained on the gold standard of histopathology. The aim of this collaboration is to crossover Artificial Intelligence solutions trained using histopathology data to increase the sensitivity and specificity of non-invasive radiological investigations like mpMRI.

AIRA Matrix, CEO Chaith Kondragunta, said, “Our goal is to use our technological expertise to improve screening, prognostication, therapy planning and follow up of prostate cancers – with better outcomes for the patient as well as the care givers. We are pleased and honoured to be working with leading experts in this area from MPUH and GIC and are excited about the possibilities of improving the prostate cancer care pathway via this collaboration.”

Renowned Urologist Dr. Mahesh Desai is leading the team from MPUH in this important study along with Dr. Shailesh Soni and Dr. Arvind Ganpule. The team notes that “mpMRI and histopathology are the cornerstones in guiding the clinicians in different aspects of managing carcinoma of prostate. They help in diagnosis, prognostication and dictating follow-up protocols in managing these patients. The addition of deep machine learning has a potential in future to open new vistas in terms of bridging knowledge gaps. This would potentially help the most important stake holder in this conundrum…namely the patient.”

Dr. Hemant Patel, Director at GIC and Past President of Indian Radiology Imaging Association (IRIA)  added that, “We at GIC strive to remain updated, bringing the latest available technology in the field of radiology and continue to collaborate with newer avenues to enhance patient care and carve a path for better diagnostic solutions in future. Such collaborations can further bridge the gap between imaging and final histo-pathological diagnosis.”

Dr. Drushi Patel, Consultant radiologist at Gujarat imaging Centre (GIC), an expert on Prostate MRI reporting stated that “Prostate MR imaging has evolved to be an acceptable noninvasive imaging tool to guide management decisions and biopsy planning for prostate cancer. We, at GIC have been involved with providing latest diagnostic solutions in Onco imaging and share a wealth of experience for Prostate MR imaging in particular, as it has evolved to its present role in clinical practice.“