Niramai’s breast cancer detection technology gets international acclaim

New Delhi: Artificial intelligence-based Indian health-tech company Niramai received international acclaim at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). It was the only Indian company to present at one of the largest breast cancer conferences in the world, well-attended by oncologists and cancer researchers.

The acceptance of clinical results at an eminent peer-reviewed forum like SABCS is a strong validation of Niramai’s trial results. An opportunity to present the work to the international experts and receiving their positive feedback puts Niramai’s indigenous technology on the map together with leading innovations across the globe.

Dr Geetha Manjunath, CEO & CTO, Niramai, spoke about how their innovative solution uses artificial intelligence (AI) for detecting early stage breast cancer with results comparable to standard modalities. Niramai’s solution is called Thermalytix, an automated diagnostic tool, which combines thermal imaging with artificial intelligence. The solution is radiation-free, accurate, automated and works on all women irrespective of their breast density. “We were privileged to get an opportunity to present at SABCS 2018, a prestigious forum for interaction and learning for a broad spectrum of medical practitioners, researchers and health professionals with a special interest in breast cancer,” said Dr Geetha Manjunath.

In the conference, Niramai presented results of a retrospective multisite comparative study of 247 patients across 3 reputed cancer hospitals in India. The results demonstrated higher sensitivity and comparable specificity of the solution to Mammography. The highlight was the good accuracy of the Niramai results among women with dense breasts where Mammography was not effective. The high sensitivity and high Negative Predictive Value of Niramai demonstrated its potential to be the first screening test for detection of breast cancer for women across all age groups. The radiation-free nature of Niramai test will be an added advantage for early screening as it can be used for regular preventive screening without any side effects.

US-based radiologists were very receptive towards Niramai innovative solution and the clinical results presented at SABCS. Dr. Sheldon Feldman, a New York based expert in Breast Surgery & Surgical Oncology, mentioned, “I am very intrigued by this promising technology. It looks like a major advance in technology. I hope to collaborate and be helpful to further validate its efficacy”.

Dr Ralph Wolfstein, radiation oncologist based out of Los Angeles, expressed his belief in the benefits of the solution as well. “I think my patients would certainly appreciate this diagnostic test more than they would mammogram as it is non-contact”.

This year, SABCS attracted more than 7,000 participants from more than 80 countries, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, researchers, and other healthcare professionals.

NIRAMAI stands for “Non-Invasive Risk Assessment with Machine Intelligence”. In Sanskrit, it means being free from illness. Niramai is a deep-tech startup offering a radiation free, non-invasive, non-touch, breast cancer screening solution. The solution is portable, accurate, privacy aware and can be used for women of all ages. Thermalytix is their core technology that uses a high resolution thermal sensing device and a cloud hosted analytics solution.