Global health
How AI revolutionizes tuberculosis screening
An Africa-European Union partnership is developing a system of portable pulmonary ultrasound assisted by artificial intelligence. Its implementation will start in the fall.
A European Africa-Union partnership, with 10 million euros by the Global HEALTH EDCTP3 networking platform, develops a new diagnostic approach to tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa. According to a CHUV press release published this Thursday, its infectious disease service and the EPFL are part of this project which aims to use the portable pulmonary ultrasound assisted by artificial intelligence to facilitate the screening of this disease.
Tuberculosis causes another 1.3 million deaths per year and constitutes the second cause of mortality in sub -Saharan Africa, despite the existence of effective treatments. This situation is explained in particular by the lack of access to thoracic radiographs and molecular tests in primary care centers. The new device, compatible with portable ultrasound devices connectable to a smartphone, would quickly detect the probability that a patient is suffering from tuberculosis.
A technology accessible to rural areas
The developed algorithm increases the performance of reading ultrasound images, making the test very sensitive. “This technology allows non-medicine health personnel to use the tool, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence in data interpretation,” explains Professor Noémie Boillat-Blaco, assistant doctor at the service of infectious diseases of the CHUV. The implementation in rural centers, where doctors are rare, will thus be facilitated.
Véronique Sutels, a clinic assistant to the same service, specifies that the tool works as a sorting system. It not only allows us to dismiss tuberculosis, but also to identify other pathologies such as pneumonia or cardiovascular damage.
LAUNCTION PERMS IN FALL
The CAD LUS4TB project, aimed at facilitating diagnosis, improving accessibility to care and reducing late treatment costs, brings together several institutions: the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the National Hospital Center for Benin, the University of Sciences of Mali, the University of Stellenbosch and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. The model will be available in free access and will be continuously enriched with the sharing of clinical and ultrasound data between the partners.
The financing of 10 million euros comes from the Horizon program of the European Commission. The project will start in the fall in Benin, Mali and South Africa, for a period of five years.
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