Why in news? State Health Department will start Artificial Intelligence (AI) based lung cancer screening for patients in 19 district hospitals in Karnataka.

Highlights:

• Karnataka government joins hands with AstraZeneca to deploy AI-based lung cancer screening technology
• This AI-powered chest X-ray system developed by health-tech startup ‘Qure.ai’
• A MoU was signed with regard this between the National Health Mission and the pharma company
• According to Indian Council for Medical Research, the incidence of cancer is increasing by about one per cent each year for both men and women in Karnataka
• In Bengaluru alone, the most common cancers in men are lung, stomach, esophagus, and prostate. In women, the most common cancers are breast, cervix, ovary, and corpus uteri.

Features

• It will help the government to detect lung nodules, often precursors to lung cancer overcoming a major early detection challenge.
• The screening technology will be first deployed in K.C. General Hospital in Bengaluru
• The AI-based lung cancer screening technology will screen a patient for 29 lung diseases in one chest X-ray.