AI model offers reliable cervical cancer detection
Print Edition
Using artificial intelligence technologies, Chinese researchers have developed a rapid and accurate screening model to diagnose cervical cancer, a common and fatal disease in women.
Cervical cancer, caused by the human papilloma virus, is the fourth most frequent cancer in women worldwide, with an estimated 570,000 new cases reported and 311,000 deaths from the disease in 2018, according to the World Health Organization.
In China, the incidence and death rates of cervical cancer are also high, with 130,000 new cases reported last year. Most are caused by delayed checks.
The current method to detect abnormal cervical cells is cytology-based screening, known as the Pap test. It is often done during a pelvic examination which allows the health-care professional to have a clear view of the cervix and upper vagina by a speculum and take a sample of cervical cells.
Under a microscope
Based on more than 200,000 pathological images selected from over 43.5 million cervical screening samples, experts from KingMed Diagnostics, a Guangzhou-based medical diagnostic testing company, along with computer engineers from Huawei Cloud, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, over one year developed an AI-assisted screening model, which can diagnose the disease with an accuracy of over 99 percent, while costing only one-tenth of the examination time performed by pathologists.
“Pathologists spend an average of six minutes in examining a cervical screening sample under a microscope, while the AI model just needs 36 seconds per case,” said Luo Pifu, director of the KingMed’s pathological department and lead researcher of the program.
Cervical cancer can often be detected early, and sometimes even prevented entirely, by having regular screenings. More than 350 million Chinese women aged 30 to 65 need cervical cancer checkups every three to five years, but the country still lacks the screening capacity to meet the demand.
National Health Commission data shows that China offered free cervical cancer checks to 85 million rural women from 2009 to 2018, to promote screening in impoverished areas.
In addition, a report last year by state television broadcaster CCTV shows that China currently has about 10,000 licensed pathologists but still requires at least a further 90,000.
The talent shortage has limited the promotion of cervical cancer screening, according to Li Yinghua, chief information officer of KingMed Diagnostics.
The company expects the AI-assisted screening to help offset the shortage of well-trained pathologists, as well as expand the scope of early examination of cervical cancer in China.
In 2018, KingMed and Huawei agreed to cooperate in building an AI model for cervical cancer screening. Compared with AI models using CT or MRI images, the AI-assisted screening model for pathology is more complicated, as pathological images are richer in color, larger in size, and require higher precision so that doctors can see the abnormality of cells, said Luo.
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