A professor from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee has claimed to have designed a software that can detect COVID-19 infection within 5 seconds using the X-ray scan of the patient.
Reportedly, the professor took 40 days to design the software and has now filed for the patent of the same. The professor has also sought a review from the Indian Council of Medical Research which is spearheading the COVID-19 taskforce in the country.
The professor, identified as Kamal Jain, teaches at the Civil engineering department of the Institute at Roorkee. According to Jain, his software will not only reduce the cost of testing but also reduces the risk of healthcare workers getting affected by the virus. Speaking to the news agency PTI, Jain told,
“I first developed an artificial intelligence-based database after analyzing over 60,000 X-ray scans that included X-rays of COVID-19 patients, patients of pneumonia and tuberculosis in order to differentiate between the types of lung congestion in three different diseases. I also analyzed the chest X-rays from the NIH Clinical Center of the United States.”
The US also conducting a similar experiment
The medical professionals can use the application where they can upload the X-ray of the suspected patients. The system then runs over the database to match the similarities and gives the result. The software, however, will only tell if the patient is infected with COVID-19 or not but will not diagnose other diseases or even the measure of the severity of the infection. It reportedly takes only 5 seconds to process the results.
Jain suggests that the software can be used for preliminary screening which can be then accompanied by clinical treatment in the case of positive COVID-19. He said,
“Pneumonia caused by COVID-19 is severe than other bacteria as it affects the lungs completely than smaller portions of lungs in other cases. The software will analyze bilateral opacity, the pattern of fluid build-up in the lungs, and the nature of clump or clot if any.”
Similar kinds of experiments are being carried out by the University of Amazon in the United States but there has not been a breakthrough yet, says Jain who is awaiting the response from the ICMR to proceed further.
Source: The Times of India
