Airtel, Apollo Hospitals conduct 5G-based tech trial for colon cancer detection

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals have carried out India's first 5G driven, artificial intelligence guided trial to detect colon cancer, the telecom firm said on Thursday.

The trial was conducted using AI on Airtel's 5G technology with ultra-low latency and high processing capabilities, as a result of which the colon cancer was detected much faster and with greater accuracy, it added.

"At Airtel, we are geared up to lead this transformation and have demonstrated this by conducting India's first colonoscopy trials. Healthcare is one of the most promising use cases for 5G, and we are delighted to collaborate with Apollo Hospitals, AWS, HealthNet Global and Avesha," Airtel Business CEO and Director Ajay Chitkara said.

HealthNet Global, AWS and Avesha were the other three companies that collaborated on this trial.

The data was processed by Avesha edge inferencing applications on AWS platforms on real time basis, resulting in faster analysis.

"AI assisted Colonoscopy Polyp Detection trial will help doctors to improve quality of patient care, improve accuracy of detection rates by capturing information correctly and reducing errors. 5G, Edge computing and Artificial Intelligence can significantly improve patient outcomes by assisting in proper and timely diagnosis," the statement added.

As per current protocol, colon cancer is detected through a colonoscopy procedure which is manual and requires great attention and time from medical practitioners for accurate detection. The standard procedure takes around 30 to 40 minutes.

"By augmenting doctor's ability to detect, AI has been proved to improve physician's accuracy. Early detection and removal of polyps can easily avoid them becoming cancerous. Our patient centric approach keeps us on an outlook for technologies which can make outcomes better," Apollo Hospitals Group, Joint Managing Director, Sangita Reddy said.