Malaysia's National Cancer Institute, Institut Kanser Negara (IKN) is partnering with UK-based biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) powered lung cancer screening solutions for better diagnosis at government clinics and hospitals.
The AI technology works by embedding in the interpretation of X-rays to detect incidental pulmonary nodules (IPN). Patients who undergo the screening will take a traditional X-ray, which will be reviewed using the AI software.
It can also detect more than 30 lung-related diseases or pathologies, such as COVID-19, tuberculosis and lung fibrosis.
IKN's director, Mohd Anis bin Haron, said the technology can generate a comprehensive report in "less than a minute" to support healthcare practitioners in diagnosing patients, eliminating potentially missed diagnoses and improving the timeline to access treatment faster.
"Early screening can improve the chances of survival, in particular lung cancer, and this consequently can alleviate the high financial cost of cancer on our national healthcare system," he added.
IKN claims to be the first government institution in the country to implement this AI technology under the Projek Saringan Awal Paru-Paru (SAPU) programme, an initiative by AstraZeneca's Lung Ambition Alliance (LAA) that aims to promote better lung screening, early diagnosis and drive survival improvements for people with lung cancer.
Since the programme's inception in 2021, the company said it has conducted trials at private clinics under the Qualitas Group and three other tertiary care hospitals where close to 19,000 patients were screened for lung cancer and over 400 high-risk patients have been referred to selected hospitals for further investigation.
Pilot study
The AI solution is currently being rolled out as a pilot study at selected government clinics and hospitals across the country, with selected centres acting as "sandbox sites" to collate data on the results.
"Data gained from the programme will be used to develop an understanding of Malaysia's local landscape and disease demographics," AstraZeneca said in a release.
AstraZeneca Malaysia's president Vinod Narayanan said the firm looks forward to co-creating solutions with partners to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and explore new ways to accelerate digitalisation in health care through AI.
"This partnership with IKN is seminal as it enables us to provide a new experience to healthcare practitioners for early lung screening and detecting various lung conditions, beyond lung cancer," he said.
