Exclusive | Yitu unveils new AI cancer detection tool, hailing such products ‘great creations in human history’

Yitu Technology, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence start-up, has introduced a new AI cancer screening tool aimed at reducing the workload and improving diagnostic capabilities for radiologists around the world.

Unveiled at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual conference in Chicago on Wednesday, the tool enables machines to make diagnosis and treatment recommendations within seconds based on a comprehensive array of inputs, including patient scans, ultrasounds, pathology specimens, genetics and written records.

The tool highlights an area of AI applications in which China is strong – in part because of the country’s AI drive, but also because the country is home to one in every five cancer patients globally, according to government statistics.

“China is making rapid progress and leading in applying AI to the health industry,” said Cathy Fang Cong, vice-president of Yitu Healthcare, on the sidelines of the launch on Wednesday. “Medical AI products that can address clinical needs with reliable performance and be replicated quickly are great creations in human history.”

The Shanghai-based start-up is one of dozens of AI companies that have emerged in recent years to apply know-how in computer vision and natural language processing to detecting cancer. In November last year, an intelligent robot developed by Shenzhen-listed iFlytek passed the country’s written national qualification exam for doctors. Founded in 2012, Yitu counts Sequoia Capital, Yunfeng Capital and Hillhouse Capital among its investors.

Yitu’s intelligent diagnostic and treatment platform can help doctors to diagnose, and treat, lung and breast cancers, the most common forms of the disease among men and women in China respectively, according to the company. Research on widening the platform to detecting cervical, colorectal and gastric cancer is under way.