Ito Hospital and Incubit Initiate Co-Development of Thyroid Nodule Detection System

USA - English

• USA - English

TOKYO, Dec. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Ito hospital, a specialized hospital for thyroid disorders treating over 370,000 patients yearly, and Incubit Inc., which undertakes practical implementation of image recognition utilizing deep learning technology, have commenced development of a thyroid nodule detection system that recognizes the size and location of nodules and will automatically generate an ultrasound scan report which will support doctors with diagnosis.

This system is a promotion of medical implementation of AI technology, focusing on reducing the time it takes for laboratory technicians to write up reports after the ultrasound examination. This will reduce the time that each patient has to spend in the hospital, thus enhancing patient satisfaction while maintaining the accuracy of the report. We hope that continuing this research will ultimately result in more people receiving earlier treatment.

In recent years, the number of patients receiving ultrasound scan examination has been increasing globally, however it is still a comparatively costly procedure making it hard to collect a large sum of data. On the other hand, Japan has an outstanding number of case data as the price of an ultrasound scan examination is much more affordable due to it being covered by the national health care system. Expectations are high not just in practical use but from an academic standpoint as this research will utilize this rich set of data.

Patients who come to Ito hospital will undergo the ultrasound scan examination after the doctor's preliminary diagnosis. Expert laboratory technicians, will scan the thyroid gland using ultrasound, capture the images and make a report. Based on the type and size of the nodules found, the lab technicians will attach the captured images to the report, which includes the location of the nodule in accordance with the thyroid. This report is used by the doctors to diagnose the thyroid disorder. As the report is currently all made manually, it takes up a large portion of the entire examination process, which is what inspired this cooperation between Ito Hospital and Incubit Inc (hereafter Incubit).

In order to create this system, a large sum of ultrasound scan images will be anonymized, and the location of nodules will be annotated under Ito hospital's supervision. Incubit will take the annotated images and develop a deep learning AI model that can detect the nodules and measure the sizes from the ultrasound scan images. By combining the model's result and the locational information in the image, the position of the nodules within the thyroid will be pinpointed and also stated in the report. We plan to complete development of the automatic ultrasound scan result reporting system by 2021 to be used in Ito hospital.

About Ito Hospital
Ito hospital has been specializing in thyroid disorders since 1937 under its core principal, "To Help and Accompany People Suffering from Thyroid Disorders". As an institution with years of experience, we are actively involved in academic research, studying long-term treatment progress and rare cases, the findings of which are published globally, as well as applied to our day to day work.
We have been and will always continue to devote ourselves to treating thyroid disorders.

About Incubit
Incubit undertakes the challenge of solving industry specific problems alongside the leading companies of Japan adopting the latest technology. We've worked in the fields of medicine, bio tech, space, geology and manufacturing with notable achievements, by virtue of our earnest approach towards solution deployment.

Our current focus and strength is image recognition using deep learning technology, nevertheless, our enthusiasm always lies in finding the best possible solution providable.

SOURCE Incubit Inc.