How AI Can Head Off Brain Damage

Two million cells a minute. That’s how quickly brain damage happen when the cells get no oxygen in a stroke or in some brain injuries. Both can have tragic consequences — paralysis, memory loss, speech difficulties and even death. But doctors can’t start treatment without an initial diagnosis, and that requires reading a CT scan as soon as the test’s completed. Unfortunately, that’s not what usually happens, said Prashant Warier, co-founder of Qure.ai, a member of our Inception startup accelerator program. “Radiologists typically have a backlog of cases,” he said. “They may have 30 cases to read, and the injured patient with bleeding in the brain is the 31st. They have to go through all the others before they get to that one.” Qure.ai is changing that with GPU-accelerated deep learning technology that detects critical problems in head CT scans in less than 10 seconds. It’s designed to help doctors prioritize cases quickly, Warier said.