Artificial intelligence (AI) development startup HACARUS, a member of KOBE Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC), is developing an AI for supporting the diagnosis of cervical cancer in collaboration with Kyoto University. Based on a video of the affected area, it can detect cancer with accuracy exceeding 95%. As cervical cancer cases are on an increasing trend, the AI will contribute to early detection and prevention. It is planned to go on sale in 2023 as diagnostic support software.

The developers created the AI from the endoscopic videos taken of the affected areas of 60 individuals with cervical cancer. When this AI was used to check for the presence of cancer in 150 patients, it was able to ensure accuracy exceeding 95%, equivalent to a doctor. They will submit an application to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in FY2022 for medical device certification for the software, and they plan to put it on sale once certified.

HACARUS has been engaged in collaborative research with the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine since April 2020. Kyoto University cooperated by selecting the case data to be used, etc.

In Japan, over 10,000 women get cervical cancer every year, and about 3,000 die from it. It is becoming more prevalent in young people, but diagnosis requires advanced specialization, and it is difficult to secure enough doctors.

HACARUS possesses sparse-modeling technology, which uses an algorithm that discovers rules from sparse amounts of data. Tokyo University, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, etc., are also collaborators with expectations for it in the medical field, where data on the human body is limited.

Based on a video of the affected area, it can detect cancer with accuracy exceeding 95%.