Each year, the world has roughly 40 million incorrect medical imaging diagnoses. So how are both the quantity and quality of diagnoses increased? VinDr – an artificial intelligence system that resonates the power of thousands of medical intellectuals and hundreds of thousands of clinical image data, is expected to be the solution.

From the challenging issues

According to research by Fortune Business Insights, the size of the global medical imaging market in 2019 was 33.69 billion USD and is expected to reach 43.33 billion USD by 2027. The market CAGR is estimated at 5.1% throughout the prediction period. The World Health Organization (WHO) also estimates that every year there are about 3.6 billion diagnoses globally. In fact, governments are paying increasing attention to the monitoring and screening of population health, investing in early detection of disease risks to minimize treatment costs. In addition, the increase in the incidence of acute and chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular and orthopedic trauma is the main reason driving diagnostic imaging into one of the thriving trends of medicine.

In Vietnam, early and accurate diagnosis for disease detection and treatment is also an urgent issue, requiring serious investment from the government and individuals. The reason is that in 2019, although ranking 99 out of 185 countries in terms of disease incidence (151.4 / 100,000 population), Vietnam ranks 56th in the world in mortality from cancer (104,4 / 100,000) – WHO reported. According to experts, the cause of this condition is that more than 70% of cancer cases are detected and treated late. If diagnosed early, the treatment effect can be up to 70% as in countries with developed healthcare industry.

This fact raises an urgent requirement: How to improve the quantity, speed and quality of diagnostics? The answer probably lies not only in the human resource factor, because at present, the rate of diagnostic imaging error accounts for 3-5% (about 40 million cases/year globally). Moreover, the overcrowding of cases in hospitals and the shortage of doctors are a big problem for Vietnamese healthcare. So, what resources will assist the doctor in the diagnosis of the disease?

To solution-seeking journey

According to the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), artificial intelligence (AI) will be the leading technology and an effective assistant for radiologists. In terms of speed, AI shortens the time spent on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), as well as image processing and identifying disease. In terms of diagnostic quality, thanks to AI that synthesizes historical factors and compares prognosis with similar cases in the past, patients can get accurate results and personalized treatment regimens from the first time. Because of the above properties, clearly, the answer to the medical imaging problem lies in AI. Instead of waiting for a new generation of medical staff, who are qualified enough to meet the increasing demand of patients in early detection of disease risk, AI will be a fast and durable enough resource to continuously solve medical problems.

Thus, VinDr – a hard-working student having trained by a team of hundreds of radiologists since 2018, has constantly optimized its AI algorithm to produce the fastest and the most precise results. Applying computer vision (CV), machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models, VinBigdata builds computer-aided diagnostic systems (CADx) from large clinical data sets (including various types of medical images such as X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, etc). Expected to be a comprehensive AI solution for medical imaging diagnostics, VinDr is developed with seven diagnostic modules, including VinDr-BrainCT; VinDr-ChestXR; VinDr-LiverCT; VinDr-BoneXR; VinDr-BrainMR; VinDr-Mammo and VinDr-ChestCT.

07 different modules of VinDr
07 different modules of VinDr

In addition to the diagnostic ability, VinDr can also automatically localize a suspected lesion and point out anomalies with an average accuracy of over 90%. Thanks to the above features, VinDr will play the role of objective consultation, making sure not to miss any small details, helping doctors have enough data to make the best decision.

And the recognition of the scientific community

Resonating the power of thousands of medical intellectuals, with being trained from huge data on medical images, VinDr has proven its competencies in prestigious international competitions, as:

Assessing VinDr, Dr. Le Tuan Linh, Head of Diagnostic Imaging Department, Hanoi Medical University Hospital said: “Early detection of cancer through imaging plays an important role in successful treatment for cancer patients. The application of AI in this field creates an effective support tool for cancer screening programs or other incurable diseases in the future. We evaluate that the VinDr system can be at the forefront in imaging diagnostic support”.

With these achievements, VinDr is becoming one of the new resources in leading hospitals in Hanoi and Phu Tho. In Hanoi, the solution was applied at 108 Military Central Hospital, Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Vinmec Times City International Hospital. In Phu Tho, 5 provincial hospitals are also implementing VinDr.

Together with VinDr – a comprehensive AI solution for medical imaging diagnostics, VinBigdata also strives to provide the community with a set of advanced technology solutions (including VinBot and VinGen), to answer the popular healthcare issues in Vietnam and worldwide. Not only aiming to promptly and quickly solve the shortcomings of the medical industry, VinBigdata aims to create a sustainable direction for the journey of caring and protecting the health of Vietnamese people.

On October 6, 2020, Vingroup Big Data Institute coordinated with Phu Tho Department of Health to sign a MoU for cooperation on developing and implementing AI-based solution VinDr in medical image processing.

Over the past years, Phu Tho province has paid special attention to the development and application of Information Technology in the healthcare industry. Up to now, 100% of medical facilities have applied IT in general operation. For instance, numerous software such as HIS, LIS, PAS, PHARMA, EMR, etc, have been used to manage personal health records as well as human and financial resources. Especially, the province has leveraged artificial intelligence to assist doctors in diagnosis and treatment of several diseases, such as IBM Watson Oncology for cancers and RAPID for stroke.

Currently, in hospitals of Vietnam in general and Phu Tho province in particular, on average, each doctor diagnoses and gives answers to hundreds of cases per day, making it difficult to avoid mistakes. Therefore, besides improving doctors’ professional qualifications and skills, the application of technology (artificial intelligence) will help enhance the quality of diagnosis, especially in medical image processing.

AI-based solution VinDr has been researched and developed since the end of 2018, in order to assist doctors to make fast and precise decisions in diagnostic image analysis. VinDr has 6 diagnostic functions. Two of them including radiological diagnosis in lung diseases and diagnosis of breast cancer on X-ray images have been deployed for the first phase. Another four functions including diagnosis of lung cancer on computed tomography (CT), diagnosis of liver cancer on CT, diagnosis of brain stroke on CT and diagnosis of brain tumors on magnetic resonance imaging – will be deployed in 2021.

In Phu Tho, VinDr will be developed and tested in October at 5 hospitals: Provincial General Hospital, Obstetrics Hospital, Medical Center of Thanh Ba, Cam Khe and Thanh Thuy District. According to the MoU, each hospital will evaluate 1,000 cases of cardiopulmonary x-rays; particularly, the figure for Provincial General Hospital will be over 2,000. At the same time, both parties will work together to research and develop functions which support computerized tomography and magnetic resonance diagnosis. After 6 months of trial implementation, VinBigdata and Phu Tho Department of Health will evaluate the final results.

Representative of Vingroup donated 1,000 COVID-19 test kits to Phu Tho Department of Health
Representative of Vingroup donated 1,000 COVID-19 test kits to Phu Tho Department of Health

The cooperation in developing and implementing AI-based VinDr is a strategic step to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of diagnosis, thus contributing to improving community health.

Also at the ceremony, Vingroup also donated 1,000 COVID-19 test kits to Phu Tho Department of Health.

On June 19, 2020, Vingroup Big Data Institute conducted deployment testing for artificial intelligence-based medical imaging solution – VinDr –  in three following hospitals: 108; Medical University and Vinmec Times City. With the ability to identify abnormalities which ensures an accuracy of above 90%, VinDr will be of great assistance to doctors in cancer screening and diseases detection.

AI-based medical imaging solution (VinDr) has been researched and developed since the end of 2018, in order to support doctors to make fast and precise decisions in diagnostic image analysis. VinDr has 6 diagnostic functions. Two of them including radiological diagnosis in lung diseases and diagnosis of breast cancer on X-ray images have been deployed for the first phase. Another four functions including diagnosis of lung cancer on computed tomography (CT), diagnosis of liver cancer on CT, diagnosis of brain stroke on CT and diagnosis of brain tumors on magnetic resonance imaging – will be deployed in 2021.

VinDr works as a diagnostic consultation, ensuring that no small details are missed, helping doctors have enough data to make the best decision. In particular, with self-optimization, the AI ​​algorithm will be constantly trained by experienced radiologists. Besides diagnosis, VinDr can also automatically localize suspected lesions and point out abnormalities with an average accuracy of over 90%.

The AI-based medical imaging solution – VinDr will be tested for 2 months at 3 major hospitals in Hanoi, 108 Military Central Hospital, Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Vinmec Times City International Hospital. During the trial period, VinBigdata will support the hospitals to install and successfully use the software, as well as collect doctors’ opinions before large-scale deployment.

About VinDr, Dr. Le Tuan Linh, Head of Imaging Department, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, said: “Early detection of cancer by diagnosistic imaging plays an important role in the success of cancer treatment. The application of AI in this field creates effective supporting tools for other cancer screening programs in the future. We consider VinDr as one of the top diagnostic imaging solutions.”

In Vietnam, there are about 15,000 breast cancer cases each year, of which 70% of cases are late detected. Worldwide there are 2 million new breast cancer cases and more than 500,000 deaths each year. Therefore, a number of developed countries have invested significantly in the development of AI applications in medical imaging.

“VinBigdata has spent nearly two years researching a comprehensive AI solution in diagnostic imaging to significantly reduce the workload for healthcare workers. Our purpose is to provide a modern and useful medical solution, thus effectively supportting hospitals and contributing to the early treatment of patients.”- Professor Vu Ha Van, Scientific Director of Vingroup Big Data Institute stated.

VinDr is the latest technology product of Vingroup after announcing its focus on technology in 2018. Previously, VinDr successfully proved its world-class competence by continuously ranking high position in many prestigious competitions such as: No. 1 in CheXpert contest organized by Stanford University; First prize in the competition of abnormalities on endoscopic images of ISBI conference in 2020; Top 10 out of 1,345 organizations participated in the brain diagnostic imaging contest organized by RSNA (Radiological Society of North American).