Fujifilm, Dr Kutty’s Healthcare launch AI-enabled health screening centre for 10 common cancers

NURA aims to introduce the culture of health screening in India for cancer and other lifestyle-related diseases

Fujifilm, with Dr Kutty’s Healthcare launched NURA – their first health-screening centre in the country, in Bengaluru. Equipped with the best of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled imaging and expert healthcare, the NURA centre can reportedly correctly test 10 common cancers, including oral cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer and early signs of leukaemia along with other lifestyle diseases.

The centre is built on three elements – trust, automation between doctors and machines – for reducing time and delivering quality and introducing the culture of screening, as per a release.

According to GLOBOCAN 2020 database released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), India sees a five-year survival rate of about 30 per cent of cancer patients. Early detection and early treatment with the help of regular screening plays a vital role in preventing and improving the survival rate of cancer patients in the country. Bringing together Fujifilm’s cutting-edge technology and Dr Kutty’s healthcare expertise, NURA is a step forward towards inculcating a culture of early screening and securing the lives of people while providing and accessible and high-quality healthcare expertise.

Screening for lifestyle diseases uses CT scan for early detection of risks for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and myocardial infarction. Whole body composition is visually presented to gauge visceral fat mass, muscle mass and bone density to identify risks for developing metabolic syndrome or locomotive syndrome and contribute to extending healthy life expectancy.

Masaharu Morita, Regional group manager for All Europe, Middle East and Africa at FUJIFILM Corporation – Japan said, “With NURA, our vision is to introduce the culture of periodic health screening in India, as we believe that early detection and treatment are very important to improve the survival rate of cancer patients. Our contribution and determination to bring all the talents and technologies of our entire enterprise to the service of contemporary healthcare is constantly innovating and changing lives. Together with Dr  Kutty’s Healthcare expertise, we will continue to support the development of medical care by providing state-of-the-art products and services that contribute to improved health and quality of life of people worldwide.”

Dr Mohamed Kasim President, Dr Kutty’s Healthcare (DKH) said, “We are committed to providing sustained health through NURA by leveraging our experience in healthcare and high-quality scanning and image processing technology offered by Fujifilm. Screening helps healthy, asymptomatic people identify previously unrecognised health risks at an early stage, allowing them to modify their lifestyle and prevent lifestyle diseases and in the case of cancers, gives them the best chance of receiving effective treatment. With the launch of this examination centre, we aim to create awareness and an environment of opting for regular medical screening and taking pre-emptive healthcare measures.”

The health screening centre will actively leverage intelligent AI-technology to improve outcomes for both the patient and the doctor by making the screening process safe and more accurate. It assists doctors in medical screening with the use of Fujifilm technologies including the IT system, unveiled in Japan in June 2020, that automatically detects lung nodule candidates from CT scans, the endoscope that uses high contrast technology to enhance the visibility of observation images, and the mammography system that provides high-definition diagnostic images.

In addition to 10 cancer tests, the centre will provide total medical examination services such as early detection of risks of metabolic syndrome and locomotive syndrome, for the examination of lifestyle-related diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and myocardial infarction.