Tata Medical Center launches oncology image bank in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur

The CHAVI-Comprehensive Archive of Imaging is a towering boost to cancer research in India and will enable scientists from across the world to have free access to de-identified patient images and requisite clinical information that can be utilised for research purposes

Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, have launched fully annotated, relational, de-identified cancer image bank – CHAVI.

The CHAVI-Comprehensive Archive of Imaging is a towering boost to cancer research in India and will enable scientists from across the world to have free access to de-identified patient images and requisite clinical information that can be utilised for research purposes. The project has been designed as a research collaboration between Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, and IIT Kharagpur, and developed as a part of the National Digital Library of India (NDLI). Its purpose is to develop an image biobank that is available across the country and to foster a foundation for future collaborative research efforts amongst major Indian cancer institutes. The project will encourage researchers, academicians, and industry experts to use the wealth of imaging data available in CHAVI.

Dr P Arun, Director Tata Medical Center Kolkata said, “Data from digital imaging is critical to patient care, and with today’s technology, it also forms the substrate for future research to improve patient outcomes. It also allows evaluation of the efficacy of current treatment protocols. CHAVI from Tata Medical Center, developed in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur colleagues, gives us the platform to enhance AI-Radiomic research using freely available annotated digital oncological imaging.”

Professor Partha Pratim Chakrabarty, Ex-Director IIT Kharagpur, Prof of Computer Sciences Department IIT Kharagpur said, “We envisioned CHAVI as a unique comprehensive digital archive of cancer images allowing complementary information on assisting improvements in patient outcomes. The collaborative work between Tata Medical Center and IIT Kharagpur, commissioned by us has now reached a critical point- the repository has been made functional. This should now allow significant collaboration between institutions across the world. India’s first such free access databank: CHAVI, will allow usage of previously unavailable data from the region, add relevant ethnic diversity in Radiomic research and hopefully complement available OMICS data to improve patient care.”

Through CHAVI, centers across the world can upload images for free to enhance radiomic research and improve collaborative research work, which will help cancer care and will lead the way for innovating better strategies to control cancers.