TMC launches oncology image bank in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur

Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur announced on Monday that they have launched India’s first fully annotated, relational and anonymized Cancer Image Bank – CHAVI. This research partnership between the first two Indian institutions was inaugurated in Kolkata on September 24.

According to the scientists, the launch of CHAVI – Comprehensive Archive of Imaging will boost cancer research in India and allow scientists across the world to have free access to anonymized patient images and required clinical information that can be used for any purpose. of research.

The inaugural session also witnessed an enriching discussion chaired by experts including Dr Arun P, Director of Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, Dr Mammen Chandy, Ex-Director of Tata Medical Center, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarty, ex-director and professor of AI and computer science. IIT Kharagpur, Prof Jayanta Mukherjee, Dean Outreach of IIT Kharagpur along with Heads of Departments of ACTREC Mumbai, Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute Lucknow, Christian Medical College Vellore among other specialists in the fields of Cancer and artificial intelligence in medicine. Dr Sanjoy Chatterjee, Dr Indranil Mallick and Dr Santam Chakrabarty from Tata Medical Center were also present at the launch.

“CHAVI is the first imaging biobank exclusively dedicated to oncology imaging from India. The project was conceived as a research collaboration between Tata Medical Center, Kolkata and IIT Kharagpur, and developed under the National Digital Library of India (NDLI),” the institute said in a statement on Monday.

The center says the aim of the institute is to develop an image biobank available nationwide and create a foundation for future collaborative research efforts among India’s leading cancer institutes. Reportedly, the project will encourage researchers, academics and industry experts to utilize the wealth of imaging data available in CHAVI.

“Digital imaging data is critical to patient care and, with today’s technology, it also forms the bedrock of future research aimed at improving patient outcomes. It also makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of current treatment protocols. CHAVI from Tata Medical Center, developed in collaboration with colleagues from IIT Kharagpur, gives us the platform to enhance AI-Radiomic research using freely available annotated digital oncology imaging,” Dr P Arun said on Monday. , Director of Tata Medical Center Kolkata.

According to the researchers, CHAVI has a large unified relational database of anonymized demographic, clinical, pathology, molecular biology, treatment and outcome data for all patients. This database would be a powerful tool for exploring image sets across cancer sites.

“This feature allows an interested researcher to potentially interrogate radiological images in an agonistic manner of the cancer site. Oncology is a discipline that relies heavily on imaging not only for diagnosis but also for therapy and treatment. post-treatment follow-up.Through CHAVI, centers around the world can download images for free to improve radiomics research and improve collaborative research work, which will help cancer care and pave the way for better innovative strategies for control cancers,” the scientists said on Monday. News001