Tibet is best known for its natural beauty and spiritual significance but did you know that its impoverished perfecture adopted AI-powered cervical cancer screening technologies almost 4 years ago?
No longer considered a luxury constrained to major well-funded labs, digital and AI technologies make quality pathology accessible for small rural clinics in remote regions like Tibet.
In 2020, Landing Med setup an AI-powered cervical cytology screening lab in rural Shannan, Tibet, to provide screening services for its nomadic population. Since there weren't any local pathology resources at the time, Landing Med equipped the lab with consumables, digital slide scanners and its proprietary AI cloud platform.
1) Once the specimens are collected, the Tibetan-based cytotechnician prepares, stains and scans slides using Landing Med's digital whole slide scanner which is then uploaded to Landing Med's AI cloud diagnostic platform.
2) Landing Med's AI cloud diagnostic platform performs an initial cervical cytology screening, automatically flagging suspicious cells for pathologists to further review.
3) An experienced pathologist in Landing Med's central lab in Wuhan reviews the AI-assisted screening results, makes the final diagnosis and signs off on the report.
4) The patient report is sent to the patient's mobile phone via WeChat (similar to WhatsApp).
Since 2020, 92,000+ women in Shannan district were screened. 82 early stage cervical cancer cases were detected to be further tested or treated.
Telepathology. No on-site pathologist needed, only cytotechnician needed
AI-assistance enhances cytopathologist efficiency
Expanded geographic screening coverage
Rural patients gain access to better quality screening services
Digital sample storage improves oveall slide management
With a growing worldwide shortage of pathologists, digital pathology is an inevitable solution to improve efficiency. Shannan district's deployment of AI-powered cytology is a good case study on how rural clinics can benefit from affordable, accessible and portable digital pathology solutions to achieve health equity.
CN
