Airtel and Apollo Hospitals conduct India’s first 5G-driven, AI-guided colonoscopy trial

Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals have conducted India's first 5G-driven, Artificial Intelligence (AI) guided Colonoscopy trial. HealthNet Global, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Avesha also collaborated in this trial.

The trial was conducted on Airtel's 5G technology with ultra-low latency and high processing capabilities, which resulted in faster and more accurate detection of colon cancer, according to a press release by the telco.

In this AI-guided Colonoscopy trial, the image processing happened in real-time without any lag even when the physician moved the scope through the colon. The data was processed by Avesha edge inferencing applications on AWS platforms on real-time resulting in much faster analysis.

The current protocol involves colon cancer detection through a manual colonoscopy procedure which is not only time-consuming but also requires great attention from medical practitioners for accurate detection.

Airtel said that the AI-assisted Colonoscopy Polyp Detection trial will help doctors improve quality of patient care, improve accuracy of detection rates by capturing information correctly and reducing errors. 5G, Edge computing and AI can significantly improve patient outcomes by assisting in proper and timely diagnoses.

"Ultra-fast, low latency 5G networks will transform the Healthcare sector in the country. At Airtel, we are geared up to lead this transformation and have demonstrated this by conducting India's first colonoscopy trials. Healthcare is one of the most promising use cases for 5G, and we are delighted to collaborate Apollo Hospitals, AWS, HealthNet Global and Avesha," said Ajay Chitkara, CEO and Director, Airtel Business.

"5G and edge technologies offer high speed and real-time data analysis that can help transform the delivery of healthcare. We are delighted to collaborate with Airtel and Apollo hospitals to bring AI-powered solutions with an aim to improve patient experience and healthcare service quality," said Vaishali Kasture, Head - Enterprise, Mid-Market & Global Businesses, India & South Asia – AWS India (Amazon Web Services India P Ltd).