One of China’s deadliest occupational health diseases is pneumoconiosis, which is caused by the inhalation of a variety of different dusts from mines and factories. A major obstacle to controlling and stemming this disease is limited access to screening — but a new research tool developed by GE Global Research now uses computer aided detection, or CAD technology, that can dramatically change the game. By increasing access to the critical exam for millions of workers, the technology can potentially save lives that might have been lost due to delayed diagnosis and treatment.


Sigh of relief: Early detection of thoracic diseases including tuberculosis, lung cancer, heart disease, and pleural disease could also be made easier with the new tool. Click the image to see a larger view.

The CAD system is a combination of computer technology, image processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence that analyzes chest x-rays and automatically selects and classifies them. An expert group of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality just approved the new tool and has okayed further testing at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, which jointly developed the tool with GE.

Cases of pneumoconiosis in China have grown exponentially over the last several years. By the end of 2008, the number of reported cases reached 638,000 — half of the total number of reported cases in the world. But pneumoconiosis screening is very costly and time consuming. To make a diagnosis, doctors must review x-rays one image at a time. By automating the analysis, the new CAD tool will substantially streamline the time it takes for doctors to make an accurate diagnosis and provide access to screening for millions of more workers.

That issue of access is a key pillar of GE’s healthymagination initiative, which is focused on developing new technologies that can simulataneoulsy improve quality, affordability and access to healthcare around the globe.

* Read the GRC’s lung screening announcement
* Hear it straight from GE’s scientists on their blog

Elsewhere on the healthymagination front in China, GE recently announced that it’s participating in a three-year project to establish a regional breast-cancer screening network in Deyang, a city in China’s earthquake-stricken Sichuan province, and its surrounding counties.

Through its partnership with China Breast Cancer Foundation and several other organizations, like the Avon Foundation For Women and Give2Asia Foundation, who together are donating $5 million to the project, GE Healthcare will provide medical equipment and training resources to help create a network that aims to increase access to breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment, including remote diagnosis for more rural areas. In addition, the breast cancer screening network will offer training to doctors and information on breast cancer to the general public, and will collect data for scientific research.

Since 2004, the incidence of breast cancer in the region has risen significantly, with 1,200 new cases reported and more than 400 women dying of breast cancer each year in Deyang . The city was at the heart of the massive Sichuan earthquake in May 2008 and that has led to inadequate medical facilities and institutions in this historically under-developed region, as well as a shortage of physicians. As a result, breast-cancer patients in Deyang do not have access to lumpectomies and other breast-conserving options; leaving radical mastectomy the only option for women diagnosed with breast cancer, regardless of the size and location of the tumors.

This news clip from China recaps the launch event.


Stepping stone: George Cao, general manager of GE Healthcare’s Marketing and Enterprise Business in China (pictured above) said GE hopes to use the valuable experience gained from the project to help “establish a three-tier breast cancer consultation network platform to help solve the shortage of grass-roots breast care specialists in China.”

* Read about GE Healthcare’s new awards for technology design
* Read about GE’s work with clinics in India
* Read about GE’s donation of neonatal equipment in the U.K.
* Read GE Reports’ coverage of the healthymagination launch
* Read about GE’s Electronic Medical Records technology
* Read GE Reports’ story about our Health Advisory Board
* Read about healthymagination’s work with electronic medical records
* Read about our healthymagination work in Bangladesh
* Learn more about the partnership with Grameen Healthcare Trust
* Learn about our work in Cambodia
* Read our story about GE’s localized healthcare technology breakthroughs going global