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Generative AI as a Life Saver: CerebraAI Helps Detecting Strokes Quicker And More Precisely

Jade-Worrall
Employee
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About CerebraAI 

 

Founded in 2018 in collaboration with stroke centers in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Intel® Liftoff  member CerebraAI tackles the critical challenge of timely stroke diagnosis. By leveraging advanced AI algorithms and computer vision, their vision is a cloud-native platform, accessible via web and mobile applications, enabling neurologists, radiologists, and neurosurgeons to detect early signs of stroke from CT scans. 

 

The Challenge: A Race Against Time

 

Every three minutes, someone in the US dies of a stroke. Of these strokes, 87% are ischemic, which means they are caused by a blockage in an artery leading to the brain. Quick and accurate detection is crucial for saving lives, yet 84% of hospitals struggle with this, often due to limited access to MRI technology. 

 

Traditional diagnostic methods for strokes are often inefficient and delayed due to the subjective interpretation of CT brain scans by human experts. The scarcity of qualified neuroradiologists further complicates these delays, leading to prolonged treatment times and poorer patient outcomes. There is a compelling need for an advanced diagnostic tool that employs AI and computer vision to enhance stroke detection, expedite triage processes, and improve overall patient care. 

 

The Solution: GenAI Fills the Diagnostic Gap

CerebraAI is developing a generative AI software that significantly enhances the immediate detection and treatment of strokes by bridging the diagnostic gap between Non-Contrast CT and MRI. CerebraAI’s triage system uses AI algorithms to analyze CT brain images, identifying the presence of a stroke, classifying the type of stroke (hemorrhagic vs. ischemic), pinpointing the location of the stroke, quantifying the blood volume involved, and providing an ASPECTS score. Currently serving 47 hospitals in Kazakhstan and 2 in Uzbekistan, CerebraAI processes over 4,000 CT brain images monthly. Their system continuously enhances its AI capabilities through the use of annotated data. CerebraAI’s software is not approved in the U.S. 

 

CerebraAI Heatmap uses Generative AI to quickly analyze Non-contrast CT (NCCT) cases, identifying areas and potential abnormalities within brain tissues

CerebraAI's software in action

 

Intel® & CerebraAI 

 

Intel® Liftoff enables CerebraAI to work closely with Intel engineers to optimize the AI startup company’s utilization of the Intel® OpenVINO toolkit. CerebraAI participated in an Intel® hackathon, where they won, which showed the company the way to use Intel® optimization tools in different ways. Today, CerebraAI is using the Intel® OpenVINO toolkit within several of its models.  

 

Quote 

 

“Intel® Liftoff helped us to make inference optimizations to reduce needs in GPU. Previously, we only utilized models written in PyTorch without any inference optimizations. With help from Intel engineers, within the framework of Intel® Liftoff, we have optimized several models with Intel® OpenVINO toolkit inference to reduce GPU needs with little loss in speed.” - Doszhan Zhussupov, CEO & Co-Founder 

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Benchmarking with and without Intel® OpenVINO toolkit optimizations 

 

Advancing Stroke Care: CerebraAI’s Commitment to Transforming Patient Outcomes

 

CerebraAI is dedicated to advancing stroke detection and treatment. Through their GenAI-based solutions, they are striving to provide healthcare providers with tools that aim to detect strokes more quickly and reliably. This effort is part of CerebraAI’s ongoing commitment to enhance patient outcomes and improve operational efficiency in hospitals. 

 

About the Author
As a Software Tools Ecosystem Specialist at Intel, I’ve had the privilege of working on the dynamic GenAI initiative. My focus is on driving engagement with the software developer audience. I'm a proud team member of the Intel® Liftoff for Startups and the Developer Engagement, Relations, and Studio team.