Indian Medtech Startup SigTuple’s AI-based medical diagnoses are transforming disease detection
AI technologies are increasingly integrated into healthcare systems globally. One of the most significant ways in which AI is impacting the medical industry is in the field of diagnostics. With AI and machine learning algorithms analyzing vast amounts of data swiftly and accurately, healthcare providers are enabled to make more informed decisions effectively and prevent the chances of human errors. The healthcare sector generates a lot of data – by leveraging machine learning and advanced data analysis, AI tools can provide healthcare providers with precise, timely, and actionable insights on disease diagnosis.
Bengaluru-based medtech startup SigTuple is revolutionizing the healthcare sector by using AI tools to help with early screening and diagnosis of diseases, particularly in underserved areas where access to quality healthcare is limited. The density of pathologists worldwide is 12.5 per 1 million population. To reduce the burden on pathologists and improve patient outcomes, SigTuple focuses on automating inefficient and error-prone manual microscopic review processes for the two most common tests in the medical field – blood and urine microscopy. The startup highlights that microscopic examination continues to be the gold standard for diagnosing several critical diseases; however, microscopy is a manual process. This makes it highly prone to errors in clinical laboratories.
The flagship product of the 2015-founded startup is the AI100 automated slide scanner, which is capable of converting any physical specimen into digital images. It uses robotics and AI to digitize a biological sample, both blood and urine, on a glass slide to enable AI-aided remote review. The AI100 captures high-magnification microscopic images of the relevant portions of the sample and uploads the images to a cloud platform. The cloud platform then analyzes the sample and presents the results in a web browser, making the report accessible remotely. According to its co-founder, the AI-enabled automated digital microscopy can reduce the sample review process time from 5-10 minutes by a pathologist to 30 seconds, significantly streamlining the diagnostic process. While test results are generated quickly, the final report is examined by a skilled technician to confirm the diagnosis, reiterating that medical AI must always be supervised to confirm the accuracy of AI-generated insights.
Such technology integration provides numerous benefits, including reducing review time, enabling remote collaboration across geographies, detecting rarer cells and abnormalities, reducing healthcare workers’ eye strain, and many more. Startups like SigTuple’s products are also a solution to the largely fragmented AI-driven digital microscopy market, which often has specialized machines for every type of sample. For example, its upcoming product – AS76 – is capable of handling multiple sample types simultaneously. SigTuple plans to be a global company, expanding its product into the EU and US in 2025.
