Toyota Land Cruisers equipped with AI-powered X-ray to detect Tuberculosis

Yes, that headline is correct

Fujifilm and Toyota Tsusho have announced a cross-industry collaboration with Indian healthtech firms Qure.ai and Molbio that are using AI-based systems to detect Tuberculosis (TB).

The partnership will see the creation of a mobile TB screening unit with a built in X-ray machine, based on a Land Cruiser vehicle, to cut growing numbers of undiagnosed TB cases.

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The cooperation will see Toyota provide Land Cruiser models with refrigeration capabilities which will be fitted with Fujifilm’s Xair portable X-ray machines.

Xair will then be augmented with qXR, an AI-based tool for automated chest X-ray interpretation developed by Qure.ai, which can alert medical teams of potential TB cases.

The SUVs will also be equipped with Molbio's portable and battery-operated Truenat – a chip-based, point-of-care, rapid molecular test for diagnosis of infectious diseases – for further confirmation of suspected TB cases.

The quartet said the plan will allow medical teams to access remote areas and provide care in places where “millions of TB cases go undiagnosed every year.”

The integrated testing capability will allow for potential diagnoses to be confirmed in less than an hour.

Dr. Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, commented, "We at Stop TB re-imagine, re-think, support, and have been driving innovations in TB and health space for years. So, it's great to see this happening. This multi-sector partnership will aid contact investigation and find and track people with TB and other infectious diseases and will bring care to doorsteps for everyone to have access.”

“This consortium understands the need of hour and uses scalable, high-impact systems to tackle TB in areas where resources are limited," she added.

Qure says its product can “can interpret scans with high levels of accuracy and specificity, making it an ideal tool for mass screenings.”

Prashant Warier, founder and CEO of Qure.ai said, "After the recent WHO recommendation around using our AI solution qXR as an alternative to human readers for TB interpretation from chest X-rays, we're excited to scale commercially and use this partnership to deliver high-quality diagnostics to communities across the globe."