Ping An Technology, a technology arm of Ping An Insurance, has concluded a multi-center clinical study for the world's first intelligent optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal disease screening system.

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Image: Ping An has completed clinical study for world's first OCT retinal disease screening system. Photo: courtesy of PRNewsfoto/Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.

Ping An Technology, along with Optovue, has developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) imaging and screening system, which seamlessly incorporates an OCT retinal imaging device and AI lesion detection software.

The clinical trial has been carried out at three Chinese research institutions, including Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, Shanghai First People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital of Tongji University.

OCT is a high-resolution and non-contact and non-invasive diagnostic technique, which provides an in vivo cross-sectional view of the retina.

The intelligent OCT retinal disease screening system is said to apply the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) technique in the model training process.

In December 2018, the clinical trial was commenced and recruited 784 study subjects. The entire process can be completed in three minutes ranging from the start of an OCT examination to a patient scan code used to generate an intelligent screening report.

According to Ping An, the findings suggested that the accuracy of tests on the samples by the system in image quality assessment, lesion detection, and referral urgency assessment have been 99.2%, 98.6%, and 96.7% respectively, compared to the ground truth established by experts.

Based on AI technology, Ping An Technology incorporates end-to-end disease whole-process solution matrixes in the fields of intelligent medical quality control, intelligent disease prediction, intelligent triage navigation, intelligent medical imaging and screening, intelligent paramedical diagnosis and treatment.

Ping An Group chief medical scientist Xie Guotong said: “This is the first time in the industry at home and abroad that multi-center prospective research on AI-assisted ophthalmic medical products has been conducted.

“The team of expert ophthalmologists led by the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University, high-quality ophthalmic data and scientific research methods provided vital medical support for the accuracy and safety of ophthalmic AI models.

“With the strong healthcare ecosystem of Ping An Group, primary medical institutions will be empowered with high-quality ophthalmic AI models to assist in carrying out diagnosis and treatment at different levels.”