By bringing to India, Bangladesh and Nepal a low-cost, GPU-driven mobile device trained to recognize chronic disease “signatures” in medical images, a healthcare start-up is building a distributed cognitive computing capability that provides advanced diagnostics to a resource-poor, population-dense region of the world.
If the eyes are windows into the soul, they also can help provide a view of a patient’s overall health. Breakdowns and leaks in the microscopic capillaries in the retina can be early indicators of diabetes, high blood pressure and vascular disease long before patients and doctors notice symptoms. Early detection enables patients to take preventive measures related to life-style issues, such as diet, smoking and exercise to head off the life-threatening toll that chronic diseases take.
