Warsaw company creates ground-breaking early cancer detectors
A Warsaw MedTech company has developed a platform to recognize early signs of blood cancer.
Saventic, the name being an amalgamation of ‘save’ and ‘diagnostic’, was established in 2018 by Szymon Piątkowski and Prof. Grzegorz Basak and uses an algorithm when analysing typical blood tests to spot anomalies that indicate if a patient is in the early stages of the diseases.
Saventic CEO and co-founder Szymon Piątkowski said: “Our test can be used as a screening, a standard test that is done every year or even every quarter.”
Prof. Basak said: “Cancer often develops for many years, sometimes shorter. However, very often people are sick and go to the doctors, from specialist to specialist, before the cancer is finally discovered.
“Systems based on artificial intelligence will be able to capture this cancer in the early stages, when only small deviations in blood counts are visible, which are picked up by artificial intelligence, not necessarily through the eyes of a doctor, often still officially within the norm, but already changing in time.”
According the World Cancer Research Fund there were over 1 million diagnosed cases of blood cancers in 2018, with many more going undiagnosed.
Co-Founder Szymon Piątkowski told TFN: “Currently the programme is in something like clinical trials, we have two sources who are testing this and giving us feedback on the system.
“With a bigger database the algorithms will improve, currently we obtain data from hospitals and specific patients who match a profile we are investigating.”
According the World Cancer Research Fund there were over 1 million diagnosed cases of blood cancers in 2018, with many more going undiagnosed. A key factor in getting a positive outcome from treatment is early diagnosis, something that the Saventic algorithm will help with.
Co-founder Professor Grzegorz Basak said the new platform will be able to spot cancer in its early stages.
Piątkowski said: “Our test can be used as a screening, a standard test that is done every year or even every quarter.
“It will be cheap and provide long term savings. The individual will build up a biological profile, in sports this exists already and is known as a biological passport, and this will provide better reference and analysis for the algorithm.”
The algorithm can be broadened to check for all types of cancers and potentially a variety of other diseases which can be identified by changes in patient’s blood tests.
Saventic was set up in 2018 and the name is an amalgamation of ‘save’ and ‘diagnostic’.
The biological passports that are used in athlete testing, a more sophisticated method to check athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, could become the norm for all citizens.
The algorithm would then be able to compare past results and current levels, better identifying real problems and dismissing false positives.
