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The U.S. Patent Office has awarded a patent to Techcyte for automatically detecting objects in pap smears using hidden features and auxiliary ground truth

Techcyte, a leading developer of AI-based image analysis solutions, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent to automatically detect objects in microscopy slides using hidden features and auxiliary ground truth.

“The initial use of this technology is to identify precancerous and cancerous cells, along with other diagnostically important organisms, in pap smears,” said Michael Murdock, a machine learning engineer at Techcyte. “The technology in this patent will help save women’s lives throughout the world and can be used to improve other algorithms being developed at Techcyte.”

Techcyte is using AI-based image analysis to help cytotechnicians read pap smears more quickly, easily, and accurately than the existing systems on the market. By combining the strengths of an AI algorithm’s ability to quickly analyze 100% of a liquid-based slide and a cytotechnicians enhanced ability to confirm the proposed atypical cells, Techcyte’s solution increases accuracy while decreasing the time and cost to read each pap smear.

“Several sites around the world are performing clinical trials of Techcyte’s new digital cervical cytology solution,” said Rob Fotheringham, cervical cytology product manager at Techcyte. “Techcyte’s solution analyzes a liquid-based cervical cytology slide and proposes the most atypical cells, which are then quickly confirmed by a cytotechnician.”