IIT Madras, THSTI Researchers Develop First India-Specific AI Model for…  

IIT Madras, THSTI Researchers Develop First India-Specific AI Model for…  

Last Updated Feb - 26 - 2024, 06:58 PM | Source : India Today | Visitors : 27

Researchers at IIT Madras and THSTI, as part of the GARBH-Ini program, create the first India-specific AI model, 'Garbhini-GA2,' to accurately determine foetal

As part of the 'Interdisciplinary Group for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes - DBT India Initiative' (GARBH-Ini) program, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, developed the first India-specific Artificial Intelligence (AI) model to precisely determine the age of a foetus in a pregnant woman in the second and third trimesters.

Accurate ‘Gestational Age’ (GA) is necessary for the appropriate care of pregnant women and for determining precise delivery dates. Called ‘Garbhini-GA2’, this is the first late-trimester GA estimation model to be developed and validated using Indian population data.

The most important benefits of this GA model include:

• Currently, the age of a foetus (‘Gestational Age’ or GA) is determined using a formula developed for the Western population
• They are likely to be erroneous when applied in the later part of pregnancy due to variations in the growth of the foetus in the Indian population
• The newly developed ‘Garbhini-GA2’ accurately estimates the age of a foetus for the Indian population, reducing error by almost three times
• This GA model can improve the care delivered by obstetricians and neonatologists, thus reducing maternal and infant mortality rates in India

Welcoming this research, Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, said, “GARBH-Ini is a flagship programme of DBT, and the development of these population-specific models for estimating gestational age is a commendable outcome. These models are being validated across the country.”

This research was undertaken by Dr Himanshu Sinha, Associate Professor, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, Dr Shinjini Bhatnagar, the Principal Investigator of GARBH-Ini programme and a distinguished professor at Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), (See below for complete list of authors) and other researchers.

The findings were published in the prestigious international peer-reviewed journal Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia (DOI: 10.1016/j.lansea.2024.100362)

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