Qure.ai Unveils World’s 1st AI-Powered Paediatric Screening Tool for TB

The AI-based chest X-ray screening tool is reportedly to secure its CE Class IIb certification to screen children aged 0–3 years. This extends its paediatric coverage, which was previously approved up to age 15, and thus covers the entire childhood spectrum.

Mumbai-based healthtech startup Qure.ai has unveiled its AI-based chest X-ray screening tool, qXR for children.

The AI-based chest X-ray screening tool is set to secure its CE Class IIb certification to screen children aged 0–3 years. This extends its paediatric coverage previously, which was approved up to age 15, thus covering the entire childhood spectrum.

According to Qure.ai, the new clearance means that health systems and national TB programmes can now deploy the tool to “identify children at highest risk of active TB even in the absence of symptoms.”

The company further highlights that globally, in 2023, roughly 1.3 million children under 15 fell ill with TB, which encompasses about 12 % of total cases, while children under 5 accounted for more than three-quarters of TB-related deaths in that age group.

By integrating artificial intelligence with imaging, Qure.ai’s tool aims to screen broadly, prioritise high-risk cases, support clinicians’ decisions, and generate actionable results more quickly.

Commenting on the launch, Dr Shibu Vijayan, Chief Medical Officer, Global Health at Qure.ai, commented: “Achieving CE clearance for AI-enabled Chest X-ray screening in children is a major step forward in the fight against paediatric TB. The youngest children have long been the hardest to reach and the most vulnerable.”

He further noted the company’s pride in equipping global health systems with a “scalable, reliable way to detect TB early, prioritise care, and ultimately save lives.”

Moreover, the cleared tool is reportedly to be used in conjunction with Qure.ai’s qTrack platform, which incorporates a “Treatment Decision Algorithm A” (TDA) aligned with the World Health Organisation’s Consolidated Guidelines on Tuberculosis: Module 5 – Management of Tuberculosis in Children and Adolescents (2022).

The combined solution is expected to enable structured data entry and automated computation of algorithmic parameters to aid diagnosis in children who cannot undergo microbiological testing or are bacteriologically negative.

With the extension of AI-based screening to the youngest age groups, Qure.ai aims to bolster global efforts to address the silent crisis of paediatric TB and strengthen health-system readiness for the next wave of diagnostic innovation.

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