New AI Technology Can Determine Best Type of Cancer Treatment

A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH, USA) is using artificial intelligence (AI) and smart-imaging computer technology for viewing routine medical images — MRIs, CAT scans, tissue biopsies — to determine the best type of cancer treatment.

In addition to detecting patterns beyond what the human eye can see, AI and computers can also determine the likelihood that a patient is going to respond to chemotherapy. A significant number of patients receive a cancer diagnosis, but also get over-treated and over-diagnosed. A recent study in the American Journal of Medicine found that 42% of new cancer patients lose their complete life savings in two years for treatment.

The researchers believe that a significant reduction can be brought about in the number of surgeries and of biopsies in patients who do not require them because they have benign nodules. Their research has been able to determine whether breast cancer patients, and more recently lung cancer patients, need chemotherapy. The technology would not reduce the number of jobs for pathologists or radiologists, but assist them and other clinicians.

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