Artificial intelligence can be trained to spot pancreatic cancer risk three years before diagnosis: study
CTV
According to a new study, AI algorithms may be the key to identifying who is at the most risk of developing one of the most notoriously difficult cancers to diagnose early: pancreatic cancer.
According to a new study, artificial intelligence algorithms may be the key to identifying who is at the most risk of developing one of the most notoriously difficult cancers to diagnose early: pancreatic cancer.
In a study published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine, researchers found that with the help of AI, they were able to identify those most at risk for developing pancreatic cancer around three years before diagnosis purely by using the patients’ medical records.
It could be a game-changer in battling this type of cancer, which is fast-growing and hard to detect, researchers say.
“One of the most important decisions clinicians face day to day is who is at high risk for a disease, and who would benefit from further testing, which can also mean more invasive and more expensive procedures that carry their own risks,” Chris Sander, faculty member in the Department of Systems Biology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and study co-senior investigator, said in a press release.
“An AI tool that can zero in on those at highest risk for pancreatic cancer who stand to benefit most from further tests could go a long way toward improving clinical decision-making.”
A family history of pancreatic cancer and the presence of certain genetic mutations will flag individual patients for targeted screenings and early testing, but this still leaves many patients slipping through the cracks who had no way to know they were at a higher risk.
Identifying any cancer early on is important for recovery, but it’s especially urgent with pancreatic cancer, which is one of the most difficult cancers to detect in its early stages when it’s most curable.
