Researchers have developed a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool that can accurately predict tumor regrowth in cancer patients.
After treatment, patients must be closely monitored to ensure that any cancer recurrence is addressed quickly.
The newly developed AI tool has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment by considerably helping doctors in monitoring patients for tumor regrowth.
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Traditional methods involve doctors analyzing and comparing the original amount and spread of cancer to determine regrowth, which is not entirely accurate and is a time cum labor-intensive process. Therefore, multiple clinical oncologists see this AI tool as exciting.
Researchers from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Imperial College London came up with this AI model.
The developing team fed their model with clinical data from 657 NSCLC patients treated at five UK hospitals, including their age, gender, BMI, smoking status, radiotherapy intensity, tumor characteristics, and data on various prognostic factors to better predict the chance of recurrence of tumor in a patient.
Dr. Richard Lee, a consultant physician in respiratory medicine and early diagnosis at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said, “This is an important step forward in being able to use AI to understand which patients are at highest risk of cancer recurrence and to detect this relapse sooner so that re-treatment can be more effective.”
The AI tool can drastically help in the early detection of recurrence in high-risk individuals, ensuring that they receive treatment more quickly. An additional benefit of this AI model is that it would also reduce the workload on hospitals by minimizing unnecessary follow-ups of cancer patients.
“Reducing the number of scans needed in this setting can be helpful, and also reduce radiation exposure, hospital visits, and make more efficient use of valuable NHS resources,” added Lee.
