The European consortium ARTILLERY (Artificial Intelligence for early detection of non-communicable disease risk in people with breast cancer) has been awarded a Horizon Europe grant of 6 million euros.
Thanks to ever better care and treatments, patients with breast cancer are living longer. However, the treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, entail an increased risk of chronic diseases for these (former) patients, such as obesity or cardiovascular disease.
CT scans made on patients treated with radiotherapy contain, in addition to information about where the tumor is located, information about predictive factors for the development of chronic diseases after the treatment process.
For example, the presence of calcium in the coronary arteries of the heart, which is visible on the scans, appears to be a good predictor for the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. And an unfavorable distribution of fat and muscle tissue is predictive of chemotherapy side effects.
This information is not reported at this time. The ARTILLERY consortium will develop AI methods to predict the risk of chronic diseases in (former) breast cancer patients. Both patients and practitioners are part of the consortium to ensure that only algorithms are developed that are relevant to both patient and doctor.
Bron:
UMC Utrecht