2023-06-18 05:34:33
New scientific research indicates that artificial intelligence can contribute to the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, the Washington Post reported.
A new study published in Nature Medicine last month showed that AI screening can make early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer possible, leading to more effective treatment.
In scans of patients, an AI tool successfully identified people at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer by reviewing their medical records and finding evidence of an increased risk up to three years before they were diagnosed.
According to the Mayo Clinic, pancreatic cancer is rarely detected in its early stages, when it is most likely to be cured. Because it often does not cause symptoms until it has spread to other organs.
The disease is aggressive and usually diagnosed late with poor outcome, indicating the clear need for early detection.
The researchers used data from patients’ medical records in both the United States and Denmark dating from 1977 to 2020.
The researchers studied a group of 6.2 million Danish patients, 23,985 of whom had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and 3 million veterans receiving care. Through Veterans Affairs, 3,864 of them were eventually diagnosed with the disease.
The researchers used a machine learning model to analyze the data and teach it to predict cancer risk based on symptoms and various diagnostic codes found in patients’ medical records.
“An AI tool that can focus on people most at risk of developing pancreatic cancer could go a long way toward improving clinical decision-making,” said study co-author Chris Sander, a biologist at Harvard Medical School.
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