'AI to be a major game changer in cancer detection, treatment'

Artificial Intelligence AI is making great leaps in medical science Scientific journal lsquoRadiologyrsquo in its recently published study on the new AI system AsymMiraim has revealed that AI can help detect breast cancer in five yearsThis study can help save the lives of tens of thousands of women across the world who die from the disease owing to late detectionSurging breast cancer cases in IndiaIn February the government revealed before the Lok Sabha that breast cancer was the most common type of cancer in the world in 2022 The then Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare quoted data collated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer IARC a part of the World Health Organization WHO Around 66 lakh women died owing to the disease of which the highest ndash 98337 ndash were reported from India in 2022 Late detection is one of the prime reasons for the higher number of fatalities in India Thus AI can play a revolutionary role in bringing down deaths and improving the survival rate of breast cancer patientsEarly detectionIn 2019 a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technologyrsquos MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory CSAIL and Massachusetts General Hospital MGH came up with a learning model to predict the possibility of developing malignancy in the future by simply going through a mammogram Using their model the researchers studied the mammograms of more than 60000 patients who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer They discovered the subtle patterns in breast tissue that are precursors to malignancy the CSAIL website statedAccording to Dr Chaitra Deshpande Radiation Oncologist at OncoLife Cancer Centre AI can help in new screening methods for most cancers She is also hopeful that in the future it will come up with ways to screen and treat head and neck cancers which are usually detected late AI tools are also helpful in determining premalignant tumours said Dr DeshpandeDr Atul Narayankar Consultant Medical Oncologist at Wockhardt Hospital Mira Road said for prostate and colon cancer AI might be able to establish cancer cells in a patient even before traditional procedures of diagnoses such as biopsy or colonoscopy are done He said a few years ago the US Food and Drug Administration approved GI Genius for detecting lesions According to the FDA website GI Genius is the first device that uses AIbased machine learning to help medical practitioners detect suspected tumours in the colon in realtime during a colonoscopyNew approaches to treatmentAI is also making great strides in treating cancers Dr Deshpande highlighted that AIbased synchrony can help in the treatment of various cancers with better precision and fewer side effectsRadiation therapy is one of the treatments given to cure patients and prevent cancer cells from coming back However it does have side effectsA resident from South Mumbai who did not wish to be named revealed that she suffered a heart ailment following her radiation therapy for stage3 cancerDr Deshpande said AI can help in protecting other organs from radiationldquoLetrsquos say we are treating breast cancer with radiation Though the cancer might be present only in the breast radiation will also have harmful effects on the nearby organs such as the lungs and the heart However with AI we can target only the area that has cancer thereby reducing the side effects of radiation on the other parts of the bodyrdquo said Dr DeshpandeDr Narayankar said as AI can bring better precision it can help more patients in getting treatment on a given day ldquoAround 1520 patients can be given radiation therapy in a given day With AI more patients can be given radiation which will bring down their waiting timerdquo said Dr Narayankar adding that AI can also help in detecting mutation accordingly suggesting precision in targeted therapy He also said that AI can establish models to detect future mutationsSpeaking about the role of AI in providing remote counselling to patients Dr Narayankar said ldquoLetrsquos assume a patient cannot go to the medical centre to receive treatment AI can feed their data and monitor and manage side effectsrdquoConcernsAlong with several benefits there are also a few concerns about the role of AI models in the field of medical field There are fears of AI eventually replacing or reducing medical practitioners in radiology and pathology However the best outcomes are likely to be established only if medical practitioners augment the use of AI models and feel expertsldquoAt the end of the day an AI model will have to be provided with data And eventually it is the doctors who take a call on the exact course of treatment for patientsrdquo said Dr NarayankarDr Deshpande has also pointed out that while AIbased synchrony treatments are expensive the costs are likely to come down once the technology catches upSpeaking on similar lines Dr Narayankar said that fewer patients were being detected in India until some years back But now with a steep surge in cancer cases more hospitals and medical centres are likely to adopt AIbased models which will eventually bring the costs down When asked if AI models could be adopted on a national or state level for cancer diagnoses he said that it is very much a possibility in the futureIn January the Apollo Cancer Centre in Bengaluru launched Indiarsquos first AIPrecision Oncology Centre POC which is likely to help oncologists provide the best possible results to patients in a timebound mannerTalking about the centre Dr Vijay Agarwal Lead and Senior Consultant Medical Oncology said ldquoThe Centre will support new patient identification through autoalerts to operational teams Patient SOS autoalerts to operational teams on deteriorating health outcomes for intervention and the necessary clinical escalation form another key feature of the centrerdquoHow does it make a difference in other fieldsAcross medical specialities AI can reduce the burnout experienced by practitioners by automating administrative tasks and leaving doctors to focus solely on the treatment and providing better care for patients This is crucial at a time when several countries are facing a shortage of medical practitionersAI models are also being used in tuberculosis TB screening A startup named Qureai has been providing its AI device for TB screening to many health facilities in Mumbai for the past four yearsDespite the challenges and concerns the future of AI in the medical field looks promising as there is hope that it can make great strides in treating major illnesses