Scientists Use AI to Predict Brain Cancer Outcomes

Recently scientists have found a way to use AI to predict Brain Cancer. 

Glioblastoma is an extremely aggressive kind of Brain Cancer. Most patients are expected to live for only a year after the diagnosis. Around 250,000 people worldwide each year succumb to this often fatal illness. 

However, scientists were recently able to create a new kind of tool to help cure Glioblastoma. The major issue when it comes to these tumors is that even after surgeries and chemotherapy patients still have cancerous cells. This is because when certain cells are lumped together, they become much more aggressive. To make matters even more challenging, when scientists take histology images (Microscopic images of tissue), it doesn’t outline the entire tumor since most of the visible tissue is dead. 

To counter this problem, scientists took around 410 histology images to create AI models of the brain tissue. How does this help? The models showed which cells clump together and become more aggressive, as well as the genetic makeup of the cells. Both these factors can help doctors to check if cells are still cancerous after surgery and to create drugs that are targeted to glioblastoma. 

Even though scientists have made this breakthrough, there is still much work yet to be done. Running the models is extremely expensive, and needs to be tested on more patients. 

Sources (Information and photos)

Stanford - Med.stanford.edu

Lab Medica - Labmedica.com

Gliocure - gliocure.com