An artificial intelligence model from the Mayo Clinic detected abnormalities on scans up to three years before patients were diagnosed. It’s being evaluated in a clinical trial.<\/p>\n
By the time doctors detect pancreatic cancer, it\u2019s often too late to treat effectively. But a new study suggests that artificial intelligence might be able to find signs of the disease before tumors are visible on a scan.<\/p>\n
An AI model developed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, detected abnormalities on patients\u2019 CT scans up to three years before they were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, according to research\u00a0published this week<\/a>\u00a0in the journal Gut.<\/p>\n The scientists behind the model, which is now being evaluated in a clinical trial, trained it by feeding it CT scans from patients who had been screened for other medical conditions then were later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The team then had radiologists review the scans and compared their ability to find early signs of cancer to that of the AI model. The model was found to be three times better at identifying the early signs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew, based on the biology of the disease, that this is not something which is coming all of a sudden in three months. \u2026 We knew that the signal was there. We just needed to find a way to be able to detect it,\u201d said Dr. Ajit Goenka, a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic and an author of the study.<\/p>\n With a\u00a0five-year survival rate of 13%<\/a>, pancreatic cancer is on track to become the\u00a0second leading cause of cancer deaths<\/a>\u00a0by 2030. Around 80% of patients are diagnosed after the disease has reached an advanced stage.<\/p>\n Unlike colon or breast cancer, there is no routine screening for pancreatic cancer in healthy people. Feeling for a lump is nearly impossible, since the pancreas is buried deep in the abdomen. And typical symptoms like stomach pain and sudden weight loss usually don\u2019t begin until the cancer has spread to other organs.<\/p>\n