New York: Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)–based tool for estimating a newly-diagnosed cancer patient’s chances for surviving long term.
The new machine learning tool can estimate a patient-specific prognosis for breast, thyroid and pancreatic cancers.
A cancer survival calculator prototype developed with machine learning showed that for each of three cancer types tested, more factors than cancer stage significantly influenced patients’ survival.
Currently, estimating survival rates for patients with cancer primarily depends on their cancer stage, said lead study author Lauren Janczewski, a general surgical resident at Northwestern University McGaw Medical Center, Chicago.
“There is a multitude of other factors that may influence a patient’s survival beyond just their staging criteria,” Dr Janczewski said. “We sought to develop this Cancer Survival Calculator to provide a more personalized estimate of what patients can expect regarding their cancer prognosis.”
Using a type of AI known as machine learning, the team created a prototype tool called the Cancer Survival Calculator and tested it on a nationwide cancer dataset. Initial tests estimated five-year survival for patients with cancers of the breast, thyroid, and pancreas.
The study aimed to identify the patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics that most greatly influence patient survival for each cancer type.
After cancer experts recommended characteristics to study, the researchers collected relevant information from patients diagnosed in 2015 and 2017 with breast, thyroid, and pancreatic cancers.