Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Cancer Treatment

Artificial intelligence may explode with the launch of ChatGPT, but scientists have been thinking for years about how this technology can improve cancer care.

Some hospitals around the world have already started using this technology, but experts say patients should not worry about it replacing healthcare professionals.

They say the biggest use of this technology in healthcare is to analyze the information that healthcare workers have already collected.

David Speakman, the outgoing Chief Medical Officer of the Melbourne Cancer Centre, said, "Artificial intelligence is like a tsunami."

He predicts that within three years, AI tools will be used to monitor vital signs such as blood pressure and oxygen levels to predict downward trends before patients develop problems.

Dr. Speakman said, "There is no doubt that it is much faster than humans."

"If you ask me, 'What is the biggest thing that AI can do in medicine in the near future?' It is this kind of thing, because its ability will quickly change the situation for many patients."

AI programs are currently being tested to determine the type of cancer a patient has and where the cancer will spread based on live tissue examinations on slides, but this will take some time.

Starting in 2024, radiologist Dr. Helen Frazer will lead a trial using AI to analyze breast X-rays.

Dr. Frazer explained, "We recall many women every year for cancer indicator assessments, and these women are eventually determined to be cancer-free."

Interpreting scans is complex. Each person has to be examined by at least two doctors, which takes about two weeks.

The trial results will not be revealed until about five years later, but if successful, AI could potentially play the role of at least one doctor in screening.

Dr. Frazer said, "If we can really reduce those repetitive, more mundane tasks and use the capabilities of AI to accomplish them, it will allow us to spend more time with patients and more time studying those more complex breast X-rays."

She said, "If we can personalize screening before cancer spreads and detect it earlier, we are one step closer to cancer becoming a curable disease."

Karin Verspoor, Head of the Department of Computer Science at RMIT University, said many people think of AI as robots or intelligent machines, but it is more like simulated intelligence, and its best use is to find patterns in large datasets.

Dr. Verspoor said at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance Research Conference, "I have spent a lot of time explaining AI because there is a lot of hype, a lot of mysterious ideas and concerns."

She said that language processing programs like ChatGPT are far less mature than image processing, but this situation may change.

She expects that within ten years, AI devices for monitoring and collecting patient samples will be available in remote areas, built on remote healthcare systems, reducing travel time and breaking down healthcare barriers.

She said, "Now people are paying more and more attention to these technologies, and we will see them spreading faster and faster... because people can see their value."

For Dr. Speakman, it is important to reassure patients that no product will be launched without rigorous testing, and it can never replace the role of clinical doctors.