Using Artificial Intelligence to Track Asbestos-Related Cancer:
While mesothelioma is a relatively rare cancer, it’s also a particularly fatal cancer. Doctors diagnose more than 3,000 people in the U.S. each year. The average age for a diagnosis is about 72 years of age because the damage caused by asbestos exposure that leads to mesothelioma happens gradually over decades. Many of those diagnosed with this deadly disease faced exposure at work many years ago, with those employed in construction, in shipyards, as firefighters, and at industrial and power plants facing the greatest risk.
Treating Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is particularly difficult to treat because it’s a cancer highly resistant to chemotherapy. One of the most challenging aspects of treating mesothelioma is that it’s been difficult to objectively measure and track changes in mesothelioma tumors during treatment because of how they grow. As a result, it can be hard to know if a particular therapy successfully treats mesothelioma.Professor Kevin Blyth, who runs a specialist clinic for mesothelioma patients in Scotland, explained to the BBC that most tumors are “relatively straightforward” to measure. He said, “[m]esothelioma is almost like the peel of an orange, it forms like a rind around the lung and if you take a scan of that tumour, it is a very complex shape. To measure changes in that shape is very difficult.” Now, researchers in Scotland are using an artificial intelligence (AI) prototype to tack this problem.
Artificial Intelligence to Track Mesothelioma
Researchers developed the AI prototype to recognize tumors. They then showed the prototype more than 100 CT scans already reviewed by physicians. The AI was able to recognize and independently measure the tumors. Scientists believe that the speed with which AI can measure and track tumors will replace time-consuming hand measurements, allowing clinicians to detect even small changes in tumor size. For a cancer that’s so difficult to treat, this AI prototype can make assessing treatment possibilities in clinical trials much more feasible.If you or a loved one faces an asbestos-related diagnosis, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the Madeksho Law Firm at 1-888-910-MESO (6376) or through our online form. Your initial consultation is free, and you won’t pay a fee unless we recover compensation on your behalf.
