Chinese AI innovation identifies oesophageal cancer lesions at double rate of doctors’ assessment by eye: paper
- Algorithm that highlights lesions on the gullet for doctors during an endoscopy is now used in hundreds of hospitals in China
- Early detection is key as the cancer has five-year survival rate of more than 90 per cent when treated endoscopically or surgically before symptoms show
The researchers said the algorithm was now used in hundreds of hospitals across China. It works by highlighting lesions on the gullet for doctors during an endoscopy – a medical procedure to observe the digestive tract using a camera – in real time on a monitor.
“Deep-learning assistance may enhance early diagnosis and treatment of oesophageal cancer and may become a useful tool for oesophageal cancer screening,” the team wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine on April 17.
The researchers are from Taizhou Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Zhejiang University School Medicine Affiliated Hangzhou Cancer Hospital and Wenling First People’s Hospital in Taizhou.
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Oesophageal cancer ranks as the seventh most common cancer globally and the sixth leading cause of cancer-related death. Asia, especially East and Central Asia, has a higher incidence of the disease than other parts of the world.
Early detection is key because oesophageal cancer has a five-year survival rate of more than 90 per cent when treated endoscopically or surgically before symptoms show. But most patients develop an advanced stage of the disease once they start experiencing symptoms.
