Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. With 1.8 million deaths in 2020, according to the WHO( World Health Organization).
According to a study published in Nature called “Deep learning predicts cardiovascular disease risks from lung cancer screening low dose computed tomography”, researchers got to know that with the help of AI (artificial intelligence), lung cancer and cardiovascular health can be screened through the usage of low-dose computed tomography.
This can help to reduce the risk of developing lung and cardiovascular diseases. The study was a result of a combined effort by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr Colin Jacobs, Ph.D. assistant professor in the Department of Medical Imaging at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen said “As it does not require manual interpretation of nodule imaging characteristics, the proposed algorithm may reduce the substantial interobserver variability in CT interpretation,” . He further added, “This may lead to fewer unnecessary diagnostic interventions, lower radiologists’ workload and reduce costs of lung cancer screening.”
Lung cancer can be caused by many risk factors other than smoking. The treatments for lung cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy etc. The recent study would be a great help
The researchers plan to continue bettering the algorithm by assimilating clinical parameters like age, sex and smoking history. Experts are also working on a deep learning algorithm that takes multiple Computed Tomography(CT) examinations as input.
Dr Jacobs and the team have developed other algorithms to extract imaging features from the chest CT related to chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cardiovascular diseases. They will be inspecting how to effectively integrate these imaging features into the current algorithm.
Ms Kalinga AI