These AI projects are improving cancer screening and outcomes

Cancer is the leading cause of death around the world and a key barrier in increasing life expectancy in almost every country. The World Health Organization estimates, between 2000-2019, cancer was the first or second leading cause of death before the age of 70 in 112 of 183 countries and ranks third or fourth in a further 23 countries.

For both sexes combined, one-half of all cases and 58.3% of cancer deaths were estimated to occur in Asia in 2020, where 59.5% of the global population resides. It is this part of the world which faces composite challenges in terms of cancer care: failure to translate policy and planning into action; resource constraints in terms of infrastructure and human resources; gaps in service availability; lack of spending on healthcare etc.

Emerging technologies are the fulcrum we need to bridge the healthcare divide in the continuum of care for cancer. Artificial intelligence ( AI) has emerged to be this game changer. AI-guided clinical care has the potential to play an important role in reducing health disparities, particularly in low-resource settings. Integration of AI technology in cancer care can improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis, aid clinical decision-making, and lead to better health outcomes.

AI can play a key role in improving cancer screening, aid in the genomic characterization of tumours, accelerate drug discovery and improve cancer surveillance. Cancer is a complex and multifaced disorder with thousands of genetic and epigenetic variations. AI-based algorithms hold great promise to pave the way to identify these genetic mutations and aberrant protein interactions at a very early stage. Modern biomedical research is also focused on bringing AI technology to clinics safely and ethically.

Keeping in mind the alacrity of the diseases burden, the Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution of the World Economic Forum India, has initiated a project Fourth Industrial Revolution for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) of Cancer Care. The Indian Council of Medical research has projected that by 2025 India is expected to see a rise of 12% in the number of cancer cases, adding another 1.56 million to the disease burden.

The FIRST cancer care project focusses on leveraging emerging technologies like AI, internet of things (IoT) and blockchain, which can help provide accessible, affordable and quality healthcare in India. The strategy is being formulated by partners across government, clinicians, IT solution providers, academia and civil society organizations. Microsoft has been a key partner of the Forum, and this article highlights how the IT giant is using technology to face the cancer head on.

Microsoft is just one example which is changing the face of cancer care, likewise we see many start-ups which are coming forward to leverage this technology. As time progresses, we will see that by using an AI base system approach, researchers can collaborate in real-time and share knowledge digitally to potentially heal millions.