National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of detecting pancreatic tumors smaller than 2cm, potentially increasing patients’ five-year survival rate to 80 percent.
In a news release yesterday, the hospital said its launch of the technology, named PANCREASaver, late last year represents a major breakthrough in the early detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic tumors are among the deadliest cancers due to their typically asymptomatic onset, difficulty in early detection and rapid progression, NTUH radiologist Chen Po-ting (陳柏廷) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Globally, about 90 percent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die from the disease, he added.
Only 2 to 3 percent of people with pancreatic cancer are fortunate enough to be diagnosed when their tumor is smaller than 2cm, and just 10 to 15 percent are diagnosed while the tumor remains operable, although even then, the risk of recurrence remains high, he said.
About 80 percent of patients are diagnosed only after the tumor has progressed to an inoperable stage, he added.
While early detection of tumors smaller than 2cm is critical for improving the chances of survival, identifying them through medical imaging is difficult with the naked eye, he said.
“With the sheer amount of images doctors have to process on a daily basis, [finding a small tumor] is like looking for a needle at the bottom of the ocean,” Chen said.
Clinical trials showed that PANCREASaver achieved an 86.4 percent success rate in detecting pancreatic tumors smaller than 2cm, and a 93.4 percent success rate for pancreatic tumor detection overall, he said.
Testing conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare using archived medical images found the system had a 74.4 percent success rate, he added.
The AI-powered system can analyze medical images and highlight suspicious regions for radiologists to review, completing the process within two minutes, Chen said.
In the past, physicians often had no choice but to passively observe people suspected of having pancreatic tumors, which could prove deadly, as tumors can grow beyond 2cm in just three months, said Liao Wei-chi (廖偉智), director of the hospital’s integrated diagnosis and therapeutics department.
PANCREASaver has obtained four patents in Taiwan and the US, and research on the technology has been published in Lancet Digital Health and other leading medical journals, he added.
The technology allows people to receive a diagnosis within a week, but it is not suitable for people with stents, other metal implants or a history of prior surgeries, said Chen Shyh-jye (陳世杰), director of the hospital’s Medical Imaging Technology Department.
PANCREASaver is available at the hospital as a self-paid image analysis service.
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