Men assessed as healthy after a pathologist analyses their tissue sample may still have an early form of prostate cancer. Using AI, researchers at Uppsala University have been able to find subtle tissue changes that allow the cancer to be detected long before it becomes visible to the human eye.
Previous research has demonstrated that AI is able to detect tissue changes indicative of cancer. In the current study, published in Scientific Reports, the researchers show that AI can also find cancers missed by pathologists.
“The study has been nicknamed the ‘missed study’, as the goal of finding the cancer was ‘missed’ by the pathologists. We have now shown that with the help of AI, it is possible to find signs of prostate cancer that were not observed by pathologists in more than 80 per cent of samples from men who later developed cancer,” says Carolina Wählby, who led the AI development in the study.
“When we looked at the patterns that the AI ranked as informative, we saw changes in the tissue surrounding the glands in the prostate”, says Carolina Wählby. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.