Scientists win $2.78 million grant to utilize artificial intelligence for precision treatment of rectal cancer

Thanks to a up-to-date five-year, $2.78 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, researchers at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals (UH) will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to better treat rectal disease. cancer patients.

The American Cancer Society estimates that about 46,000 people nationwide will be diagnosed with rectal cancer this year – the third most common type of digestive cancer after colon and pancreatic cancer.

Using artificial intelligence, researchers aim to obtain detailed data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to better understand how rectal cancers respond to therapy. The up-to-date information is a key advance in overcoming the problems clinicians face in assessing which tumors die or regress significantly after therapy and which do not.

Our goal is to develop up-to-date types of radiomics signatures, including computational analysis of radiological and pathological images, to determine how well these patients responded to therapy. This will enable doctors to better personalize treatments for rectal cancer patients.”

Satish Viswanath, professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve and principal investigator of the grant

The study will analyze medical images of more than 900 rectal cancer patients using artificial intelligence, a up-to-date biology-based approach to radiomics. The research will also include data collected in a previous clinical trial involving patients with rectal cancer.

Based on the information collected, researchers will analyze patients’ response to treatment. Their goal is to develop a non-invasive and correct method to identify rectal cancer patients who have no tumor remaining after treatment, thus reducing the number of unnecessary surgeries and related complications in these patients.

“This study has great potential to uncover characteristics of dying cancers based on mining features that are typically concealed to the naked eye,” said Andrei S. Purysko, associate professor of radiology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and co-principal investigator. “We will also be integrating artificial intelligence into clinical assessment to develop a way to incorporate AI signatures into the clinical process.”

Viswanath’s team will lead the work with support from the up-to-date Center for the Discovery of Artificial Intelligence in Disease Biology at the CWRU School of Medicine, combining medical sciences and artificial intelligence.

Dean of the School of Medicine Stan Gerson recently announced the creation of the up-to-date center, also co-directed by Viswanath, as an extension of the school’s mission to improve human health through scientific discovery and education.

“This study will provide real survival and quality of life benefits to our rectal cancer patients and is the first of many to be conducted at the up-to-date center,” Gerson said. “This partnership proves how essential it is for medical institutions and disciplines to come together and develop up-to-date therapeutic modalities for our cancer patients.”

Emily Steinhagen, a colorectal surgeon at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and principal investigator, also leads the team, along with colleagues in the departments of radiology, pathology, oncology, biostatistics and surgery at CWRU, Cleveland Clinic, UH and Medical College Wisconsin.

“The ability to accurately assess response to chemotherapy and radiation therapy will lend a hand us personalize care by appropriately selecting patients for nonsurgical treatment, and the results of this study will lend a hand us improve outcomes for all patients treated for rectal cancer,” Steinhagen said.