Breast cancer treatment has improved, but the risk of the cancer returning still matters. Predicting recurrence helps doctors choose treatments and avoid unnecessary chemotherapy. A paper in Nature Communications describes an AI test that predicts the chance of breast cancer coming back.
The researchers say the AI test can be faster and cheaper than current genomic tests, which can take weeks and use tissue that is then discarded. The AI combines routine clinical data with pathology slides and basic tumour information.
The team evaluated the method using data from more than 3,500 patients across several countries. The AI separated higher-risk from lower-risk patients and also worked for triple-negative and HER2-positive cancers. The authors say more randomized trials are needed and some have links to a company.
Difficult words
- recurrence — return of a disease after treatment
- predict — say what will happen in the futurePredicting, predicts
- genomic — related to a person's genes or DNA
- pathology — study of disease and sick tissue
- chemotherapy — medicine treatment that kills cancer cells
- trial — a medical study to test a treatmenttrials
- tumour — an abnormal mass or growth in the body
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Do you think faster and cheaper cancer tests are important? Why?
- Would you prefer a test that uses routine clinical data instead of special genomic tests? Why or why not?
- How could avoiding unnecessary chemotherapy help patients?
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