Healthy Colorado: Pathologists look to AI screening for cancer detection and diagnosis
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Artificial intelligence is used for a lot of things these days, and now it's reaching further into healthcare. One hospital has been on the frontlines of it all, and now the practice is expanding across the country and to Colorado.
"I think we are at the very beginning stages of using AI in medicine," says Anil Parwani, MD. PhD.
Artificial intelligence is woven into many parts of our personal lives. And now, it's supporting fast and accurate detection of prostate cancer.
"Instead of a pathologist spending countless hours counting tables and manual tests that a computer can easily do, we can actually dissect that effort and spend more time on more critical diagnostic issues and reviewing the chart and engaging with the oncologist and patients more," says Dr. Parwani.
The AI machine-learning programs don't replace the expertise of the trained pathologist, but it does help speed up the diagnosis. All the results are checked by a human, but Dr. Parwani says this decision support tool is accurate.
"In targeted areas like cancer, prostate cancer, for example, the accuracy is in the range that you would see with human observers."
Dr. Parwani says new technology in use at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute is helping pathologists pre-screen patients, bringing the most concerning cases to the top of the list. AI can also see cancer cells that are not obvious to the human eye, bank outcomes from each new case, and even predict how quickly a patient's cancer is likely to spread.
"One of the advantages of artificial intelligence is taking away those mundane tasks and provide a virtual assistant to the position," says Dr. Parwani.
In 2018, the center was the first in the nation to go live with digital pathology and it became a more adopted practice during COVID, according to Dr. Parwani. And in 2023 they started working with AI. It's something doctors expect to keep using and see improve.
"We are just starting out in this journey and it will get even better with time and experience," says Dr. Parwani.
Doctors admit that this is a limited focus method right now, but it will improve with time and experience as AI learns new programs. They say it will never replace a physician but it will help free up resources for doctors to focus on other tasks. And here in Colorado, many hospitals are using AI systems as well.
