Artificial intelligence in the treatment of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common worldwide. The new treatment protocols for the disease, such as neoadjuvant chemotherapy, have shown good results in reducing mortality, but they cause significant side effects and the efficacy of the treatment is different in each patient.

A European project aims to clinically validate an artificial intelligence (AI) solution that makes it possible to predict the specific response of each patient to chemotherapy in breast cancer. If all goes well, the artificial intelligence solution will help doctors identify those who may respond best to chemotherapy, reducing the suffering caused by side effects.

The artificial intelligence solution, which is based on a set of radiological data (radiomics AI), will be tested in eight clinical centers around the world: three from the European Union (Spain, Austria and Sweden), two from emerging countries (Poland and Croatia), three from South America (all three in Argentina), one from Africa (Egypt) and one from Eurasia (Turkey). Not only its accuracy, but also its technical robustness, clinical safety, applicability, ethical excellence and legal compliance will be validated.

This will be the first international validation of a radiological solution based on artificial intelligence in breast cancer, which can be implemented by health centers. RadioVal will take into account the health and clinical needs, as well as the socioethics and the existing legislation in the countries in which it is applied.

The RadioVal coordinator and Ramón y Cajal researcher from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of the University of Barcelona (UB), Karim Lekadir, points out that “RadioVal is an unprecedented opportunity to offer evidence of the clinical utility and applicability of radiology based on in artificial intelligence in the treatment of breast cancer”.

Karim Lekadir. (Photo: UB)

The following institutions are participating in the project, which begins this September in Barcelona: Maastricht University (The Netherlands), Quibim SL (Spain), Foundation for Research and Technology (Greece), Maggioli Group (Italy), SHINE 2Europe (Portugal), Nordic Healthcare Group (Finland), La Fe University Hospital in Valencia (Spain), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), Gdansk Medical University (Poland), Zagreb University School of Medicine (Croatia), University Medical Center of Vienna (Austria), Hacettepe University Hospital (Turkey), Alexander Fleming Institute (Argentina), Ain Shams University Hospital (Egypt) and the European Institute for Biomedical Research in Austria. (Source: UB)