The Institut Curie has developed artificial intelligence capable of identifying cancers that are undetectable by traditional means.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine is beginning to emerge with cutting-edge solutions. In the case of Wilfried, a patient in his fifties, it was an AI that detected the origin of his cancer despite the doctors’ examinations.
Wilfrid lives in Cherbourg. In 2019, he is teaching a class when suddenly he has an epileptic seizure. When he wakes up in the hospital, he learns that he is suffering from cancer and that he has two brain tumours.
“The analyzes could not, with the human eye, determine the primitive origin of my cancer”, testifies Wilfrid.
He was operated successfully but unfortunately the tumors appeared in the brain as well as in the back. In view of the extent of the tumours, the medical profession decided to start chemotherapy treatment. Wilfrid then integrates the CAPI protocol: cancer with unknown primary history, which uses AI.
Get to grips with the tool as quickly as possible
In this way, the AI was able to determine what the doctors could not say with certainty. In December 2022, the AI deduces 90% that the kidneys are the cause of the cancer. The software makes hypotheses from a database in which more than 20,000 RNA profiles of different tumors have been entered.
“We analyzed, sequenced these tumors, and submitted the profiles to our artificial intelligence tool. In 80% of cases, the tool was able to give us a diagnosis of tissues of origin with precision scores which were extremely high”, explains Sarah Watson, doctor at the Institut Curie, to BFMTV.
For her, the medical profession must appropriate the tool as quickly as possible: “We must be able to use this tool as we learned to use a stethoscope, radiology machines”.
She also emphasizes that it will be necessary to be able to identify the limits and biases of artificial intelligence machines. For the moment, 80 people have integrated the CAPI protocol.
