Artificial intelligence in pancreatic cancer

Theranostics. 2022 Oct 3;12(16):6931-6954. doi: 10.7150/thno.77949. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest disease, with a five-year overall survival rate of just 11%. The pancreatic cancer patients diagnosed with early screening have a median overall survival of nearly ten years, compared with 1.5 years for those not diagnosed with early screening. Therefore, early diagnosis and early treatment of pancreatic cancer are particularly critical. However, as a rare disease, the general screening cost of pancreatic cancer is high, the accuracy of existing tumor markers is not enough, and the efficacy of treatment methods is not exact. In terms of early diagnosis, artificial intelligence technology can quickly locate high-risk groups through medical images, pathological examination, biomarkers, and other aspects, then screening pancreatic cancer lesions early. At the same time, the artificial intelligence algorithm can also be used to predict the survival time, recurrence risk, metastasis, and therapy response which could affect the prognosis. In addition, artificial intelligence is widely used in pancreatic cancer health records, estimating medical imaging parameters, developing computer-aided diagnosis systems, etc. Advances in AI applications for pancreatic cancer will require a concerted effort among clinicians, basic scientists, statisticians, and engineers. Although it has some limitations, it will play an essential role in overcoming pancreatic cancer in the foreseeable future due to its mighty computing power.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; early detection; machine learning; pancreatic cancer; prognosis prediction.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Artificial Intelligence*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Humans
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / diagnosis

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor