Incorporation of AI could transform cancer diagnosis in UK - PM May

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 21 2018

Br Dr Ananya Mandal, MD

According to Prime Minister Theresa May, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is soon to change the scene in cancer and other disease diagnosis. She is to speak today in Macclesfield where she would acknowledge AI as a “new weapon” that is being used by the NHS and technology companies in research.

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According to experts, use of AI in diagnostics can prevent at least 22,000 cancer deaths annually by the year 2033. Diagnosis of ovarian, lung, prostate and bowel cancers early on could reduce the number of deaths by 10 percent in 15 years the experts add. AI can help in a major way to prevent deaths due to diabetes, dementia and heart disease as well.

Mrs. May would add in her speech the new high skilled jobs that AI inclusion in diagnostics could create. She would speak of the “whole new industry” that would grow around AI in clinical practice and healthcare. Her statement reads, “Late diagnosis of otherwise treatable illnesses is one of the biggest causes of avoidable deaths…And the development of smart technologies to analyse great quantities of data quickly and with a higher degree of accuracy than is possible by human beings opens up a whole new field of medical research.” Experts say that the computer algorithms would not look closely at all the relevant and seemingly non-relevant patient data and records including their genetics and lifestyle and predict and spot the cancer as early as possible.

Sir Harpal Kumar, chief executive officer of Cancer Research called the inclusion of AI in cancer diagnosis a pioneering idea but cautioned that the right infrastructure must be in place within the healthcare system to make this a reality. Simon Gillespie, chief executive at the British Heart Foundation was also hopeful that AI could analyze MRI scans and catch heart disease early. This early diagnosis, he said could lead to early as well as individualized treatment that could save lives.

In her speech Mrs. May is set to announce a healthy target for five years to make people healthier, more independent and more active by 2035. Initially the AI centres would be near the key research centres in Oxford, Edinburgh and Leeds. In her speech she would be pledging millions of pounds from government funding to develop AI in healthcare for early diagnosis of cancer and other chronic diseases.