Google claims its AI system can grade prostate cancer samples with 72% accuracy

In a study published today in the journal JAMA Oncology, Google researchers claim to have developed an AI system that accurately identifies signs of prostate cancer in biopsies. Building on an algorithm that grades large, surgically removed cancerous segments of prostates, they say their system -- which was developed with support from the Naval Medical Center in San Diego and Verily, Alphabet's life sciences division -- works on the smaller samples extracted during the initial part of cancer care to get diagnoses and prognoses. Prostate cancer biopsies are commonly taken to better evaluate tumors' aggressiveness. The Gleason score, a grading system that classifies cancer cells based on how closely they resemble normal prostate gland tissue, is used to detect problematic masses. But determining which of three Gleason patterns a tumor falls into and assigning a grade based on the relative amounts of pattern in the whole sample is a challenging task -- one that relies on subjective visual inspection and experience.