Only through international cooperation can AI improve patient lives

The largest prostate cancer biopsy dataset – involving over 95,000 images – has been created by researchers in Sweden to ensure AI can be trained to diagnose and grade prostate cancer for real world clinical applications. The researchers will call today, at the European Association of Urology annual congress (EAU22), for large-scale clinical trials of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and greater global coordination to ensure that AI enhanced diagnostics, prognostication, and treatment selection can help save lives. There is a shortage of pathologists around the world, both generalists and those specialised in urology. AI can help in detecting prostate cancer at an early stage, but because of the vast differences in the way clinics prepare samples, scan images and in the diverse patient populations they serve, many algorithms do not have universal application. The team, from Karolinska Institutet, worked with colleagues from Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, University of Turku in Finland and Google Health in the US to run an AI competition involving nearly 1,300 developers from around the world.