Bayer teams up with Huma to apply AI to lung cancer diagnosis

A research project between Bayer and digital health company Huma will use artificial intelligence to detect lung cancer in CT scans – and determine which type a patient has, in order to direct treatment. AI is already being applied by a number of groups, with some studies indicating it can even be more effective than trained radiologists in detecting subtle patterns that indicate the presence of tumours. About 75% of patients with lung cancer die within five years of diagnosis, but prospects rise significantly if it is detected while still confined to the lung. At the moment, that happens in only around a third of cases. Bayer and Huma's project wants to go a step further than detecting the presence or absence of a tumour.