Artificial intelligence helps detect ovarian cancer early and accurately

Ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose, particularly in its early stages, when survival rates are much higher. Because there is no consistently reliable screening test to detect ovarian cancer, most women are diagnosed with the disease when it's in an advanced stage. However, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a non-invasive diagnostic test using artificial intelligence for the accurate detection of true cases of early-stage disease. Results of their study were published online this week in the journal eLife. By combining next generation sequencing with artificial intelligence, researchers have created a novel blood test based on serum microRNAs--small, non-coding pieces of genetic material that help control where and when genes are activated--for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.