Google DeepMind teams up with London hospitals to put machine learning to work against head and neck cancers

Google's machine learning subsidiary DeepMind has kicked off a new research partnership with the radiotherapy department at the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a provider organization that specializes in cancer treatment. DeepMind and clinicians in UCLH's radiotherapy team are exploring whether machine learning methods can reduce the amount of time it takes to plan radiotherapy treatment for cancers of the head and neck. To that end, 1 in 75 men and 1 in 150 women will be diagnosed with oral cancer during their lifetime, and oral cavity cancer has risen by 92 percent since the 1970s, DeepMind said. Head and neck cancer in general affects more than 11,000 patients in the U.K. alone each year, the firm added. "Advances in treatment such as radiotherapy have improved survival rates, but because of the high number of delicate structures concentrated in this area of the body, clinicians have to plan treatment extremely carefully to ensure none of the vital nerves or organs are damaged," DeepMind said.