AI-based system improves bladder cancer treatment response assessment

In a small but multi-institutional study, an artificial intelligence-based system improved providers' assessments of whether patients with bladder cancer had complete response to chemotherapy before a radical cystectomy (bladder removal surgery). Yet the researchers caution that AI isn't a replacement for human expertise and that their tool shouldn't be used as such. "If you use the tool smartly, it can help you," said Lubomir Hadjiyski, Ph.D., a professor of radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School and the senior author of the study. When patients develop bladder cancer, surgeons often remove the entire bladder in an effort to keep the cancer from returning or spreading to other organs or areas. More evidence is building, though, that surgery may not be necessary if a patient has zero evidence of disease after chemotherapy.