Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) A diagnosis system that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) for the rapid screening of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been developed by an interdisciplinary research team led by a professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). The electroencephalography (EEG)-based computer-aided diagnosis system, which integrates different technologies, including EEG signal processing, circuits and electronics, AI, cognitive neuroscience, and medical science, has demonstrated a high level of accuracy and usability in assisting AD and MCI diagnosis, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) on Wednesday. As a result, the system is also expected to facilitate early intervention and reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia. Liu Yi-hung (劉益宏), a professor at NTUST who has led the research team since 2017, collaborated with Tsai Chia-fen (蔡佳芬), a doctor in the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and Wu Chien-te (吳建德), a professor at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo. They developed the nonlinearly multiple EEG feature decoding technique and identified the most MCI-sensitive brain areas by using machine learning methods.

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) A team at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify tumors in the pancreas with an accuracy of over 90 percent. At a press conference on Tuesday where the team introduced the technology, NTUH doctor Liao Wei-chih (廖偉智) said that pancreatic cancer was the seventh deadliest type of cancer in Taiwan in 2019, causing nearly 2,500 deaths that year. The disease is extremely hard to detect, however, as patients experience no symptoms during the early stages, and studies have found that 40 percent of pancreatic tumors that are smaller than 2 centimeters are missed when doctors use CT scans, Liao said. This is because these small tumors do not look like lumps, but appear to be a thin layer of gray film, Liao explained, which is a challenge for even the most experienced of experts to identify. As a result of these difficulties, patients are often only diagnosed when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, thus complicating treatment, he said.