Doctors in Montreal are now using artificial intelligence to make radiation treatments for cancer more effective and precise.
“Instead of a few hours of work, it takes a few minutes,” explains Dr. James Tsui, a radiation oncologist at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
Radiation therapy treatments target cancer cells with high doses of radiation to destroy them. To do this, a medical device emits a beam of radiation onto the cancerous tumor.
The medical team must therefore “draw” the organs and their contours to determine as precisely as possible the trajectory to give to the radiation.
“We want to avoid all healthy organs, which we don’t need to irradiate,” says Dr. Tsui.
More patients
This is precision work that takes several hours, in the midst of a shortage of specialized technologists, says the MUHC oncologist.
But thanks to artificial intelligence software, trained on thousands of patients to recognize and draw organs, the work is done in no time.
And the benefits are numerous. The time saved allows for faster access to radiotherapy treatments for patients and allows more of them to be treated.
Standardizing the designs also means there are fewer errors.
Relief
Which was extremely important for a patient like Jean-Claude Guyon, who just completed 28 radiotherapy treatments with Dr. Tsui’s software.
Jean-Claude Guyon, who has a sarcoma in the abdomen, during radiotherapy treatment. Photo provided by JEAN-CLAUDE GUYON
The 63-year-old, who is about to become a grandfather for the first time, discovered this spring that he had abdominal sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer that has formed around his right kidney.
It was essential to stop the progression of the tumor, but also to keep his second kidney healthy, since he will have to have the one taken over by the cancer removed.
“I’m relieved,” says the retired engineer from Sorel-Tracy.
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