Tel Aviv Hospital Says New Tech Gave Instant DNA Details
The Sourasky Medical Center said that it had used artificial intelligence technology, which is still under trial, for giving immediate results to patients for an in-depth report on the DNA of their tumor.
This eliminated the days that the patients would have otherwise had had to wait before they could start getting their brain cancer treated.
AI use
The hospital in Tel Aviv made the announcement this week about using AI technology successfully for delivering two patients of brain cancer with accurate genomic analysis.
It said that it was an exceptional breakthrough. An AI platform by the name of Imagene, which analyzes the tumor instantly to provide a genomic analysis, was used by the doctors.
This was part of an ongoing trial at Sheba Medical Center and Sourasky. The purpose of the trial is to get the technology regulatory approval for ensuring widespread distribution.
Doctors use genomic analysis for obtaining an in-depth picture of the tumor of their patients, which includes its DNA sequence as well as details about how it responds to the environment.
Even though it is used in a small number of patients, it has seen its popularity rise and is regarded as key in the changing trend of personalized medicine in accordance with the characteristics of the tumor of different patients.
The benefits
However, the problem is that genomic analysis takes time, which means days or even weeks.
As doctors have to wait for getting vital information before choosing a treatment path, it means that they could lose out on potentially life-saving days for fighting the tumor.
The doctors at the Tel Aviv hospital announced that the cancer mutation causing the tumor was detected through the AI algorithms.
A PCR test confirmed the conclusions and they had been able to begin personalized treatments in a day’s time.
The director of the Sourasky Medical Center’s Oncology Department, Prof. Ido Wolf, said that they had gotten used to waiting for long periods when it came to molecular cancer testing and the health of the patients deteriorated during this time.
Therefore, the technology that allowed them to begin treatment in just a day’s time was indeed an exceptional breakthrough.
The technology
A computer scientist named Dean Bitan had developed the technology and is aimed at working with a number of tumors.
He had decided to shift his focus to cancer technology after the Stage 4 ovarian cancer diagnosis of his mother.
He founded the Imagene startup and focused on using artificial intelligence technology for generating a digitized image of the biopsy for identifying biomarkers.
Bitan stated that he hoped that his platform could be used for speeding up the genome analysis process and also ensure widespread availability.
There is only a small number of cancer patients that actually get personalized treatment after genomic analysis because the process is expensive as well as time-consuming.
He said that he wanted to democratize the procedure and to make it available to people in real-time. He added that it could preserve the lives of people.
