Implementing Artificial Intelligence Into the Neuro-Oncology Field

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to gradually break its way into the neuro-oncology world, according to Nicholas Blondin, MD.AI and machine learning may revolutionize how clinicians diagnose, treat, and manage primary and metastatic brain cancers.

Blondin, associate professor of Clinical Neurology at Yale School of Medicine, spoke with CancerNetwork® about the use of AI in this setting. He talked about the potential of AI to improve the accuracy and speed of brain tumor diagnosis, potentially identifying subtle patterns that may be missed by the human eye.

Of note, Blondin addressed the challenges and ethical considerations associated with implementing AI in clinical practice, including data privacy. Ultimately, he emphasized maintaining doctor-patient relationships as AI tools continue to advance in the neuro-oncology field.

Transcript:

In some ways, this is an exciting time with the rise of AI and machine learning. There are privacy concerns about the use of AI in health care settings. On the other hand, there is a lot of opportunity for AI to help us better interpret MRIs and better understand treatment options. In the last few months, I’ve seen some reports of AI being used to those ends. There was a recent report of AI use in pediatric brain cancer management, where it seemed like some useful conclusions were drawn from that.

It’s still very early days [for AI]. In my actual practice, I’ve just started using AI to try to understand treatment options better for patients or build out treatment programs. [AI] is going to advance a lot in the next few years. Ultimately, doing this line of work of neuro-oncology and [and being a doctor is about having the] doctor-patient relationship [and] having a therapeutic alliance. It’ll be, hopefully, a very useful tool for me as a physician to help take better care of my patients. Also, I hope my patients utilize AI as well and come up with their own concepts and ideas and bring them to me [so] we can discuss and learn things together. Hopefully, this will all just move the field forward on how patients have better outcomes.