How AI is Transforming Cancer Care

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cancer care, enhancing everything from early detection to post-treatment monitoring.

Experts at City of Hope, a cancer research and treatment center, believe that AI tools will continue to improve precision medicine, streamline patient care and increase access to clinical trials.

Simon Nazarian, system executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer at City of Hope, talked about the critical role of AI in accelerating research and care delivery.

“We have an amazing amount of data and knowledge on hundreds of different cancer types that exist out there. We also have a view of our patient’s overall journey,” he said. “We aim to enhance our ability as we drive meaningful insight from all this data so that we can improve care, enhance all the prevention efforts and improve overall patient experience using all (these tools).”

One of the most promising areas of AI application is in diagnostics and wearable technologies.

Nasim Eftekhari, executive director of applied AI and data science at City of Hope, shared the potential of these technologies to create proactive and personalized care plans.

“We have been engaging with our researchers and clinicians to see if we could predict things, unwanted outcomes, things like risk of readmission or complications based on what patients do after surgery, like when they go home, like the number of the steps that they take and things like that,” she said.

While these initiatives are still in the research phase, their potential impact is immense.

Eftekhari said that by collecting and analyzing wearable data, AI can help doctors anticipate complications and intervene earlier, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Another breakthrough is AI’s ability to manage better coordination of care among healthcare providers.

Nazarian discussed that cancer patients often arrive at specialized centers with a large amount of medical records, sometimes totaling thousands of pages.

AI can process and summarize this data, allowing doctors to quickly assess a patient's history and make informed decisions.

In addition, AI is improving patient access to clinical trials.

“Only about three to seven percent of patients identified make it into clinical trials,” he noted.

However, he added that AI and machine learning can enhance this process, ensuring that more eligible patients are matched with potentially life-saving research opportunities.

The experts’ insights suggest that as AI continues to evolve, its role in cancer care will only expand.