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AI Automatically Sorts Cancer Cells (asianscientist.com)

Posted by msmash on from the marching-forward dept.

Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can automatically differentiate between different types of cancer cells and their sensitivity to radiotherapy. From a report: A team of researchers in Japan have devised an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify different types of cancer cells using microscopy images. Their method can also be used to determine whether the cancer cells are sensitive to radiotherapy. The researchers reported their findings in the journal Cancer Research. In cancer patients, there can be tremendous variation in the types of cancer cells in a single tumor. Identifying the specific cell types present in tumors can be very useful when choosing the most effective treatment. However, making accurate assessments of cell types is time consuming and often hampered by human error and the limits of human sight. To overcome these challenges, scientists led by Professor Hideshi Ishii of Osaka University, Japan, have developed an AI system that can identify different types of cancer cells from microscopy images, achieving higher accuracy than human judgement.

27 comments

  1. Software is not AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can we please stop calling a program that analyzes pictures AI?

    1. Re:Software is not AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can we please stop calling a program that analyzes pictures AI?

      While we're at it, can we also stop calling Sweet and Low, NutraSweet, etc., Artificial Sweeteners?

      They make food taste sweet. They're no more or less artificial than sugar.

      I expect that when we get real machine-based cognition that a better term will emerge. And we'll laugh at ourselves for ever thinking that what we have today was considered "intelligence."

    2. Re:Software is not AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use real sugar you faggot. Only a guy who likes to be bottomed uses shit like Sweet N Low.

    3. Re:Software is not AI by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      Can we please stop calling a program that analyzes pictures AI?

      Exactly. The popular press needs to learn that the proper Slashdot definition of AI is "Things computers can't yet do."

    4. Re:Software is not AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously though - we get it. Deep learning is good at sorting things (for the most part). Until that one time there's a speck of dust on the microscope lens and it completely fails. It's at the point where I'm seeing an AI is good at sorting X post multiple times a day. Call me when it's in wide spread field use.

    5. Re:Software is not AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As soon as we stop equating all hackers with blackhats, we can start on that, sure. GoodLuck.

    6. Re:Software is not AI by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      I'm not going to call you.

  2. But by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    But if you have already removed the tumor and put its cells under the microscope, does it really matter which is which?

    1. Re: But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you found multiple types in the same picture it could be AI

    2. Re: But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also if it takes only a couple of hours to detect then it is AI. If it takes as long as other methods (or really any longer than a couple of hours) then it is not worth spending even a copper penny on

    3. Re:But by The+Darkness · · Score: 1

      But if you have already removed the tumor and put its cells under the microscope, does it really matter which is which?

      Yes. They have not necessarily removed the entire tumor. This could be useful in examining a biopsy to see how to treat what's left.

      --
      There are two kinds of people: 1) those that need closure
    4. Re: But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Other than some irrelevant infectious organisms that tend to tag team with tumors, I would guess that if you have removed the tumor(s) and identified them and are confident they are gone, then you should be pleased. Some people need several days of bed rest if the tumors are particularly nasty, others not long at all

    5. Re: But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like removing weed in the garden. You can pull all the plants you see, but you can miss either some roots or some seeds. Tumors are similar, you can remove the growth itself, but you can easily miss some floating detached parts or just the borders.

    6. Re: But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was suggesting exactly this

    7. Re:But by jbengt · · Score: 1

      But if you have already removed the tumor and put its cells under the microscope, does it really matter which is which?

      After you remove a tumor you just might want to know whether it was cancerous or benign, and if cancerous, you're probably going to want to know how mobile the cells are, in order to decide what to do next.
      Anyway, most biopsies do not try to remove all the cancer, just a sample to judge what the proper course is before undertaking a more serious operation. Many times, if you just remove the tumor, you're going to miss cancerous cells nearby, so you want to know ahead of time how much surrounding tissue to get rid of, and other options for fighting it.

    8. Re: But by The+Darkness · · Score: 1

      Other than some irrelevant infectious organisms that tend to tag team with tumors, I would guess that if you have removed the tumor(s) and identified them and are confident they are gone, then you should be pleased. Some people need several days of bed rest if the tumors are particularly nasty, others not long at all

      A biopsy is not necessarily the entire tumor:

      biopsy /bäps/
      noun
      an examination of tissue removed from a living body to discover the presence, cause, or extent of a disease.

      To state it differently, a small chunk of the tumor can be removed and then examined to see how best to treat the remainder of the tumor. Taking a biopsy can be done in a much less invasive manner than excising the entire tumor.

      --
      There are two kinds of people: 1) those that need closure
  3. Pigeons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great. But can it beat the pigeons?

    https://now.uiowa.edu/2015/11/one-very-brainy-bird

  4. Please refer two articles down - "AI nowhere near by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ai this, AI that. And down the street, people have cancer and I don't see an AI walking up to them to "sort their cells". Call me when you're ready (not holding my breath).

  5. Re: Please refer two articles down - "AI nowhere n by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh you have to pay for cancer removal. It is expensive medicine

  6. Beware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And Chinese hackers working for the Government have already hacked in the AI system, so they can resell it for half the price :)

    1. Re: Beware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least Chinese hackers dont punch you in the face and try to starve while they steal your data. They just steal data. Very refreshing!

  7. VGG16 is not AI by Nova77 · · Score: 1

    So now a simple (old style!) convnet is AI?

  8. So is this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Titanium AI
    Platinum AI
    or
    "High Definition Radio" AI

    ???????????

    1. Re:So is this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Betty, if you want to, you can call me Al.

  9. Re:4 (yes, 4) divided by 2 = 2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The troops are volunteer trained murderers, thugs, invaders and rapists. They deserve zero respect.

  10. 98% accurate by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    Paper claims this AI is 96% accurate, but how do humans fare?