Developing AI to help identify at-risk bowel cancer patients
Currently, medical practitioners do not have a standardised method for predicting which bowel cancer patients are at risk of relapse after treatment by surgery. A Cabrini Health-Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) partnership will be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop a method.
Dr Rebekah Engel was successful in obtaining a $200K Auric Innovation Fund grant from the Cabrini Foundation, for her work on computational pathology. Dr Engel’s project is titled "Development of a novel computational pathology platform to identify bowel cancer patients at risk of relapse".
Dr Engel is a member of the Cabrini Monash Department of Surgery and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Professor Helen Abud’s lab. The project is a collaboration between Cabrini Department of Surgery, Professor Helen Abud and Associate Professor Jiangning Song at the Monash BDI.
Her project will use AI and cutting-edge spatial technology to identify patients at risk of tumour relapse.
Dr Engel said that this novel approach is aimed at identifying patients who are diagnosed with early stage bowel cancer who are likely to relapse. Current methods to assess high-risk features are not used to predict risk of disease relapse or change treatment strategies for patients.
Dr Engel said, “We presently have no way of predicting which patients will relapse. So, if we are able to identify biomarkers that will allow us to accurately predict which patients are at risk of relapse this will really be a paradigmatic shift. It will change the way these patients are treated in the clinic and improve outcomes for these patients.”
Professor Paul McMurrick, head of Department of Surgery at Cabrini Health, is a co-investigator on the grant. Under his leadership the Cabrini Department of Surgery in partnership with the Monash BDI have established a unique and world-leading platform incorporating outcome data and patient tissue for more than 7,000 patients who have been treated for bowel cancer.
Dr Engel said, “We aim to use this platform to answer core questions in the management of bowel cancer, including identification of patients with early stage bowel cancer who unexpectedly relapse.
“Most patients who are diagnosed with early stage bowel cancer are cured following surgery. However, approximately 15-20% of these patients will have their cancer come back within five years with dismal outcomes.
“Current methods to assess risk based on tumour characteristics have poor predictive value, which means that many patients can be under- or over-treated. This highlights the urgent need for tools that can accurately predict the risk of cancer relapse.
“We plan to use artificial intelligence to predict whether a patient’s cancer is likely to recur. We will utilise cutting-edge computer modelling systems to assess images of tumour tissues from patients with early stage bowel cancer, comparing patients whose cancer returned to those that did not. If successful, this could help doctors provide better treatment and monitoring for patients at risk of relapse,” said Dr Engel.
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About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute
Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Spanning seven discovery programs across Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Development and Stem Cells, Infection, Immunity, Metabolism, Diabetes and Obesity, and Neuroscience, Monash BDI is one of the largest biomedical research institutes in Australia. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.