New AI tool will automate cancer detection in blood samples
When cancer spreads, tiny amounts of cells can break away from tumors and circulate in the bloodstream. A liquid biopsy is a means to detect the presence of cancer by detecting these cancer cells floating in blood samples. However, current state-of-the-art methods have necessitated trained specialists to comb through and review images of thousands of cells out of potentially millions of cells on a slide over a period of many hours.
Now, researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences have developed a new AI algorithm to automate the detection of a few cancer cells among millions of normal blood cells. In approximately 10 minutes, the algorithm is able to find the “needles in the haystack,” to detect cancer more quickly, determine if cancer has returned and potentially, inform treatments.