Current trends of artificial intelligence in cancer imaging

Abstract

In this editorial, we discussed the current research status of artificial intelligence (AI) in Oncology, reviewing the basics of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques and their emerging applications on clinical and imaging cancer workflow. The growing amounts of available “big data” coupled to the increasing computational power have enabled the development of computer-based systems capable to perform advanced tasks in many areas of clinical care, especially in medical imaging. ML is a branch of data science that allows the creation of computer algorithms that can learn and make predictions without prior instructions. DL is a subgroup of artificial neural network algorithms configurated to automatically extract features and perform high-level tasks; convolutional neural networks are the most common DL models used in medical image analysis. AI methods have been proposed in many areas of oncology granting promising results in radiology-based clinical applications. In detail, we explored the emerging applications of AI in oncological risk assessment, lesion detection, characterization, staging, and therapy response. Critical issues such as the lack of reproducibility and generalizability need to be addressed to fully implement AI systems in clinical practice. Nevertheless, AI impact on cancer imaging has been driving the shift of oncology towards a precision diagnostics and personalized cancer treatment.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Machine learning; Deep learning; Oncology; Medical imaging; Cancer imaging

Core Tip: Advanced computational systems and availability of multi-dimensional data have led the possibility of artificial intelligence (AI) consisting of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms to be implemented in healthcare data analysis, with reliable results in the oncology field and particularly in diagnostic imaging tasks. Supervised algorithms are the most common ML models used in medical image analysis, while convolutional neural networks are the main DL approach. AI-based models have demonstrated outperforming results in oncological risk assessment, lesion detection, segmentation, characterization, staging, and therapy response. Growing emerging evidence supports the leading role of AI in all cancer imaging pathways from screening programs to diagnostic and prognostic tasks, boosting the paradigm of precision medicine.