According to a study published in The Lancet Oncology, physicians and researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute have developed an Artificial Intelligence model that outperforms human doctors in evaluating treatment response in pleural mesothelioma. This breakthrough means that disease progression can be detected five weeks earlier than the currently used criteria. It will offer patients more tailored treatment options and, most important of all, will give them greater confidence in the decisions they make.
Mesothelioma AI Model Measures Entire Tumor Volume
Among the many challenges that mesothelioma patients face is that the disease’s tumors present a frustrating measurement challenge. Because the rare, asbestos-related cancer grows in a thin, irregular layer along the lung wall rather than as a discrete mass, the current international standard, called RECIST, which measures tumor diameter on CT scans, is unreliable. Determining where to measure an irregularly shaped tumor spreading across an entire lung lining produces inconsistent, inaccurate results that fail to accurately predict patient survival.
To address the problem posed by the unique shape of mesothelioma’s tumors, AI experts, radiologists, and pulmonologists at the Netherlands Cancer Institute created the AI model ARTIMES. The program has been developed and validated using data from 2,080 mesothelioma patients across 121 hospitals worldwide through more than 11,000 CT scans. It solves the measurement problem by gauging the entire volume of a mesothelioma tumor and comparing it with previous scans.
Mesothelioma AI Model Demonstrated Superior Performance in Every Metric
The Dutch scientists report that the ARTIMES AI model provided statistically significant improvement in predicting which mesothelioma patients would live longer, citing a concordance index of 0.83 compared to 0.73 for the current standard criteria. Perhaps most important of all, ARTIMES detected the disease’s tumor progression a median of five weeks earlier than current criteria, allowing patients to stop ineffective treatments sooner and switch to alternatives before suffering unnecessary side effects or losing valuable time.
AI-Based Assessment Criteria Will Make Mesothelioma Clinical Trials More Reliable
The mesothelioma AI model’s impact extends beyond individual patient care to the entire field of mesothelioma drug development. When researchers tested ARTIMES against data from eight clinical trials involving 943 mesothelioma patients, the AI measurements showed dramatically stronger correlation with overall survival than current criteria, with ARTIMES-based progression-free survival showing 88% correlation with overall survival compared to just 6% for the current standard. This means mesothelioma clinical trials using ARTIMES will produce far more reliable and efficient results, potentially accelerating the development and approval of new treatments.
“We are the first in the world to demonstrate that AI outperforms humans in this area, and that physicians can actually base their decisions on it,” said Kevin Groot Lipman, technical physician and lead author of the study. The mesothelioma model is already being used by physicians at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and is publicly available online for researchers worldwide, with the team working to obtain approval for broader clinical use as they simultaneously develop AI models for lung cancer and brain metastases. Groot Lipman predicts the model will “open up a whole new field of research” for mesothelioma and other difficult-to-measure cancers.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net are here to help. Contact us today at 1-800-692-8608 to learn more.
