Because of its ability to rapidly analyze images, artificial intelligence is quickly developing within healthcare, and long-term care in particular.
One new AI program can use images of a person’s body and organs to evaluate for cancer treatment within several minutes — much faster than current methods, researchers point out.
Despite cancer being a common concern among seniors, personalized cancer care remains an issue for those in long-term care.
Ten percent to 15% of nursing home residents have cancer, and because roughly half of those who receive a cancer diagnosis are expected to die within a year, a lot of care is weighted toward end-of-life needs, a recent study shows.
Within skilled nursing facilities, there is also a greater need to implement cancer rehabilitation procedures, a McKnight’s report noted last year.
The new AI cancer tool, which developers dubbed the Data Analysis Facilitation Suite, looks at CT scans and can evaluate various aspects of internal bodily function, including muscle, fat and organ health, in order to determine the growth of a tumor and its impact on the body.
Normally, it takes hours or days for clinicians to use this data to recommend treatment options, the researchers pointed out.
The body composition measurements the AI can provide may help in a number of ways, including rehabilitation and nutrition plans, the AI developers suggest.
The AI was developed by engineers at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
Many companies are looking into AI’s potential for early cancer detection, and are steering machine learning towards such beneficial healthcare usage. On the caregiver side, for example, administrative AI tools developed this year by OSF Healthcare were released to help the caseloads of cancer patient nursing staff.
