Engineers from the University of Waterloo are harnessing artificial intelligence to help doctors better see and control a non-invasive cancer treatment and, in the process, save lives.
Project leader Moslem SadeghiGoughari, a research associate in the university’s Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, said the imaging system will allow for the safer and more effective use of high-intensity, focused ultrasound to destroy a wide range of cancerous, often deadly, tumours.
“We are addressing a huge challenge for focused ultrasound treatment,”SadeghiGoughari, a research associate in the University’s Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering. “Our imaging system can tell doctors exactly how much of a cancerous tissue is destroyed. And it’s the first AI-powered ultrasound technique developed for focused ultrasound treatment.”
For Sadeghi Goughari and his three engineering colleagues, accurate monitoring of this therapeutic treatment as it is happening is the key to improving precision.
For hardware, they adopted a focused ultrasound transducer (a device that converts energy from one form to another) to deliver ultrasound energy to a targeted area. For software, they developed an artificial intelligence (AI) framework integrated with the imaging procedure. The system can detect how much of a tumour has been destroyed with a 93 per cent accuracy rate.
Medical specialists have given the technology positive feedback with interest from Dr. Jung Suk Sim, Medical Director at the Withsim Clinic in South Korea, to adopt the system for clinical use.
Go to Harnessing AI to help pinpoint cancerous tumours for the full story.