A team of researchers at the University of Cologne Medical School and the University Hospital of Cologne, led by Dr. Yuri Tolkach and Professor Reinhard Büttner, has created an artificial intelligence-based digital pathology platform. The platform uses a new algorithm developed by the team to fully automatically analyze tissue slides from lung cancer patients. The platform can analyze digitized lung cancer tissue samples on a computer faster and more accurately than before. The study, entitled “Next Generation Lung Cancer Pathology: Development and Validation of Diagnostic and Prognostic Algorithms,” has been published in the journal Next Generation Lung Cancer Pathology: Development and Validation of Diagnostic and Prognostic Algorithms. Cell Medicine Reports.
Lung cancer is one of the most common tumors/cancers in humans, with an extremely high mortality rate. Today, treatment options for lung cancer patients depend on pathological examinations. Pathologists can also identify molecular-specific gene changes, which allows personalized treatment. In the past few years, pathology has undergone a digital transformation. As a result, microscopes are no longer needed. Typical tissue sections are digitized and then analyzed on a computer screen. Digitization is essential for the application of advanced analytical methods based on artificial intelligence. By using artificial intelligence, more information about cancer can be extracted from pathological tissue sections – this would not be possible without artificial intelligence technology.
“We also show how this platform can be used to develop new clinical tools. New tools could not only improve the quality of diagnosis, but also provide new information about a patient’s disease, such as how the patient responds to treatment,” explains Dr. Yuri Tolkach, a physician at the Institute of General Pathology and Pathoanatomy at the University Hospital Cologne, who led the study.
To demonstrate the broad applicability of the platform, the research team will conduct validation studies in collaboration with five pathology institutes in Germany, Austria, and Japan.
