AI, bioinformatics can help eliminate breast cancer, say experts

KARACHI: The exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence will be able to identify patients at a high risk of cancer – even without symptoms – deliver better and less aggressive treatment options, and improve survival rates. 

This was shared at a seminar organized by the Institute of Medical Technology-Jinnah Sindh Medical University on the Emerging Trends in Breast Cancer. 

While addressing the seminar, Prof Amjad Siraj Memon,  Vice-Chancellor JSMU, said that a self-breast examination is essential to catch early tumours as well, and the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence models could predict breast cancer from high-resolution mammography scans with a similar accuracy level to expert radiographers and could significantly reduce the workload of radiologists. 

Through the 3D mammography method of radiology, clinicians and healthcare providers would be able to achieve better depth resolution images and five years earlier than cancer could have been developed at the convention or could have been detected, said the keynote speaker, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pathology Prof Syed Abdul Aziz, University of Ottawa. Prof Syed Abdul Aziz is a PhD in genetics and has multiple publications to his credit. 

He added that a new study reveals seventy-two novel genetic variants responsible for breast cancer risks. 

Dr Muhammad Imran, Director, IMT-JSMU, extended his greetings to all the guest speakers and session audience for their time and highlighted the importance of clinical applications of AI and Data Science in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, following a brief talk by Assistant Prof Abdul Hafeez on advanced cancer research, in the context of population, clinical and drug data. 

The seminar was attended by Dr Azam Khan, Registrar, JSMU,  Prof Masroor, Dean of Medicine, Prof Saadia Akram, Chairperson, Department of Pathology, Dr Zarreen Raza, Additional Director, PDC, Dr Imrana Khan, Chairperson, Department of Biochemistry, Dr Anita Shah, Controller Examination, and other faculty and staff members of JSMU.