Last December, the Amurga Foundation awarded the Research Prize to Dr. Pedro Lara for his project: “Artificial Intelligence in the Dosage of Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer”.
This project aims to improve the adequacy of the chemotherapy dose that each breast cancer patient receives, through the study of their body composition. “The calculation of the chemotherapy dose is carried out in a standard way based on weight and height, but the body composition of each person is not taken into account. It has been observed that overweight patients suffer more toxicities from chemotherapy” confirms Dr. Lara.
This project aims analyze the observed toxicities in breast cancer patients treated at the Canarian Comprehensive Oncology Center, in relation to body composition estimated by Artificial Intelligence (FocusedOn). This artificial intelligence system developed by the Canarian start-up Artis Development, allows with a single CT slice to estimate the quality and quantity of the patient's muscular system, the amount of fat and other relevant parameters. “The advantage is that the process It is done automatically with an Artificial Intelligence system which, automatically, without human participation, produces a list of analysable data on the body composition of each person." This It will allow us to discern which bodily characteristic of the patients is the most important when it comes to relating to the observed toxicity..
El The ultimate goal is to improve tolerance to treatment without losing efficacy. “We aim to develop new formulas to calculate the dose of chemotherapy that patients receive, in a more individualised way, thus reducing its toxicity.” “Artificial intelligence systems, also known as Deep-Learning, will allow us to find, after studying thousands of variables, the ideal formulation for calculating chemotherapy doses in a completely individualised way.”
23 researchers who are part of the project participate in this project. Canarian Comprehensive Oncology Center of San Roque University Hospitals, Fernando Pessoa Canary Islands University and the Canarian start-up Artis Development developer of the system Artificial Intelligence FocusedOn. In addition, they collaborate with the Spanish Association Against Cancer, and the Canary Islands Association of Breast and Gynecological Cancer. Researchers include oncologists, cardiologists, neurologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers and engineers with expertise in Artificial Intelligence. The project will run over the next 2 years.
