As medicine continues to embrace machine learning, a new study suggests that scientists may be able to use AI tools to predict how cancer affects the probability of spinal fractures.
Every year, over 1.6 million cancer cases are diagnosed in the US, 10 per cent of which experience spinal metastasis, which occurs when the disease spreads from other places in the body to the spine. One of the biggest clinical concerns patients face is the risk of spinal fractures due to these tumours, which can lead to severe pain and spinal instability.
“Spinal fracture increases the risk of patient death by about 15 per cent,” said Soheil Soghrati, associate professor at Ohio State University. “By predicting the outcome of these fractures, our research offers medical experts the opportunity to design better treatment strategies, and help patients make better-informed decisions.”
While many of the changes the body undergoes when exposed to cancerous lesions are still...