TAMPA, Fla. — Mary Ann Stein got her lungs checked last year just to make sure nothing was wrong.
“It has always been in the back of my mind that I had this asbestos exposure, and it worried me,” said Stein. “I hadn’t smoked. I didn’t have any kind of history that would indicate lung cancer.”
Going in to get a baseline scan may have been the best decision of Stein’s life. She said the scan showed an area of concern, so she scheduled a follow-up appointment. Six months later, the area of concern was denser and larger. Stein was referred to a surgeon at Moffitt.
“He assessed it and said yes, I think this is cancer,” said Stein.
They operated and took out the mass. At Moffitt Cancer Center, researchers are using advanced technology and artificial intelligence to study lung cancer. Dr. Matthew Schabath is a co-leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Program at Moffitt Cancer Center. He said it all starts with a patient coming in for lung cancer screening.
“We can use AI methods to look at that nodule at that time and determine what is the probability of that nodule – just by that picture – by that CAT scan – what is the probability of that being lung cancer,” said Dr. Schabath.
He said researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have been studying this for a while, but the new technology helps them be more efficient. They take a standard care image, render it with computers and AI methodologies, and use other algorithms to calculate features like shape and texture.
“So prior to this technology, how would you get the information in these maps?” said ABC Action News Anchor Lauren St. Germain
“You wouldn’t. Prior to this, it was a radiologist looking at the lesion. That was about it,” said Dr. Schabath.
In a different section of the hospital, the focus is on using AI technology to help clinicians and benefit the patient-doctor relationship.
“As opposed to replacing the people and clinicians and our staff, we are saying, let’s just make your job easier and make you more efficient,” said Edmondo Robinson, Chief Digital Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center.
Robinson said right now, clinicians at Moffitt are testing out virtual scribes. They're in between pilot programs. The technology documents what the doctor is saying in real-time using a computer or cell phone.
“How do you like it?” asked St. Germain to Dr. Randa Perkins, who is the Chief Medical Information Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center.
“I love it. I love connecting with my patients. When I can talk with my patient, and we can actually have a discussion, we can have the patient care visit, and I can focus on them and not the computer, that means the technology is doing its job,” said Dr. Perkins.
Meanwhile, Robinson emphasized that with new technology, there is a risk.
“When we bring in digital tools, AI is one of them; we have got to make sure we are not exacerbating any clinical disparities that we already have. Did we use data that already has bias in it? If the data that is used to train the model has bias, the model might actually reproduce the bias,” said Robinson.
Robinson said they always have to think about bias and make sure they use the tools for good. Doctors hope the advanced technology will help ensure more patients have outcomes like Stein's.
“How are you doing now?” asked St. Germain.
“Now I am doing great. I just had my one-year follow-up CT scan. Everything was clear. Everything looks good,” said Stein.
