Artificial Intelligence Accurately Identified Tumor Origin in Cancer of Initially Unknown Primary Site

Cancer of unknown primary site often causes pleural and peritoneal effusions, and cytological analysis by pathologists using traditional methods can be inaccurate. Researchers in China used various deep-learning, artificial intelligence (AI) methods to retrospectively study cytology from 57,000 cases of benign or malignant effusions, in which the primary tumor initially was unknown but was determined subsequently. The ability of the AI system to identify both malignant and benign cells and tumor origin then was tested retrospectively on nearly 30,000 additional samples.

AI technology was highly accurate at identifying malignancies and tumor origins — as accurate as senior pathologists, and significantly more accurate than junior pathologists…