MIT researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can help reduce toxic chemotherapy dosing for the most aggressive form of brain cancer, potentially improving the quality of life for patients.
Glioblastoma is a malignant tumour that appears in the brain or spinal cord, and prognosis for adults is no more than five years.
Patients must endure a combination of radiation therapy and multiple drugs taken every month.
Medical professionals generally administer maximum safe drug doses to shrink the tumour as much as possible. However, these strong pharmaceuticals still cause debilitating side effects in patients.
Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology detail a model that could make dosing regimens less toxic but still effective. Powered by a “self-learning” machine-learning technique, the model looks at treatment regimens currently in use, and iteratively adjusts the doses. Eentually, it finds an optimal treatment plan, with the lowest possible potency and frequency of doses that should still reduce tumour sizes to a degree comparable to that of traditional regimens.
