Smart medicine improves radiotherapy accuracy
Editor's note:
Smart medicine is the future of medical advancement. Information technology, artificial intelligence, and big data are playing increasingly significant roles in health care, which tends to become more convenient and human-centered. This series on many sectors of the health industry is intended to demonstrate the role of advanced technology, intelligent systems, and inventions.
Shot by Jiang Xiaowei. Edited by Sun Chao.
Radiotherapy is becoming more precise, effective, and efficient, and its role in cancer treatment is expanding as a result.
In reality, over 70 percent of cancer patients require radiotherapy, a standard treatment that employs high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells by adhering to a standard dosage and treatment regimen.
"Compared with surgery and chemotherapy, the public is less familiar with radiotherapy," according to Dr Zhang Zhen, director of the radiation oncology department at the Shanghai Cancer Center. "Many people believe radiotherapy is a treatment option when surgery fails to remove the entire cancerous cells."
"In fact, radiotherapy can shrink the size of the tumor in some patients, allowing them to retain the organ. They can also undergo surgery with less trauma or possibly avoid it altogether. It is of great help to ensure patients' quality of life.
"With the advancement of artificial intelligence and imaging technologies, we are creating a very exact, detailed, and tailored plan for radiotherapy," she said.
Each patient receives customized radiation in line with his or her condition.
AI can automatically generate a draft radiation plan for medical professionals to evaluate, which greatly improves efficiency.
"To create a treatment plan for one patient, we usually spend 30 to 40 minutes outlining the normal tissues and targeting tumor volume for radiation," said Yu Lei, the department's medical physicist.
"With AI, it takes just about a minute. The outlining of healthy tissue is almost always flawless. We just review the targeted cancer section and make minor changes."
"AI can also create radiation treatment plans automatically and achieve optional dosages based on patient anatomy. Humans spend hours or half a day to complete a complex strategy, while AI merely needs a few minutes."
"It saves a lot of manpower and time," said Yu.
The AI can automatically do the outline and plan out the strategy for radiation treatment.
Smart technology is also making the radiation process much easier and more efficient.
The world's first "All-in-one" radiotherapy solution was introduced at the Shanghai Cancer Center's Pudong branch, shortening the treatment process from days to just over 20 minutes.
Previously, the pre-radiotherapy preparation process would take three to 15 days. Patients were required to visit a hospital at least three or four times and use different machines during the procedure. The waiting time for each visit lasted hours.
To make it easier for patients, the Shanghai Cancer Center collaborated with United Imaging to create the "All-in-one" solution by employing the world's first machine that combines positioning CT scanning and radiotherapy using AI technology. Patients are no longer required to be in various rooms for different procedures.
All radiotherapy preparation and treatment processes take place on a single bed.
Shanghai Cancer Center is involved in the development of more high-end equipment.
Yu Lei, a medical physicist at the Shanghai Cancer Center, demonstrates the hospital's new tomotherapy equipment. It treats tumors with very precise radiation given at varying degrees rather than a fixed angle.
