Research

May 7, 2020

Study finds AI can categorize cancer risk of lung nodules

by Tom Wilemon
Computed tomography scans for people at risk for lung cancer lead to earlier diagnoses and improve survival rates, but they can also lead to overtreatment when suspicious nodules turn out to be benign.
A study published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine indicates that an artificial intelligence strategy can correctly assess and categorize these indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs). When compared to the conventional risk models clinicians currently use, the algorithm developed by the team of researchers in a very large dataset (15,693 nodules) reclassified IPNs into low-risk or high-risk categories in over a third of cancers and benign nodules.
“These results suggest the potential clinical utility of this deep learning algorithm to revise the probability of cancer among IPNs aiming to decrease invasive procedures and shorten time to diagnosis,” said Pierre Massion, MD, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Medicine at Vanderbilt University, the study’s lead author.
Currently, clinicians refer to guidelines issued by the American College of Radiology and the American College of Chest Physicians. Adherence to these guidelines can be variable, and how patient cases are classified can be subjective. With the goal of providing clinicians with an unbiased assessment tool, the researchers developed an algorithm based on datasets from the National Lung Screening Trial, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Oxford University Hospital. Their study is the first to validate a risk stratification tool on multiple independent cohorts and to show reclassification performance that is significantly superior to existing risk models.
With IPNs, clinicians are often faced with the dilemma of weighing whether to advise a patient to undergo an invasive surgical procedure, which may be unnecessary, against a watch-and-wait strategy, which may result in delaying needed cancer treatment. A definitive diagnosis of an IPN can take up to two years.
Better assessment tools are needed by clinicians as screenings for patients at risk for lung cancer increase. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States and globally. The overall five-year survival rate is 21.7%, but it is much greater (92%) for those patients who receive an early diagnosis of stage IA1 non-small cell cancer. n

By Tom Wilemon
May 5, 2020

A dual-purpose metabolic switch

John York and colleagues have demonstrated that the protein Vip1 is a rare type of bifunctional enzyme: it can both synthesize and destroy key cellular signaling molecules.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 4, 2020

The role of diet in esophageal cancer

New findings suggest that dietary calcium and magnesium affect the risk of esophageal cancer; if confirmed in interventional studies, they could inform dietary modifications to reduce the burden of this cancer.

By Anivarya Kumar
April 30, 2020

EHRs, biobanks and Mendelian diseases

Electronic health records and biobanks can be effectively combined to detect and study Mendelian diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

By Leigh MacMillan
April 30, 2020

Antibody finding raises hopes for Marburg, COVID-19 treatments

Monoclonal antibodies against Marburg virus — a more lethal cousin of the RNA virus that causes COVID-19 — may aid in the development of antibody “cocktails” to counter viral infection.

By Bill Snyder
April 23, 2020

Polygenic scores identify those at high cancer risk

A team of Vanderbilt researchers constructed polygenic risk scores (PRS) based on genomic variants associated with eight common cancers and concluded they could potentially be used for personalized risk assessments.

By Tom Wilemon
April 21, 2020

Reducing stress in parents of children with autism

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders benefited from the addition of mindfulness-based stress reduction to parent-implemented behavioral interventions.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 20, 2020

Damage, disruption, delirium

New findings suggest that treatments that decrease oxidative damage might help with postoperative delirium that occurs in up to 30% of cardiac surgery patients.
By Paul Govern
April 16, 2020

‘Tuning’ cell shape for division

Dylan Burnette and colleagues have discovered that two forms of the molecular motor protein myosin have distinct roles in regulating cell shape during cell division.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 16, 2020

Transporter’s role in gut barrier

A disease-associated mutation in a transporter protein impairs gut barrier function, leading to gastrointestinal disease and chronic infections.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 9, 2020

Research team awarded $9 million to study extracellular RNA in colorectal cancer

The NCI program project grant is supporting multiple projects that aim to define fundamental biological principles about extracellular RNA signaling and the development and aggressiveness of colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 9, 2020

Study tracks genomics of lung tumor behavior

A study by Vanderbilt researchers has identified genomic alterations in early stage adenocarcinomas of the lung that may indicate whether the lesions develop into aggressive tumors.
By Tom Wilemon
April 8, 2020

VUMC explores strategy to protect Emergency Department providers during COVID-19 pandemic

Policy changes related to telemedicine that were quickly implemented during the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) have created opportunities for technology-based clinical evaluation, which serves to protect patients and providers alike, while conserving personal protective equipment (PPE).
By Kathy Whitney
1 … 68 69 70 71 72 … 125