Charlems Alvarez Jimenez, PhD
Creating an AI Tool to Closely Monitor How Rectal Cancer Responds to Treatment
Summary
Every year, over 40,000 people are diagnosed with rectal cancer, and almost all of them receive presurgery treatment to shrink the tumor before having surgery to remove the rectum. One in three of these patients are found to have no remaining cancer cells in tissue removed during surgery. This means that presurgery treatment eliminated their cancer, but they already went through an invasive procedure that can affect their quality of life. Currently, there are no reliable ways to tell how well the presurgery treatment is working without examining the removed tissue. I will create a new method to predict treatment efficacy by combining computer analysis of tissue sample images with information from MRI scans. This tool could lead to more personalized and less invasive treatment options for rectal cancer patients in the future.
Watch a Q&A with Charlems
I am grateful to receive the PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship toward my translational research on novel AI-based patho-radiological markers of response in rectal cancers, a solution that bridges modalities and disciplines for maximal clinical impact.
