LabMedica

Download Mobile App
Recent News Expo Clinical Chem. Molecular Diagnostics Hematology Immunology Microbiology Pathology Technology Industry Focus

Self-Supervised AI Improves Diagnostic Accuracy for Melanoma with Low Pathologist Agreement

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 09 Nov 2022
Print article
Image: Study results on new artificial intelligence predicts diagnostic concordance for melanoma (Photo courtesy of Proscia)
Image: Study results on new artificial intelligence predicts diagnostic concordance for melanoma (Photo courtesy of Proscia)

Study results on new artificial intelligence (AI) that predicts diagnostic agreement for melanoma highlight the potential of the technology to improve diagnostic accuracy for this deadliest form of skin cancer and other diseases with low pathologist concordance.

Proscia’s (Philadelphia, PA, USA) retrospective study “Using Whole Slide Image Representations from Self-Supervised Contrastive Learning for Melanoma Concordance Regression” demonstrated the AI’s performance on 1,412 whole slide images of skin biopsies. Each image was assessed by three to five dermatopathologists to establish a concordance rate. The R2 correlation between the technology’s predictions and the dermatopathologists’ concordance rates was 0.51. Proscia’s research also indicates that the same AI could be extended to other diagnoses that demonstrate low pathologist agreement. This includes breast cancer staging as well as Gleason grading of prostate cancer, which is used to evaluate the aggressiveness of the disease. Both often play an important role in informing treatment decisions.

In addition to this study, Proscia plans to conduct additional research illustrating the potential benefits of AI in helping pathologists to diagnose melanoma, including:

  • Lowering the misdiagnosis rate for difficult cases. Melanoma often presents like benign mimickers, causing pathologists to disagree on its diagnosis 40% of the time. As cases are often evaluated by only one pathologist, AI that predicts concordance with multiple experts could help to improve diagnostic accuracy by serving as a second set of eyes.
  • Accelerating turnaround times for critical results. Over 15 million skin biopsies are taken annually in the U.S., each of which may display one of hundreds of diagnoses. AI that predicts diagnostic agreement could flag cases that were likely to be challenging, driving efficiency gains by suggesting additional testing to provide a more complete look prior to pathologist review.
  • Reducing costs and distress for patients. Frequent over-diagnosis of melanoma not only results in additional costs for health systems but also leads patients to pay for unnecessary treatment and cope with the stress of believing they have a life-threatening disease. Increased diagnostic accuracy could help to eliminate these burdens.

“With this study, we have laid the groundwork for a new use case of AI in pathology that could have a tremendous impact on patient outcomes,” said Sean Grullon, Proscia’s Lead AI Scientist and lead author of the study. “Our technology relies on self-supervised learning to recognize incredibly subtle patterns, demonstrating the power of one of the most advanced approaches in AI.”

Related Links:
Proscia 

Platinum Member
COVID-19 Rapid Test
OSOM COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test
Magnetic Bead Separation Modules
MAG and HEATMAG
Complement 3 (C3) Test
GPP-100 C3 Kit
New
Gold Member
Fully Automated Cell Density/Viability Analyzer
BioProfile FAST CDV

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The 3D printed miniature ionizer is a key component of a mass spectrometer (Photo courtesy of MIT)

3D Printed Point-Of-Care Mass Spectrometer Outperforms State-Of-The-Art Models

Mass spectrometry is a precise technique for identifying the chemical components of a sample and has significant potential for monitoring chronic illness health states, such as measuring hormone levels... Read more

Hematology

view channel
Image: The CAPILLARYS 3 DBS devices have received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance (Photo courtesy of Sebia)

Next Generation Instrument Screens for Hemoglobin Disorders in Newborns

Hemoglobinopathies, the most widespread inherited conditions globally, affect about 7% of the population as carriers, with 2.7% of newborns being born with these conditions. The spectrum of clinical manifestations... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The AI predictive model identifies the most potent cancer killing immune cells for use in immunotherapies (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

AI Predicts Tumor-Killing Cells with High Accuracy

Cellular immunotherapy involves extracting immune cells from a patient's tumor, potentially enhancing their cancer-fighting capabilities through engineering, and then expanding and reintroducing them into the body.... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The T-SPOT.TB test is now paired with the Auto-Pure 2400 liquid handling platform for accurate TB testing (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Integrated Solution Ushers New Era of Automated Tuberculosis Testing

Tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for 1.3 million deaths every year, positioning it as one of the top killers globally due to a single infectious agent. In 2022, around 10.6 million people were diagnosed... Read more