Closer Look
A new AI tools promises mutation data to guide surgeons during brain surgery
Adobe
In surgery to remove brain tumors, the Hippocratic oath imperative to "first, do no harm" is especially important, given the danger of damaging the patient's ability to walk or talk in an effort to remove all of the tumor. Without knowing what kind of tumor they're seeing, neurosurgeons can't be sure if it's better treated with chemo or radiation. Taking out a sliver of tissue for a quick biopsy still takes time to get results, so many patients return for a second surgery after a pathology report later.
A tumor's genetics can be critical in guiding how aggressive a surgeon should be. A recent Nature study describes a tool that could potentially speed up that decision. A computer vision artificial intelligence-powered tool called DeepGlioma uses optical images of the tumor on a custom microscope slide, then takes only 90 seconds to give neurosurgeons data on genetic mutations during surgery. STAT's Brittany Trang has more, including caveats.
global health
Equatorial Guinea isn't letting WHO test Marburg vaccines and treatments
Here's an update from STAT's Helen Branswell: Equatorial Guinea has not yet agreed to allow the WHO to conduct clinical trials of Marburg virus vaccines and therapeutics, the global health agency said yesterday. There are no approved vaccines or drugs for Marburg, which is related to the viruses that cause Ebola. To date there have been 14 confirmed and 23 probable cases in this outbreak; at least 33 people have died.
Abdi Mahamud, WHO's acting director of alert and response coordination, said the government has said it is currently focused on building up contact tracing and other key elements of the outbreak response and may allow clinical trials later. Marburg outbreaks — the only opportunity to test whether experimental vaccines and drugs work — have been rare in recent years, and groups developing vaccines are keen for the opportunity to see if they are protective. There is currently another smaller Marburg outbreak ongoing in Tanzania, but there have been no new cases recently.
Yesterday the CDC sent an alert to U.S. health care providers, warning them that while the risk of imported cases appears low, they should be on the lookout for possible cases.
chronic disease Liver researchers look to AI to better study a complex disease
People often don't know they have NASH and doctors don't know exactly what causes it. NASH, or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, is a liver disease that some experts believe affects a quarter of U.S. adults. Marked by scarring of liver tissue, it's a complex disease that can lead to end-stage liver disease. There are no FDA-approved drugs to treat it, but dozens are being tested in clinical trials.
Here's the problem doctors and scientists aired at a recent conference in LA: They don't know which of multiple factors is the most important driver of the disease, so it's hard to pick patient characteristics to study. A new possible solution: AI, which could sort through gene expression or microscopic observations from biopsies or clinical features to identify patterns a doctor might miss. STAT's Isabella Cueto has more on how that might help, including companies involved in the pursuit.
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