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Florida Medical Tech Company Launches Novel AI Test For Prostate Cancer Therapy
Cleveland oncologist uses AI tool for prostate cancer treatments
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Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the U.S., with an expected 288,000 cases and 34,700 deaths expected in 2023, per the American Cancer Society.
As artificial intelligence-based health technologies continue to advance, a growing number of medical tech firms are looking to use AI to improve patient outcomes. One of these is ArteraAI, a firm in Jacksonville, Florida, that develops medical AI tests that help personalize therapy for cancer patients.
Among the company's solutions is the ArteraAI Prostate Test, described as the first of its kind for patients with localized prostate cancer.
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For each patient, the test looks at two pieces of information: a biopsy of the cancerous tumor and certain clinical data, explained Dr. Andre Esteva, a California-based medical AI researcher who is the CEO of ArteraAI.
"From that, it will predict the likely outcomes for the patient and help the physician to determine the optimal therapy," he told Fox News Digital in an interview. (SEE the video just below for more of Dr. Esteva's on-camera comments.)
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Florida company offers 'first-ever predictive test' for prostate cancer
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The process is simple, he said. The clinician orders a test from ArteraAI's website, then ships a biopsy sample to the company's lab.
After the AI analysis, ArteraAI sends back a report.
"We are the first-ever predictive test in localized prostate cancer that can help a clinician identify the best treatment for a patient," Esteva said.
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The test focuses on both prognostic and predictive elements. The prognostic side helps the physician determine the long-term outcomes of the patient, Esteva explained. The predictive part is what helps to personalize the individual therapy for the patient.
"Let's say that you're a clinician and your patient has been diagnosed, and you're considering whether or not you should intensify their therapy," he said.
"And you're wondering, 'Is this therapy intensification actually going to benefit my patient or is it simply going to lead to additional toxicities?' Our tests can help you determine that."
The ArteraAI Prostate Test also offers the advantage of fast turnaround times, he added.
"From the time the sample is received, it is a one- or two-day turnaround for the clinician to get a test report back," Esteva said. "Most conventional technologies take weeks to process."
Dr. Dan Spratt, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, began using ArteraAI's Prostate Test last year.
After his patients are diagnosed — typically by scans, biopsies and/or PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels — he sends samples with the test to determine which treatments will be most effective based on the patient's data and the aggressiveness of the cancer.
© iStock ArteraAI, a Florida-based firm, has developed the ArteraAI Prostate Test, called the first predictive test for patients with localized prostate cancer. IStock"The ArteraAI test takes the tissue from a man's biopsy and digitizes it, then runs a highly sophisticated algorithm using artificial intelligence to tell you how best to personalize therapy," Spratt explained to Fox News Digital in an interview.
There are other tests available that take the tissue and extract some genetic material from it, but ArteraAI's test uses a "non-destructive method," so the tissue is still intact and can be used for other things, the doctor said.
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"One of the things we struggle with in prostate cancer, when a man is sitting in front of me, is how do I know if he's a patient that I don't even need to treat or a patient who might die of this disease?" Spratt said.
"And so that's a big struggle, to have these conversations with patients with the tools we use today, which are moderately accurate."
He said that "having a tool that's highly accurate really makes it easier to recommend treatment … there's this extra confidence now."
ArteraAI's CEO said he believes that "artificial intelligence is going to revolutionize health care for the better."
Said Esteva, "I think it will help make health care far more ubiquitous — and really enhance our providers and be scalable in a way that conventional techniques haven't been."
© iStock Prostate cancer is typically diagnosed via imaging scans, PSA (prostate-specific antigen) tests and biopsies. One CEO said he does not expect the new technology to replace medical providers' jobs. IStockHe does not expect the technology to replace medical providers' jobs.
"What ArteraAI does in no way affects anyone's livelihood or job," he said. "Our test fits into the clinician's workflow, so after a patient has been diagnosed by a pathologist and a physician, when an oncologist or urologist is trying to determine how to best treat that patient, our tests will help them make that decision."
He added, "We are strictly complementary to their work."
Dr. Jennifer Bepple, a Maryland-based board-certified urologist and adviser to Verana Health, a digital health company in San Francisco, said she believes that AI offers a tremendous opportunity in health care.
"It allows us to gain insights into the large amount of data generated in health care by supporting real-world evidence," she told Fox News Digital.
"To assist with advancements in point of care for our patients, specifically those with prostate cancer, AI could be utilized to analyze images for indications of malignancy," she told Fox News Digital.
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Advancements in AI could also support pathologists in interpreting biopsies, Bepple added.
"Furthermore, AI can help advance efforts in precision medicine, tailoring screening and management for cancer patients, by analyzing a wide range of variables from demographics and clinical factors to social determinants of health," she said.
© iStock "Our test fits into the clinician's workflow, so after a patient has been diagnosed by a pathologist and a physician, when an oncologist or urologist is trying to determine how to best treat that patient, our tests will help them make that decision," Dr. Esteva said. IStockThere is, however, the need to protect patients' privacy and security by keeping data sources anonymous, Bepple noted.
Another potential concern is the presence of bias in any of the algorithms used in the AI models.
"In order to have reliable algorithms, we must ensure that the data represents the entire population that it's intended to treat," she said.
It's also important that a clinician confirms the accuracy of any output from AI models, Bepple said.
Added the doctor, "AI will serve as a useful clinical tool — but its true role will be to support the most sacred part of health care: the patient-physician relationship."
Patients In Clinical Trial For Prostate Cancer Report No Decline In Quality Of Life At One Year Post-treatment
The patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of the phase 3 NRG Oncology clinical trial RTOG 0815 comparing dose-escalated radiotherapy (RT) alone to dose-escalated RT combined with short-term (6 months) androgen deprivation therapy (STAD) indicate that the addition of STAD did not significantly impact urinary or bowel quality of life but did significantly decrease hormone and sexual quality of life. However, this decline in quality of life was temporary and there were no clinically meaningful differences in quality of life between treatment arms by one year after the initiation of treatment. These results of this study, led by Benjamin Movsas, were recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The study also recently reported results that were also published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that indicated that the experimental treatment arm of dose-escalated RT with the STAD did not improve overall survival outcomes for men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer as initially hypothesized but, the use of STAD did improve other clinical outcomes such as rates of biochemical failure, distant metastases, and prostate cancer-specific mortality.
NRG-RTOG 0815 accrued 1,492 patients with intermediate risk prostate cancer and randomly assigned patients to receive either dose-escalated RT alone (external beam RT to 79.2 Gy, or external beam to 45 Gy with brachytherapy boost) or dose-escalated RT with 6 months of STAD with LHRH agonist/antagonist therapy plus anti-androgen. In all, 420 patients agreed to participate in the quality of life component of the trial.
Primary PRO in this analysis was measured by the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) which is comprised of four individually validated domains: urinary, bowel, sexual, and hormonal domain scores. Secondary PROs were measured using the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Fatigue short form. The Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (GTLTEQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the EQ-5D self-assessment were also used to assess PROs. Assessments were performed at the end of RT, and at months 6, 12, and 60.
The primary PRO completion rates using EPIC were excellent at greater than or equal to 86% through the first year of follow-up, then 70%–75% at 5 years. There were significant clinically meaningful (p<0.0001) deficits in the EPIC hormonal and sexual domains in Arm 2, combining dose-escalated RT with STAD at completion of RT and the 6-month follow-up. However, at one year, there were no significant clinically meaningful differences between arms and at the 5-year follow-up, the scores for both EPIC domains returned to baseline. There were also no significant clinically meaningful differences at any time points between arms for PROMIS-fatigue, EQ5D, and EPIC bowel or urinary scores.
"While there is an initial decline in the hormone and sexual quality of life for men that received short term hormones in addition to radiation, it is reassuring that this impact was temporary and that quality-of-life outcomes were not clinically meaningfully different between arms by one year," stated Benjamin Movsas, MD, Medical Director of the Henry Ford Health Cancer and the lead author of the NRG-RTOG 0815 PROs publication.
"Patient-reported outcomes such as these are incredibly valuable to help individuals make informed decisions when determining their treatment options. We are particularly pleased that the clinical outcomes paper and the patient reported outcomes paper for NRG RTOG 0815 were published in the same issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, as together they tell the 'whole story' for this important clinical setting," he said.
More information: Benjamin Movsas et al, Dose-Escalated Radiation Alone or in Combination With Short-Term Total Androgen Suppression for Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer: Patient-Reported Outcomes From NRG/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0815 Randomized Trial, Journal of Clinical Oncology (2023). DOI: 10.1200/JCO.22.02389
Daniel J. Krauss et al, Dose-Escalated Radiotherapy Alone or in Combination With Short-Term Androgen Deprivation for Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer: Results of a Phase III Multi-Institutional Trial, Journal of Clinical Oncology (2023). DOI: 10.1200/JCO.22.02390
Provided by NRG Oncology
Citation: Patients in clinical trial for prostate cancer report no decline in quality of life at one year post-treatment (2023, April 28) retrieved 1 May 2023 from https://medicalxpress.Com/news/2023-04-patients-clinical-trial-prostate-cancer.Html
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Everything To Know About Chemotherapy For Prostate Cancer
In some cases, a person may receive chemotherapy for prostate cancer. Doctors usually recommend this treatment when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in males in the United States. Prostate cancer occurs due to abnormal cell growth in the prostate gland.
There are a few treatment options available to people with prostate cancer. Treatment depends on factors such as cancer stage and whether it has spread. Chemotherapy is one of these possible treatment options.
In this article, we examine when people may receive chemotherapy for prostate cancer. We look at the types of chemotherapy used, how a person receives the treatment, and the side effects.
Chemotherapy for prostate cancer is not generally a standard treatment for early stages.
According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a person would receive chemotherapy for prostate cancer if they have a certain type of cancer known as "metastatic."
Metastatic cancer is when cancer spreads to other parts of the body.
According to the American Cancer Society, a person may also receive chemotherapy for prostate cancer if hormone therapy does not work.
Doctors consider several factors before starting a person on chemotherapy treatment. These factors may include:
Read about prostate cancer.
For prostate cancer, a person receives chemotherapy medications one at a time rather than in combination.
There are various types of chemotherapy doctors may use to treat prostate cancer.
Docetaxel (Taxotere)Docetaxel is usually the first chemotherapy drug a person may receive. People may receive docetaxel in combination with a steroid drug called prednisone.
Docetaxel can help extend life, relieve pain, and improve quality of life. However, it does not cure prostate cancer.
Research from 2018 states that this type of chemotherapy medication improved survival rates in people with metastatic prostate cancer.
However, 2021 research states that, although the initial response is positive in most people, some people can develop a resistance to docetaxel.
Cabazitaxel (Jevtana)This chemotherapy drug is usually the next drug doctors try if docetaxel does not work or stops working.
A person may also receive prednisone in combination with cabazitaxel.
A 2019 review suggests this chemotherapy drug can prolong life in people with prostate cancer and is usually well tolerated.
Mitoxantrone (Novantrone)Mitoxantrone is another medication a person may receive if docetaxel and cabazitaxel do not work or stop working.
Research from 2020 states that mitoxantrone kills cancerous cells in animal studies. However, researchers say this type of chemotherapy is not yet fully understood, especially for prostate cancer.
Estramustine (Emcyt)This is another alternative type of chemotherapy if the docetaxel and cabazitaxel do not work or stop working.
Research from 2018 states that estramustine can help kill prostate cancer cells. Researchers note, however, that further studies are needed on the mechanisms of this type of chemotherapy on prostate cancer.
Platinum chemotherapyAccording to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a type of chemotherapy known as platinum chemotherapy may also be used in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Platinum chemotherapy drugs include:
However, this treatment does not currently have approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of prostate cancer.
People with advanced prostate cancer may receive platinum chemotherapy if other treatments do not work or have stopped working.
According to a 2020 study, platinum-based chemotherapy may be an effective option for people with advanced prostate cancer.
Read more about chemotherapy.
A person with prostate cancer typically receives chemotherapy intravenously.
People usually have several sessions to receive this treatment in cycles. This means they have a period of treatment followed by a period of rest, allowing for some recovery time. These cycles usually last for 2–3 weeks.
Cycle lengths may also vary depending on how effective the treatment is for a person and also any side effects they experience.
People receiving chemotherapy treatment needs to attend a doctor's office, chemotherapy clinic, or a hospital.
A person usually receives estramustine orally in capsule form rather than through an IV. A person can speak with their doctor about chemotherapy options and the most effective treatment for their circumstances.
Because chemotherapy medications travel through the body, they can affect some healthy cells, causing side effects.
Sometimes, chemotherapy may cause damage to the:
Side effects differ between people. Some people may only experience a few side effects, and others may not experience any effects.
Common side effects of chemotherapy include:
The following are answers to some questions people frequently ask about chemotherapy for prostate cancer.
What is the newest treatment for prostate cancer?The American Cancer Society states that the newest treatment for prostate cancer in the United States is high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). This treatment destroys cancer cells using heat from ultrasonic beams.
Other countries have used HIFU treatments for some time. However, research is ongoing regarding its safety and effectiveness.
What is the most successful prostate cancer treatment?This depends on the person. Some more advanced stages of prostate cancer may benefit the most from chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
However, early stage prostate cancer may be most effectively treated with surveillance, surgery, or radiation therapy.
At what stage of prostate cancer is chemotherapy used?A person usually receives chemotherapy when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. It is not a standard treatment for early stages of prostate cancer.
A person with prostate cancer will not usually receive chemotherapy as a first-line treatment. However, if the cancer spreads to different areas of the body or if other treatments do not work, doctors may recommend chemotherapy.
There are various types of chemotherapy medications a person may receive. If one stops working, a doctor may prescribe another type.
People may experience some side effects when undergoing chemotherapy treatment. They can discuss all possible side effects with their doctor.
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