The tool has since analyzed more than 180,000 abdominal or chest CTs, helping doctors detect about two dozen cases of pancreatic cancer, 14 of which were in the early stage, Dr. Zhu said. The tool found 20 cases of intraductal adenocarcinoma,
type of pancreatic cancer. (Mr. Qiu had a neuroendocrine tumor, which is a rarer and less aggressive cancer.) All of those patients had come to the hospital with complaints like bloating or nausea and had not initially seen a pancreatic specialist, Dr. Zhu said. Several of their CT scans had raised no alarms until they were flagged by the A.I. tool. “I think you can 100 percent say A.I. saved their lives,” he said.
When the tool was subsequently tested on more than 20,000 noncontrast CTs, it correctly identified 93 percent of people who had pancreatic lesions, according to a study
in 2023. “The effectiveness actually surprised us,” Mr. Zhang said.
