A new innovative tool that can predict the effects of immunotherapy on patients suffering from lung cancer is under development at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the Jerusalem hospital announced Tuesday.
The AI (artificial intelligence)-based technology, named I3LUNG, will make use of the machine and deep learning to analyze a wide variety of patient information in order to formulate a treatment plan that is best suited to the specific medical situation of every patient.
The development of the new innovation is funded by a grant from the prestigious European Union's Horizon 2020 program, which Israel joined in 2021.
Shaare Zedek was chosen to become the first and only Israeli hospital to receive such a grant. The goal, the medical center says, is to create a new tool to improve the lung cancer decision-making process by medical staff through a novel and innovative AI and deep learning technology that will predict the response to immunotherapy.
As part of the research done on the project, oncology experts from Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece and the United States, as well as staff from Shaare Zedek's oncology department, all joined the effort to begin the development of the groundbreaking tool.
'A new technological peak'
The I3LUNG project is headed by Oncology Department head Prof. Nir Peled and Dr. Laila Roisman, head of the hospital's cancer research innovation department.
Roisman explained that the information gathered by I3LUNG will come from a retrospective analysis of 2,000 lung cancer patients from oncology departments across the globe.
"Soon, Shaare Zedek patients will have an option to be part of a new technological breakthrough in terms of personalizing cancer treatment."
Dr. Laila Roisman, Shaare Zedek Medical Center cancer research innovation department
"Soon, Shaare Zedek patients will have an option to be part of a new technological breakthrough in terms of personalizing cancer treatment," Roisman said.
Prof. Peled summarized that "it is a big honor to be part of this medical revolution, which is a credit to Israel."