AI Distinguishes Glioblastoma From Look-Alike Cancers During Surgery
Work described in this story was made possible in part by federal funding supported by taxpayers. At Harvard Medical School, the future of efforts like this — done in service to humanity — now hangs in the balance due to the government’s decision to terminate large numbers of federally funded grants and contracts across Harvard University. A Harvard Medical School–led research team has developed an AI tool that can reliably tell apart two look-alike cancers found in the brain but with different origins, behaviors, and treatments. The tool, called PICTURE (Pathology Image Characterization Tool with Uncertainty-aware Rapid Evaluations), distinguished with near-perfect accuracy between glioblastoma — the most common and aggressive brain tumor — and primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), a rarer cancer often mistaken for glioblastoma. While both can appear in the brain, glioblastoma arises from brain cells, whereas PCNSL develops from immune cells. Their similarities under ...