AI Boosts Early Detection Rate for a Particularly Deadly Cancer
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A new artificial intelligence system designed to analyze common CT scans is showing promise in detecting pancreatic cancer at its earliest, most treatable stages, potentially transforming the grim prognosis for a disease rarely caught before it spreads.
Pancreatic cancer is often dubbed the “king of cancers” due to its challenging early diagnosis and high malignancy. The pancreas’s deep location in the abdominal cavity, shielded by organs such as the stomach and liver, contributes to the insidious onset of pancreatic cancer, making it difficult to detect.
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- An AI system called DAMO PANDA analyzes plain CT scans to detect early-stage pancreatic cancer, achieving 92.9% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity.
- In a pilot at Ningbo University Affiliated People’s Hospital, over 30,000 people were screened by March 2025, identifying seven early-stage cases.
- Pancreatic cancer is rarely detected early, has a 7.2–9% five-year survival rate, and accounts for over 118,000 new cases and 106,000 deaths annually in China.
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Who’s Who
- Alibaba's DAMO Academy
- Alibaba's DAMO Academy developed DAMO PANDA, an AI screening system. This system analyzes routine CT scan data to detect early-stage pancreatic cancer with high sensitivity (92.9%) and specificity (99.9%). This innovation allows for detection using widely available, less expensive plain CT scans, promising to transform diagnosis and improve survival rates for this aggressive disease.
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What Happened When
- In 2022：
- Data from China's National Cancer Center indicated an average of 118,700 new pancreatic cancer cases annually, with 106,300 deaths.
- November 2024：
- Ningbo University Affiliated People’s Hospital launched the early screening study for pancreatic cancer based on AI-assisted plain CT.
- By the end of March 2025：
- Ningbo University Affiliated People’s Hospital had screened over 30,000 individuals, identifying seven cases of early-stage pancreatic cancer.
- In 2025：
- Zhu advises high-risk patients to undergo pancreatic cancer early screening two to three times a year using AI-assisted plain CT method.
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