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World J Gastroenterol. Nov 21, 2021; 27(43): 7480-7496
Published online Nov 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i43.7480
Recent advances in artificial intelligence for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Hiromitsu Hayashi, Norio Uemura, Kazuki Matsumura, Liu Zhao, Hiroki Sato, Yuta Shiraishi, Yo-ichi Yamashita, Hideo Baba
Hiromitsu Hayashi, Norio Uemura, Kazuki Matsumura, Liu Zhao, Hiroki Sato, Yuta Shiraishi, Yo-ichi Yamashita, Hideo Baba, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan
Author contributions: Hayashi H and Baba H conducted the topic investigated in this paper; Uemura N, Matsumura K, Zhao L, Sato H, Shiraishi Y and Yamashita YI assisted in the useful discussions and wrote the manuscript; all authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hiromitsu Hayashi, FACS, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1 Honjo, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan. hhayasi@kumamoto-u.ac.jp
Received: April 3, 2021
Peer-review started: April 3, 2021
First decision: July 3, 2021
Revised: August 2, 2021
Accepted: November 15, 2021
Article in press: November 15, 2021
Published online: November 21, 2021
Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains the most lethal type of cancer. The 5-year survival rate for patients with early-stage diagnosis can be as high as 20%, suggesting that early diagnosis plays a pivotal role in the prognostic improvement of PDAC cases. In the medical field, the broad availability of biomedical data has led to the advent of the “big data” era. To overcome this deadly disease, how to fully exploit big data is a new challenge in the era of precision medicine. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a machine to learn and display intelligence to solve problems. AI can help to transform big data into clinically actionable insights more efficiently, reduce inevitable errors to improve diagnostic accuracy, and make real-time predictions. AI-based omics analyses will become the next alterative approach to overcome this poor-prognostic disease by discovering biomarkers for early detection, providing molecular/genomic subtyping, offering treatment guidance, and predicting recurrence and survival. Advances in AI may therefore improve PDAC survival outcomes in the near future. The present review mainly focuses on recent advances of AI in PDAC for clinicians. We believe that breakthroughs will soon emerge to fight this deadly disease using AI-navigated precision medicine.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Precision medicine

Core Tip: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains the most lethal type of cancer. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a machine to learn and display intelligence to solve problems. AI can help to transform big data into clinically actionable insights more efficiently, reduce inevitable errors to improve diagnostic accuracy, and make real-time predictions. AI-based omics analyses should be the next alternative approach to improve survival outcomes in PDAC by discovering biomarkers for early detection, molecular/genomic subtyping, treatment guidance, and predicting recurrence and survival. The present review mainly focuses on recent advances of AI in PDAC for clinicians.