Look Who's Chatting: Examining the Use of AI in Oncology

Oncology and technology are rapidly advancing and evolving every day — and in this seasonal issue of CURE, we give a look at what happens when those two worlds collide in unprecedented ways.

Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, has quickly become a hot-button topic. Its technological developments display the potential to transform nearly every aspect of our lives, including health and wellness.

One software engineer and cancer survivor tells us how she used the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT to tally up her medical expenses. Another survivor describes how an AI-driven platform helped her connect with a clinical trial.

But a number of oncology and technology experts we spoke with also urged caution.

AI platforms “are unique in that sense that they have amazing strengths, but they also have pretty important weaknesses, that, if you’re going to be using these things regularly, it’s important to know about,” Dr. Matthew Lungren says. Lungren is an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and chief medical information officer at Nuance Communications, a conversational AI company purchased in 2022 by Microsoft.

Elsewhere in this issue of CURE, we provide insight into the latest advancements in treatments for patients with ovarian cancer and look at the challenges faced by patients who are co-managing cancer and diabetes.

We are also working to keep patients with cancer up-to-date, both in print and online via curetoday.com, on the drug shortage that has affected the supply of certain cancer therapies.

“(Patients) should know that physicians and practices are scrambling, doing the best they can to manage this crisis,” said Dr. Lucio N. Gordan. “Patients and families need to connect with their representatives in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness and increase the level of urgency to improve channels of importation and to fix how these drugs are priced to allow them to stay viable from a financial and production standpoint.”

Also in this issue, we look at the potential benefits of wearable monitoring devices for patients with cancer, put a spotlight on the psychosocial issues faced by childhood patients and their families, and more.

As always, we hope you find our stories inspirational and informative. Thank you for reading.

MIKE HENNESSY JR.

President & CEO

MJH LIFE SCIENCES®

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