[서울신문] “100% in 20 minutes”… Prostate cancer, diagnosed only with urinalysis

KIST Joint Research Team… Development of artificial intelligence technology

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. If it is classified as a risk group for prostate cancer through a blood test, a biopsy is taken to determine whether the cancer has occurred. The biopsy is cumbersome and inconvenient because of pain and bleeding. Researchers in Korea have developed a technology that can accurately diagnose prostate cancer with only a urine test using artificial intelligence and ultra-precision biosensor technology.

Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Biomaterials Research Center and Asan Medical Center, Seoul Asan Medical Center, a joint research team with a biosensor based on ultra-sensitive electrical signals and artificial intelligence analysis, diagnoses prostate cancer in urine with near 100% accuracy in 20 minutes It was announced on the 24th that it has developed. The results of this study were published in the international journal’ACS Nano’.

A diagnostic test using urine has the advantage of reducing medical resources as well as patient convenience, but the concentration of cancer factors, which is a cancer-related biological indicator, is low in urine, so it has limitations in precise diagnosis.

The research team developed a technology to improve diagnosis accuracy by simultaneously utilizing different types of cancer factors, not one type of cancer factor. The research team developed an ultra-sensitive semiconductor sensor system that can simultaneously measure 4 types of cancer factors in urine. The research team has machine-learned the correlation between the four types of cancer factors and prostate cancer obtained through ultra-sensitive semiconductor sensors with artificial intelligence, and has also developed an algorithm that can diagnose cancer based on complex patterns of the obtained detection signals. Using this artificial intelligence cancer analysis method, as a result of diagnosing cancer in the urine of normal people and prostate cancer patients, it succeeded in diagnosing 95.5% of prostate cancer patients.

KIST Dr. Lee Kwan-hee said, “The technology that can diagnose prostate cancer close to 100% with only urine can be used for precise diagnosis of other cancers using urine.” Professor Jeong In-gap of Seoul Asan Hospital, who conducted the joint research, said, “It has the advantage of minimizing unnecessary biopsy and treatment by accurately selecting patients who need surgery or treatment with only urine.”

Reporter Yoo Yong-ha [email protected]