VA Study to Develop AI for Aggressive Prostate Cancer Prediction

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched a new study in which researchers from five VA medical centers will work to develop an artificial intelligence tool that can predict aggressive prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is estimated to impact one in eight men in the US at some point during their lives, and it is the second most common cancer diagnosis among US veterans, accounting for 30 percent of new cancer diagnoses, the VA reports.

The study, ‘Predicting Metastatic Progression of High Risk Localized Prostate Cancer,’ will analyze data from over 5,000 veterans who have been diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer and received initial treatment. Over the course of the research, the study is set to eventually expand to 14 VA sites.

The algorithm will leverage high-resolution scans of prostate biopsies, diagnostic imaging, and social determinants of health (SDOH) to detect patterns of aggressive prostate cancer. These data and the resulting analyses will utilize existing VA resources, including databases, computing infrastructure, and cloud storage.

The press release further indicates that the research will also benefit from some of the VA’s programs and partnerships, such as the Million Veteran Program and the Prostate Cancer Foundation-VA partnership.

“A digital repository for data will allow for development, testing, and validation of prognostic classifiers that could positively impact clinical management of Veterans with high-risk prostate cancer,” said Matthew Rettig, MD chief of oncology and hematology at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center, and co-principal investigator for the study, in the press release. “The infrastructure developed by this research will serve as a valuable hub for future discovery and … serve as a roadmap to develop similar AI algorithms for other cancers, such as lung cancer, and even non-cancerous diseases that commonly affect our Veterans.”

The study is part of the VA’s Precision Oncology Program for Cancer of the Prostate (POPCaP), which works to tailor treatments for veterans with advanced prostate cancer using genetic information.

“Only in the VA can a researcher combine extensive electronic medical records, high-performance computing, and precision oncology care to create an innovation like this AI program,” stated Carolyn Clancy, MD, the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Discovery. “No one else has incorporated socioeconomic conditions into a predictive model for high-risk prostate cancer, but we’ve seen multiple studies showing how they are a factor in Veterans’ health.”

This is one of the most recent efforts to help combat prostate cancer in veterans, but others have also been undertaken in recent years.

In May 2021, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the San Francisco Veteran Affairs (VA) Health Care System partnered to launch the Drew Foundation Precision Oncology Center of Excellence to improve prostate cancer care for the area’s veterans.

The center will use genomic data, in addition to environmental and lifestyle factors, to drive precision medicine-based treatments for each patient.