AI IMPROVES HEAD AND NECK CANCER DIAGNOSIS
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a major global health concern, causing almost half a million deaths worldwide each year. The need for accurate prognostic tools to guide treatment and improve outcomes is vast and urgent.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new field of science in which computers will provide decisions-supporting tools to help doctors make difficult clinical choices. Recent AI applications in otolaryngology include head and neck oncology, rhinology, neurotology, and laryngology. The aim of the study “Current role of artificial intelligence in head and neck cancer surgery: a systematic review of literature” is to describe the potential uses of AI in head and neck oncology with a special focus on the surgical field. 
The authors performed a systematic review, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, in the main medical databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library, considering all original studies published until February 2023 about the role of AI in head and neck cancer surgery. The search strategy included a combination of the following terms: “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning” and “head and neck cancer”.
Overall, 303 papers were identified and after duplicate removal (12 papers) and excluding papers not written in English (1 paper) and off-topic (4 papers), papers were assessed for eligibility; finally, only 12 papers were included.
The authors report the first systematic review in the literature concerning the role of AI in head and neck cancer surgery. An increasing influx of AI applications to clinical problems in otolaryngology is expected, so specialists should be increasingly prepared to manage the constant changes. It will always remain critical for clinicians to use their skills and knowledge to critically evaluate the additional information provided by AI and make the final decisions on each patient.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10645467/
