A colorectal cancer screening AI jointly developed by Shanghai Xinhua Hospital and Alibaba Damo Academy can identify hidden lesions from routine plain CT scans - without requiring contrast agents - achieving 86.6% sensitivity and 99.8% specificity. It has already helped detect 41 asymptomatic patients, mostly in early or mid stages, who then received surgery.
The model adds no extra steps to the original examination, offering a new path for opportunistic screening. Because it works on scans already being performed for other reasons, it can be woven into routine care at low cost and low burden to patients.
Clinicians note that a technology which does not add an extra step is often the easiest to actually roll out, pointing to a practical route for widening early cancer detection.
