Cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy could soon benefit from a new AI (artificial intelligence) that is able to identify and predict the development of different combinations of symptoms – helping to alleviate much of the distress caused by their occurrence and severity. In a first study of its kind, published by Nature Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Surrey (UK) and the University of California (US) detail how they used Network Analysis (NA) to examine the structure and relationships between 38 common symptoms reported by over 1300 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Some of the most common symptoms reported by patients were nausea, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, drowsiness, dry mouth, hot flushes, numbness, and nervousness.
The team then grouped these symptoms into three key networks – occurrence, severity and distress. The NA allowed the team to…
