AI flags hidden pancreatic cancer on routine CT scans: 8 cases found in 40,000 people

APPSO · wechat · 2026-10-21

A 65-year-old man admitted for dizziness at a Ningbo hospital had no abnormal findings — until Alibaba DAMO Academy's medical AI flagged a 1.5cm pancreatic lesion on his plain CT; enhanced CT confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma and surgery followed.

Key facts:

Since Nov 2024 the hospital has run an early pancreatic cancer screening clinic with DAMO Academy; 8 cancers found in 40,000+ CT scans, 6 early-stage, all operated
The PANDA model trained by registering 2,000+ enhanced CTs onto plain CTs: 92.9% sensitivity, 99.9% specificity — 34% more sensitive than experienced radiologists
Colorectal model DAMOCOCA caught 5 missed cancers in 27,000 scans (86.6% sensitivity, 99.8% specificity)
DAMO's multi-cancer screening AI now serves 20M+ people across 9 countries, working toward "one scan, many screens"

The piece also covers Harvard/MGH's FaceAge (Lancet Digital Health): predicting cancer patient mortality from a single photo — over half of the highest-risk group among 3,820 patients died within 90 days; scores correlate negatively with gene CDK6 — and raises new ethical concerns around insurer misuse and skin-tone bias.

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AI flags hidden pancreatic cancer on routine CT scans: 8 cases found in 40,000 people

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