Bright key facts / Demonstrated
CT scans may carry a second clue.
A peer-reviewed study tested whether EAGLE, an AI system, could flag esophageal cancer on non-contrast chest CT scans people received for other reasons.
- AI’s role
- A deep-learning system analyzed non-contrast chest CT scans for signs of esophageal cancer and high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, including scans acquired for other reasons.
- Documented result
- Across 11,466 patients at eight external centres, EAGLE flagged 90.0% of known cancers (sensitivity) and correctly left 98.5% of patients without cancer unflagged (specificity). It flagged 60.1% of stage I cancers and 52.5% of precancerous lesions. In a separate prospective cohort of 17,446 patients at one hospital, it flagged 87.8% of known cancers. Of 90 alerts, 38 were confirmed malignant—36 cancers and two high-grade intraepithelial neoplasias—so 42.2% of alerts were confirmed malignant (positive predictive value).
- Important limitation
- The prospective cohort had incomplete follow-up: among 52 people without confirmed malignancy, 28 had other findings, 19 were negative or had no symptoms, and five were lost to follow-up.