AI in Medicine — Cancer & Rare Disease — 2026-09-26 (Sat) Evening News

Latest news on AI and cancer treatment

Overview

Several developments were seen in the diagnostic and imaging fields (breast cancer screening equipment, skin cancer detection, glioblastoma recurrence prediction). While there were reports on the preclinical stage of drug discovery and treatment selection, there were no headlines regarding regulatory approvals and designations. The provided data does not include specific ClinicalTrials.gov information supporting the status of the trial.

Breast cancer

- India's PGIMER (medical research institute) plans to soon introduce AI-equipped equipment to support breast cancer detection (detailed accuracy and target data are not listed in the headline). - It is reported that Lord's Mark is developing an AI-based breast cancer screening device that does not use radiation and is moving toward clinical trials. At this point, it can be said that the company is at a pre-clinical trial stage.

lung cancer

No applicable information

Malignant brain tumor

- Report that an AI-based model predicts recurrence of glioblastoma and supports decision-making for targeted treatment. The stage of evidence (retrospective/prospective, single institution, etc.) is not stated in the heading. - Report that a new phthalazine drug candidate for malignant brain tumors has been identified using machine learning. It is positioned as drug discovery research at the preclinical stage.

Leukemia/lymphoma

- A report on rare cancer diagnosis introduces a case in which a doctor used an AI chatbot to diagnose and make decisions about his wife's rare cancer (this is an individual anecdote, not a report on clinical evidence). There are no descriptions of specific research results regarding diagnosis, stratification, and treatment selection specific to blood cancers.

Colon cancer/digestive organ

- Report that an AI model can predict pancreatic cancer three years in advance. Details of the target population and level of evidence (prospective/retrospective, cohort size, etc.) are not listed in the heading. - There are no specific reports regarding detection using an endoscope.

Rare cancer

- Reports related to adenoid cystic carcinoma are investment analysis articles (discussing the relationship between Royalty Pharma's investment strategy and the expansion of AI), and are not about clinical diagnosis or treatment.

Diagnosis/Pathology/Image

- Kinki University and others have developed an AI that uses images from a common camera to identify eight types of skin lesions, including age spots, moles, and skin cancer, with 95.9% accuracy. In addition, it also has a function to visualize "where the AI focuses." The evidence stage (details of the development/verification stage) is unclear from the headline alone.

Treatment selection/drug discovery

- An editorial article stating that immunotherapy, AI, and the aging of the population are changing the way surgery is performed in the field of esophageal cancer surgery. Specific numbers and evidence levels are not listed in the heading. - Phthalazine drug candidate for malignant brain tumors (preclinical stage, see [4]).

Regulations/Approval

No applicable information

Clinical trial implementation status

There is no information that can be listed because the provided data does not include the specific trial name, target cancer type, phase, or registration status from ClinicalTrials.gov.

Japanese movements

- Kinki University and others have developed an AI that uses images from ordinary cameras to distinguish eight types of lesions, including skin cancer (see 8 for details). Reports on the use of AI in areas such as breast cancer and brain tumors in Japan are not included in this list.

Remarks from VIPs

The list of important people to be tracked is blank, so no relevant statements are recorded.

Latest news on AI and rare and incurable diseases

Overview

Only two headlines were collected this time, and both of them were about international discussions about diagnostic support AI and genome data sharing, and there was no information about therapeutic drug development or domestic system trends in Japan.

Diagnosis of rare diseases

According to a report from Bioengineer.org, a method has been demonstrated that uses AI to analyze newborn facial images and detect Prader-Willi syndrome earlier than conventional methods. Prader-Willi syndrome is included in the ``endocrine diseases'' list of designated intractable diseases (the notification number is unknown as it is not listed in the heading). The headline only says ``early'' and does not indicate specific detection rates, shortened time to diagnosis, or number of targeted cases. The research stage (preclinical/case report/clinical trial) is also not specified and cannot be confirmed.

Gene analysis/genome

It has been reported that FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) has participated in an international dialogue on genomic data sharing and AI utilization in the food safety field. This is a framework for the food safety field, and does not cover mutation interpretation or whole-genome diagnosis of individual patients with rare diseases.

Development of therapeutic drugs

No applicable information

Nerve/muscular diseases

No applicable information

Immunology/Collagen disease

No applicable information

Rare metabolic/endocrine diseases

Reports on Prader-Willi syndrome are in the context of diagnostic support AI, as described in 2. above, and information regarding therapeutic drugs and pathological mechanisms is not included in the headlines. The disease is listed in the endocrine disease group in the list of designated intractable diseases.

System/Patient Support

No applicable information

Japanese movements

No applicable information

Remarks from VIPs

No applicable information