New Delhi, Aug 12
A team of US scientists showed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help detect early larynx or voice box cancer from the sound of the patient’s voice.
Cancer of the voice box is an important public health burden. In 2021, there were an estimated 1.1 million cases of laryngeal cancer worldwide, and approximately 100,000 people died from it.
Risk factors include smoking, alcohol abuse, and infection with human papillomavirus.
The prognosis for laryngeal cancer ranges from 35 per cent to 78 per cent survival over five years when treated, depending on the tumour’s stage and its location within the voice box.
Now, researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University showed that abnormalities of the vocal folds can be detected from the sound of the voice using AI.
Such ‘vocal fold lesions’ can be benign, like nodules or polyps, but may also represent the early stages of laryngeal cancer.