Artificial intelligence may be a useful communication tool to help older adults with cancer communicate with their doctors and have more of a say in their treatment, according to a new report published May 11 in the Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

The AI tool, dubbed i-SDM, uses machine learning and large language models to identify treatment options based on patients’ diagnoses, demographic information and an individual’s priorities. It also produces details on potential side effects and risks, survival rates and resources. SDM stands for shared decision making. 

“We found that AI can serve a decision support role by providing more context or explanation,” Yuexing Hao, a doctoral student at Cornell University, said in a statement. “The patient follows the clinician’s guidance, but they understand the treatment plan better and why clinicians made a particular choice. At the same time, AI can help to translate the patient’s needs to the clinicians.”

The research was presented at the Association of Computing Machinery’s (ACM) CHI conference on May 14. For the study, Hao interviewed older adults with chronic illnesses and clinicians to understand their needs and how they make decisions about care. The team pinpointed 10 factors that were critical to consider when mulling over treatments. 

Next, a larger team of researchers recruited 18 older adult cancer survivors and clinicians to evaluate using the tool. The authors said the study was limited to people who already made treatment choices, which may have made information biased as it didn’t include people still making decisions on their care.

Two patients and one clinician didn’t want to use the tool citing concerns about knowledge issues and the potential for inaccurate information. Some had worries about the privacy of their data.

“The i-SDM system doesn’t replace skilled professionals. I’m interested in seeing how AI can improve human-human interactions,” Hao said.

The team is continuing to work on the tool, adding a health equity component and applying findings from clinical trials including more diverse populations.

The team looked at older adults with cancer because the population is often overlooked in healthcare technology development.

“This kind of qualitative study, with real patient-survivors and real clinicians, helps us to frame future research,” Hao said.

This story originally appeared in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.