Data-driven support to decision-making in molecular tumour boards for lymphoma: A design science approach

Abstract

BackgroundThe increasing amount of molecular data and knowledge about genomic alterations from next-generation sequencing processes together allow for a greater understanding of individual patients, thereby advancing precision medicine. Molecular tumour boards feature multidisciplinary teams of clinical experts who meet to discuss complex individual cancer cases. Preparing the meetings is a manual and time-consuming process.PurposeTo design a clinical decision support system to improve the multimodal data interpretation in molecular tumour board meetings for lymphoma patients at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. We investigated user needs and system requirements, explored the employment of artificial intelligence, and evaluated the proposed design with primary stakeholders.MethodsDesign science methodology was used to form and evaluate the proposed artefact. Requirements elicitation was done through a scoping review followed by five semi-structured interviews. We used UML Use Case diagrams to model user interaction and UML Activity diagrams to inform the proposed flow of control in the system. Additionally, we modelled the current and future workflow for MTB meetings and its proposed machine learning pipeline. Interactive sessions with end-users validated the initial requirements based on a fictive patient scenario which helped further refine the system.ResultsThe analysis showed that an interactive secure Web-based information system supporting the preparation of the meeting, multidisciplinary discussions, and clinical decision-making could address the identified requirements. Integrating artificial intelligence via continual learning and multimodal data fusion were identified as crucial elements that could provide accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendations.ImpactOur work is of methodological importance in that using artificial intelligence for molecular tumour boards is novel. We provide a consolidated proof-of-concept system that could support the end-to-end clinical decision-making process and positively and immediately impact patients.ConclusionAugmenting a digital decision support system for molecular tumour boards with retrospective patient material is promising. This generates realistic and constructive material for human learning, and also digital data for continual learning by data-driven artificial intelligence approaches. The latter makes the future system adaptable to human bias, improving adequacy and decision quality over time and over tasks, while building and maintaining a digital log.

An overview and a roadmap for artificial intelligence in hematology and oncology

“…Several AI systems have been developed to automate part of the complex decision-making process in oncology (Kheifetz and Scholz 2019;Schmidt 2017;Rodríguez Ruiz et al 2022). Some of them use multidisciplinary tumor boards as a blueprint.…”

“…Despite these experiences in the past, the use of AI to automate decision-making in a way analogous to multidisciplinary tumor boards is still being commonly mentioned as a promising application. (Rodríguez Ruiz et al 2022)…”