Karen M. Mustian, PhD, MS, MPH​

Discussant of the ePAL abstract, Karen M. Mustian, PhD, MS, MPH, Professor of Surgery and Director of the PEAK Human Performance Clinical Research Laboratory at the Wilmot Cancer Institute of the University of Rochester Medical Center, emphasized that artificial intelligence is the wave of the future despite the challenges posed by the technology.

“Artificial intelligence is not going away,” said Dr. Mustian. “If oncologists can harness the power of this technology, patients may not even need to answer questions on an app like this in the future. Smartphone devices might be able to read the expression on a patient’s face and perform interventions based on that alone.”

According to Dr. Mustian, artificial intelligence could also be used to implement behavioral interventions such as exercise or to adjust prescriptions, which speaks to the technology’s potential to empower patients.

“As oncologists, we often talk about shared decision-making and involving patients,” she said. “Through this intervention, we can see that empowering patients to help and be partners in their health care is critically important and that it can, in fact, be done effectively. I think it goes without saying that anything we can do to reduce the clinical burden on our care providers is going to be an incredible contribution in the future.” ■

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Mustian reported no conflicts of interest.