VOA标准英语2011--Computers Evaluate Cancer Biopsies

Computers Evaluate Cancer Biopsies

Cancer treatment might have just taken a big leap into the computer age. Stanford University researchers are reporting significant success in training computers to analyze¹ microscope slides of breast cancer biopsies with a keener eye than any human pathologist.

Since the early 20th century, pathologists have been squinting² into microscopes, looking for a handful of features in biopsied tumor³ samples that enable them to classify how aggressive the cancer is.

That information helps doctors decide how to treat a patient.

Today, armed with sophisticated software, powerful computers are getting quite skilled at pattern recognition. Identifying faces, for example. The Stanford researchers thought computers might be able to learn to evaluate cancer biopsies, too.

To do that, Daphne Koller and her colleagues started with a set of biopsy slides that are used to train pathologists. The slides were scanned into the computer, which measured not just the handful of features a human pathologist might review, but thousands of characteristics on each image.

"And we plugged it into a machine-learning algorithm that looked at survival data," she said, "and tried to figure out which of those features were good features in terms of survival, which were bad features, and which were not relevant at all."

In fact, Koller says, the system identified previously⁴ unrecognized features on the biopsy slides that help predict how aggressive the cancer will be.

"It turned out that some of the most significant features were in parts of the tumor that pathologists don't look at at all right now."

After the training phase, "C-Path" (Computational Pathologist) evaluated a second set of pathology slides, which came from a different hospital and which were medically and demographically different from the training group. It actually did better than human pathologists, although Koller stresses that C-Path is not designed to replace doctors looking through microscopes.

She says the computerized system could have its biggest impact in resource-poor settings - in developing countries, for example - where skilled pathologists are in short supply.

"Our technology can be easily applied⁵ even over the Web, where a local physician extracts a sample and puts it on a slide and scans it into a computer and sends it over the net, and out comes a prediction about survival and ultimately other aspects of the sample that can help guide treatment."

Koller and her colleagues describe the computerized pathologist system in Science Translational Medicine. They're currently working to extend the computerized pathology system to other cancers. It is still some years away from use in patient treatment.

1 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

2 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。

3 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。