Oncology and radiation therapy: what the evidence shows
AI that drafts organ and lymph node contours for radiation treatment planning, or estimates a prostate cancer patient's risk of metastasis from biopsy slides to guide treatment decisions.
Auto-contouring software for radiotherapy is cleared by 510(k) as image processing software that produces draft contours for a professional to review and approve, as in the clearance for MVision's Contour+. Most studies compare drafts with expert contours or time manual drawing against editing. In a randomized study of 97 radiation oncologists, AI templates improved agreement with expert contours, on cases never used for treatment. A seven-institution study found savings of 46% overall but none for several lymph node levels; a failure analysis traced errors to stents, drains and contrast, and accuracy can also change after software updates.
In pathology, FDA granted its De Novo authorization for ArteraAI Prostate in July 2025 for prognosis. A 2025 systematic review of digital pathology AI in urologic cancers found no study that assessed a model prospectively.
The tools reviewed in this category
General information, not medical advice. Every fact links to its source, and the page shows the date it was last reviewed.