"It's been a long time coming to get to this stage where, we can validate it on a larger scale," Viswanath said.
Viswanath has been working with Case Western since 2012. When he first arrived at the university, he spent his time talking to clinicians and researchers across different cancer specialties to find a common issue. Through these conversations, they found a critical gap in diagnosing and treating rectal cancer tumors.
This led Viswanath to join forces with different clinicians to help inform surgeons and doctors on how to ensure more effective treatment. Since 2015, he's been working on the model and is hopeful that it will be used commercially in the coming years. With the rapid advancements of AI in other parts of society, Viswanath sees this model as a tool, not a replacement.
"A generation ago, all patients with rectal cancer all ended up with colostomy bags," Steinhagen said."One of the things that this work will do will help us figure out who might not need surgery at all and who can keep their rectum after surgery."