FaceAge AI uses snapshots to predict biological age and help oncologists tailor treatments

A new artificial intelligence tool developed by researchers at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School uses a snapshot of a patient’s face to predict biological age and cancer survival time, knowledge that physicians can use to tailor treatments.

The algorithm indicated that cancer patients’ FaceAge averaged five years older than their chronological age. It also found that looking older was associated with worse outcomes for patients suffering from several cancer types.

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Raymond Mak, a faculty member at the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Program, HMS associate professor of radiology oncology, and co-senior author of the study, said [FaceAge] allows oncologists to better tailor treatments.

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He described a lung cancer patient who, though chronologically 86, looked considerably younger. That was a factor in Mak suggesting more aggressive treatment…. The opposite can also be true, Mak said, and patients who are frailer than their chronological age might suggest may need less-intensive treatment because that’s what their body can tolerate.

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