Advanced cancer diagnostics can provide increasingly sophisticated information about tumor biology, but developing the test is only part of the challenge. How do we make these technologies available to patients wherever they receive care?

In this episode of MedInsights Unleashed, Dr. Oliver F. Bathe, MD, MSc, FRCSC, FACS, Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the University of Calgary and Founder and CEO of Qualisure Diagnostics, discusses the challenges of centralized testing and the move toward more decentralized approaches. He explores RNA and transcriptomics, computational assays, and the potential role of AI in helping make advanced cancer diagnostics more reproducible, scalable and accessible to patients.

Qualisure Diagnostics Inc contact information:

Oliver F. Bathe, MD - CEO & Founder

3655 36th Street NW Calgary, Alberta T2L 1Y8

p: +1 403.614.7124

e: obathe@qualisuredx.com | www.qualisuredx.com

In this episode of MedInsights Unleashed, Hannah Timm, PhD Candidate at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in Essen, Germany, who specializes in computational pathology, discusses using AI to quantify blood vessel branching patterns in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Histopathology slides contain complex information not always captured by TNM staging, and Hannah’s team used AI to identify high- and low-branching vascular patterns. They found a continuous relationship between vessel branching and patient outcomes, with a greater proportion of high-branching patterns associated with better disease-free and overall survival.

Hannah also discusses how AI can augment—not replace—pathologists by helping quantify complex tissue patterns and potentially reveal additional biological information. The conversation explores the use of pathology slides from the CheckMate 914 trial, how AI could support future biomarker research, and the need for prospective validation before approaches such as this can move toward clinical practice.

In this episode of MedInsights Unleashed, Dr. Richard S. Finn, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, joins John Collins to explain the ABCs of liver cancer—from who is at risk and why screening and early detection matter to diagnosis and treatment. Because hepatocellular carcinoma frequently develops in people with underlying liver disease, treating liver cancer often means considering both the tumor and the health of the liver.

Using his memorable “bad soil and weeds” analogy, Dr. Finn explains why removing a liver tumor may not eliminate the underlying risk of another cancer developing. He discusses multidisciplinary care, surgery and liver transplantation, locoregional treatments, immunotherapy and targeted therapies, while emphasizing the importance of patient advocacy, appropriate screening and access to experienced liver cancer centers.