The treatment of blood cancers is becoming increasingly complex. Today, doctors must take many factors into account simultaneously: the patient’s medical history, genetic alterations in the tumor, comorbidities, previous treatments and an ever-growing number of new drugs. Difficult cases are therefore discussed in interdisciplinary tumor boards: case conferences in which experts from various disciplines work together to determine the best possible treatment.

However, such highly specialized conferences are time-consuming and require significant staff resources. Smaller hospitals, in particular, often lack dedicated specialists for each of the many—and in some cases very rare—forms of blood cancer. A research team led by Mirco Julian Friedrich (DKFZ, HI-STEM, UKHD) has therefore developed the AI-powered assistant HemaGuide, which supports treating physicians in making precisely these complex decisions. The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.