Presentation of partner National Cancer Institute (NCIV)

Jul 5, 2023 | Newsletter #5

National Cancer Institute is the only specialized oncology institution in Lithuania. The Institute acts as the clinical cancer center, certified and accredited by the Organization of European Cancer Institutes.

• In order to achieve our strategic objectives, we cooperate with colleagues both in Lithuania and in the European research area. The diverse international level researches, related to nano-technologies, molecular biology, genetics and the most advanced immunotherapy are performed in the National Cancer Institute.
• We have a multidimensional clinic, the foundations of which are divisions of various cancer localizations – breast, lung, gastrointestinal, gynecological and urological, head and neck divisions.
NCI has a prostate cancer diagnostic and treatment competence center, certified by the European Council of Urologists for the sixth year – the only one of its kind in the Baltic States. Urological centers, where prostate cancer is diagnosed and treated using the most advanced and latest methods and possibilities, are accredited by the European Council of Urologists. A prerequisite is that such a center combines clinical work with research. And when it comes to prostate cancer diagnosis, accurate radiological imaging tests and other necessary invasive tests allow for personalized prostate cancer treatment for our patients.
NCI is involved in ProCAncer-I European Horizon 2020 project, dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) tools that facilitate the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Dr. Jurgita Ušinskienė is leading NCI participation in the project, together with radiologists dr. Rūta Briedienė, Audrius Untanas, radiation oncologist Kristina Slidevska, urologist dr. Albertas Ulys. The NCI input consists of collecting prostate cancer cases, clinical and MRI data to train and validate AI models. The MRI and clinical data will be uploaded to the icloud platform developed for the project. Another important NCI task is participation in clinical evaluation of AI models and leading work package of prediction of treatment response in case of radiation therapy. Thanks to the ProCAncer-I project, we cooperate and share experience with European prostate cancer reference centers and professionals, also acquire necessary tools for prostate cancer MRI diagnosis and biopsy.