ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WOWO) — A Michigan health system is using artificial intelligence to help doctors make cancer radiation treatments more precise, adjusting treatment plans based on how a patient’s body changes from one appointment to the next.

Henry Ford Health is using what’s known as adaptive radiation therapy at Henry Ford Health Macomb. The approach combines daily imaging with artificial intelligence to help radiation specialists redraw organs and reshape treatment plans before radiation is delivered.

News 10’s Riley Connell reported that the technology is being used to treat patients including a Grosse Pointe woman battling lung cancer.

The technology represents a shift from the way traditional radiation treatment is typically planned according to News10 Lansing.

With conventional radiation therapy, doctors generally take an image of the patient’s body before treatment begins. That image is then used to develop a radiation plan that may remain in place throughout a course of treatment lasting several weeks.

But the human body does not necessarily remain in exactly the same position during that time.

Organs can move, tumors can change and structures surrounding a tumor can shift from one day to another.

Adaptive radiation addresses that problem by taking a new scan each time the patient comes in for treatment.

Dr. David Bergman, a radiation oncologist at Henry Ford Health Macomb, told News 10 that the daily scan allows the treatment team to see the patient’s anatomy as it appears that day.

Artificial intelligence then helps rapidly identify and redraw organs surrounding the tumor.

“When the patient comes in for their adaptive treatment and we take that new scan, the AI tools basically redraw those organs very quickly,” Bergman said.

The AI does not make the final decision.

Doctors and other members of the treatment team review the computer-generated work. If the images and contours are accurate, the team can modify the radiation plan to account for the patient’s anatomy that day.

Bergman said that human review is particularly important because AI can have difficulty when a scan is unclear.

If an organ is farther away from a tumor, doctors may be able to deliver a stronger dose to the cancerous area. If the organ has shifted closer, the treatment plan can be adjusted to protect it.

That can be especially important when tumors are located near organs that naturally move.

Bergman identified pancreatic cancers as one example because the pancreas is near the stomach, intestines, kidneys and liver. Prostate cancer can also benefit because the bladder and rectum can change position from day to day.

The goal is to make the radiation as effective as possible against the tumor while limiting exposure to healthy tissue.

One patient experiencing that approach is Judy Starrs, a Grosse Pointe woman who is being treated for cancer at Henry Ford Health.

Starrs said she was diagnosed with lung cancer during an especially difficult period of her life. Her husband was in hospice at the time and ultimately died without knowing that she had cancer.

“Everything kind of shut down,” Starrs told News 10.

After undergoing two surgeries on her lungs, Starrs’ cancer returned. She eventually sought treatment at Henry Ford Health.

Her latest treatment involves adaptive radiation.

According to News 10, doctors were treating a tumor that had spread to a gland located behind Starrs’ stomach. That location made the ability to account for movement especially important.

Bergman said the position of Starrs’ stomach could change the way doctors delivered radiation.

“If her stomach was a little bit farther away from the tumor, we could deliver a more highly effective dose to that target,” Bergman said.

But if her stomach moved closer to the tumor on another treatment day, doctors could reshape the radiation plan to reduce the dose reaching the stomach.

For Starrs, the process initially happened largely behind the scenes.

She knew that medical staff spent several minutes recalibrating her position before radiation began, but she did not initially understand everything happening during those preparations.

“I know that when I went in every time, they would recalibrate, you know, where everything was in my body for the first few minutes before the radiation actually started,” Starrs said.

She now understands that the daily adjustments were part of the adaptive treatment process.

“And it’s pretty amazing,” she said.

Henry Ford Health says it has been an early adopter of adaptive radiation technology. The health system says it was the first site in the world to install an MRI-guided adaptive radiation machine and was among the first institutions in the United States to install the CT-guided adaptive radiation system known as Ethos, which was used in Starrs’ treatment.

The system says it has since helped train other institutions in establishing adaptive radiation programs.

AI’s role at Henry Ford Health extends beyond radiation treatment. The health system says artificial intelligence is also being used in areas including cancer detection, treatment planning and research.

But as the technology becomes more common in medicine, researchers emphasize that AI should remain an aid to physicians rather than a replacement for them.

Anjana Susarla, a Michigan State University professor who studies responsible artificial intelligence, told News 10 that human oversight is critical when AI is used in medical care.

“So, we should be very careful not to put it in a situation where without any human intervention, AI is just giving advice,” Susarla said.

She described AI as a tool whose usefulness depends on how it is incorporated into a broader system of human judgment and supervision.

Bergman similarly compared the technology to a co-pilot.

“You can think of it as kind of like a co-pilot. It’s helping you to get to the place you want to go. But at the end of the day, your doctors are always in the captain’s chair,” he said.

For Starrs, the technology has become part of a much more personal fight.

Bergman said her tumor has responded well to treatment and that doctors are already seeing encouraging results.

“Ms. Starrs has had a wonderful outcome,” Bergman said. “We’re already seeing good results. Her tumor that we treated is responding really well.”

Starrs said her family, friends and faith are helping her through the process.

She is also focused on something much more ordinary: spending time with her 3-year-old granddaughter.

Starrs said her granddaughter recently asked whether there would ever be a time when her grandmother could no longer play with her.

“Gigi, will there ever be a time where you can’t play with me?” the girl asked, according to Starrs.

Starrs said she reassured her granddaughter: “No, of course not.”

For Henry Ford Health, the technology represents a growing role for AI in cancer care — but one where the final decisions remain with physicians and their patients.

The approach allows doctors to account for the body’s daily changes rather than relying exclusively on an image taken before a multi-week course of treatment begins, potentially giving specialists another way to balance two competing goals: delivering an effective radiation dose to a tumor while protecting healthy tissue nearby.