Healthcare leader urges aspiring radiologists to focus on interventional side, for fear of AI
An overseas healthcare leader is urging aspiring radiologists to focus on the interventional side of the specialty, rather than diagnostics, for fear of artificial intelligence taking over their duties.
Dr. Ang Peng Tiam made his remarks at an event on Friday celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Parkway Cancer Center in Singapore. A prominent cancer specialist, Ang is a medical director and senior consultant at the private treatment center, having completed his medical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson in Houston.
“If anyone wants to do radiology, you should not do diagnostic radiology. You must be an interventional radiologist,” Ang told attendees during the event on Sept. 4, according to a recap published by BusinessWorld, a Philippines-based trade publication. “(This means) that you must be the person who does the angiogram, to block off the vessels, the one who does the biopsy, and not the one who just reads the X-rays.”
“Because that reading in the future will all be done by computer and AI. So, this is a whole learning process,” he added later.
To back his claims, Ang gave the example of a patient treated for lung cancer at Parkway. Purportedly, a radiologist initially only identified 3 nodules in the lungs, while a subsequent AI-supported analysis revealed a total of 20. Ang reportedly said this forced physicians to reconsider whether surgery was the best bet, with the possibility that survival chances were lower, given the AI’s findings.
“So, that’s why when you look at the whole field of medicine, there are two areas which have changed and will be changed in a very big way: one is diagnostic radiology, and two is pathology,” Ang said, according to the publication.
However, the oncologist stopped short of claiming AI will replace diagnostic radiologists, emphasizing that healthcare requires “the element of trust, care and hope,” which he believes only humans can provide.
In a video snippet of his comments posted to YouTube—which does not include the radiology-related remarks—Ang noted that Parkway started with just four physicians. Today, it has expanded to include a large team of specialists trained at some of the top institutions across the globe. He also urged young physicians to follow the center’s philosophy of “treating every patient as we would our own family,” earning their trust by delivering the best care possible.
Ang earned his medical degree from the National University of Singapore and was founding head of the Department of Medical Oncology at Singapore General Hospital from 1991 to 1997. He has been in private practice since 1997, leading a team of over 15 consultants across oncology, hematology and palliative medicine, according to his Parkway profile page.
Ang’s remarks come after other prominent healthcare leaders have weighed in recently about how AI may reshape radiology. In March, the CEO of America’s largest public hospital system said he is ready to replace rads with AI in some circumstances, once the regulatory landscape catches up. The comments drew widespread criticism from members of the specialty. Meanwhile, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, co-owner of Cost Plus Drugs, in August said there is “no chance” radiologists get replaced by AI, noting that models are expensive and already outdated minutes after they are released.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.