VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on lung cancer, AI and bone regeneration

VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting research findings new findings on lung cancer survival rates, using AI for health apps, and how temperature affects bone regeneration.

Veterans have better lung cancer survival rates with VA

St. Louis VA researchers analyzed data from nearly 1.5 million Veterans treated for lung cancer. The researchers found that overall survival rates more than doubled from 2007 to 2019; for Veterans using VA, the three-year survival increased from 24% to 51%, and Veterans using community care showed an increase of 24% to 41%.

Non-small cell lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the U.S., but VA’s efforts to increase screening—to catch the cancer early and when it is most treatable—continue to yield positive results. The research team concluded that when lung cancer care is delivered within an integrated, publicly funded system, it leads to greater and faster improvements for Veteran survival rates across the entire health care environment.

New study guides AI development for health apps

Researchers from VA Ann Arbor Health Care Services worked with other researchers to develop several considerations for health intervention apps. Reinforcement learning algorithms help app-based interventions to determine the best times to send reminder notifications, personalized for the user, to encourage positive changes in health behavior. In particular, this study looked at a recent trial of a sodium reduction app to identify challenges, and their solutions, during the deployment of online algorithms in clinical trials. Their work to balance personalization and computer learning with computation ability and robustness contributes to the growing body of literature on AI development. View the full study from “Science Direct.”

Extreme temperatures may be able to build better bones

Researchers from VA Salt Lake City found sintering can be used to improve bone regeneration.

Sintering is the process of compacting material by pressure or heat, often used in ceramics. Fluorapatite (FAp) is a calcium phosphate mineral containing fluoride, primarily used in bone tissue engineering and regeneration. FAp scaffolds provide a porous, biodegradable structure to support new bone growth but are usually not strong enough to be load-bearing. The researchers sintered gel-cast FAp scaffolds with 50%, 60%, and 70% porosity at temperatures of either 1050°C, 1150°C, or 1250°C, achieving compressive strengths of 5-13 megapascals—roughly 725-1,885 psi.

The team believes they can further optimize the process before it is ready for human trials, but it’s a promising discovery to help Veterans with critical bone defects return to normalcy.

For more Office of Research and Development updates, visit ORD online or go to https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/.