Artificial Intelligence in Modern Adult and Pediatric Cancer Care: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Background: Cancer remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, affecting both adult and pediatric populations through diverse biological mechanisms, clinical presentations, and therapeutic responses [1]. While remarkable advances in molecular diagnostics, targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and precision medicine have significantly improved survival rates, considerable challenges continue to limit optimal cancer care. Delayed diagnosis, tumor heterogeneity, treatment resistance, adverse drug reactions, healthcare disparities, and increasing clinical workload continue to affect patient outcomes across multiple cancer types [2]. Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative technology capable of addressing many of these limitations through advanced computational analysis of complex biomedical data. Modern AI systems integrate machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, generative AI, and multimodal analytics to improve cancer screening, diagnosis, prognostic assessment, therapeutic planning, treatment monitoring, and survivorship care [3]. AI applications now extend across medical imaging, digital pathology, genomics, radiomics, clinical decision support systems, robotic surgery, drug discovery, and personalized oncology. In pediatric oncology, AI offers additional opportunities to enhance early diagnosis of rare childhood malignancies, optimize treatment protocols, minimize long-term toxicities, and improve quality of life for childhood cancer survivors [4]. Nevertheless, significant barriers remain regarding algorithmic bias, explainability, regulatory approval, cybersecurity, data privacy, interoperability, and ethical implementation. This review discusses the evolving role of artificial intelligence across adult and pediatric oncology, highlighting current applications, clinical benefits, existing limitations, and future directions that may redefine precision cancer care over the coming decades.