Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings

Background: Oral cancer presents a significant public health challenge, particularly in resource-limited settings where early diagnosis is difficult. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into mobile health applications offers a promising solution. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evalu...

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Main Authors: Mouttoukichenin Surenthar, Ravindhiran Gunaseelan, Arthi Balasubramaniam, Jaganathan Elakiya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2025-04-01
Series:Journal of Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology
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Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jiaomr.jiaomr_49_25
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author Mouttoukichenin Surenthar
Ravindhiran Gunaseelan
Arthi Balasubramaniam
Jaganathan Elakiya
author_facet Mouttoukichenin Surenthar
Ravindhiran Gunaseelan
Arthi Balasubramaniam
Jaganathan Elakiya
author_sort Mouttoukichenin Surenthar
collection DOAJ
description Background: Oral cancer presents a significant public health challenge, particularly in resource-limited settings where early diagnosis is difficult. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into mobile health applications offers a promising solution. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the diagnostic performance of an AI-powered mobile application, DiagnOCe, for oral cancer screening in primary healthcare settings. Methods: The DiagnOCe app was built using the MobileNet architecture via the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s App Inventor platform. A dataset of 850 clinical images (425 cancerous, 425 normal mucosa) was divided into training (600), validation (100), and testing (150) sets. Diagnostic performance was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, predictive values, and F1 score. Cohen’s kappa evaluated interobserver reliability. Results: The app demonstrated sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 85.33%, 88%, and 86.67%, respectively. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 87.67% and 85.71%. The receiver operating curve–area under the curve was 0.867, with an F1 score of 86.43%. Cohen’s kappa showed high interobserver agreement (0.88). Conclusion: DiagnOCe exhibits strong diagnostic accuracy and usability, making it a feasible tool for oral cancer screening in resource-limited settings. Future improvements could involve multicenter trials and enhanced AI models for greater precision.
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institution Kabale University
issn 0972-1363
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publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
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spelling doaj-art-b5d5a6b1b91e4f6c989ce28b88957df22025-08-20T03:30:48ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology0972-13630975-15722025-04-0137221522010.4103/jiaomr.jiaomr_49_25Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care SettingsMouttoukichenin SurentharRavindhiran GunaseelanArthi BalasubramaniamJaganathan ElakiyaBackground: Oral cancer presents a significant public health challenge, particularly in resource-limited settings where early diagnosis is difficult. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into mobile health applications offers a promising solution. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the diagnostic performance of an AI-powered mobile application, DiagnOCe, for oral cancer screening in primary healthcare settings. Methods: The DiagnOCe app was built using the MobileNet architecture via the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s App Inventor platform. A dataset of 850 clinical images (425 cancerous, 425 normal mucosa) was divided into training (600), validation (100), and testing (150) sets. Diagnostic performance was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, predictive values, and F1 score. Cohen’s kappa evaluated interobserver reliability. Results: The app demonstrated sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 85.33%, 88%, and 86.67%, respectively. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 87.67% and 85.71%. The receiver operating curve–area under the curve was 0.867, with an F1 score of 86.43%. Cohen’s kappa showed high interobserver agreement (0.88). Conclusion: DiagnOCe exhibits strong diagnostic accuracy and usability, making it a feasible tool for oral cancer screening in resource-limited settings. Future improvements could involve multicenter trials and enhanced AI models for greater precision.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jiaomr.jiaomr_49_25artificial intelligenceearly diagnosismobile applicationsoral cancerprimary healthcare
spellingShingle Mouttoukichenin Surenthar
Ravindhiran Gunaseelan
Arthi Balasubramaniam
Jaganathan Elakiya
Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings
Journal of Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology
artificial intelligence
early diagnosis
mobile applications
oral cancer
primary healthcare
title Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings
title_full Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings
title_fullStr Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings
title_full_unstemmed Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings
title_short Artificial Intelligence in the Screening of Oral Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Novel App-Based Approach for Primary Health Care Settings
title_sort artificial intelligence in the screening of oral cancer a cross sectional study on a novel app based approach for primary health care settings
topic artificial intelligence
early diagnosis
mobile applications
oral cancer
primary healthcare
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jiaomr.jiaomr_49_25
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