US researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool called FAHR-Face that can estimate cancer patients’ survival chances from a single facial photograph, according to a study published in The Lancet Digital Health.
Developed by researchers at Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts, the system analyses facial features to estimate biological age and assess mortality risk, potentially helping doctors make more informed treatment decisions. The model was trained on more than 40 million facial photographs and adapted into two tools: FAHR-FaceAge, which estimates biological age, and FAHR-FaceSurvival, which predicts survival outcomes directly from facial images.
The survival model was trained using images of 34,363 patients and tested on another 3,820 patients. Its findings were independently validated using data from 4,892 cancer patients in the Netherlands. Researchers found that patients in the highest-risk group had more than three times the mortality risk of those in the lowest-risk group, even after accounting for clinical factors.
The study also found that patients who appeared at least five years older than their actual age had a 21% higher mortality risk, while those who appeared at least five years younger had a 17% lower risk. Combining the two AI models further improved the accuracy of survival predictions.
Researchers believe the technology could eventually support doctors in assessing patients’ health and planning treatments. However, further research and clinical validation are needed before the tool can be widely adopted in healthcare settings.
