Breast cancer diagnosis through serious gaming: Clinical reasoning, AI-driven character morphing, and emotional engagement

Abstract

This work introduces “Cancer: Now What?”, an innovative serious game designed for healthcare training with unlimited, comprehensive clinical scenarios. Focused on the diagnosis of breast cancer and other benign findings, the game is engineered to enhance the diagnostic skills of healthcare professionals by immersing them in a variety of diagnostic challenges related to clinical reasoning practice. It features AI-driven morphing to dynamically portray characters’ emotional responses, deepening player engagement and emotional connection. Despite some punctual challenges with visual artifacts in the morphing animations, the integration of real-life clinical reasoning with computational techniques highlights the game’s potential to advance clinical reasoning practice. This collaboration between game architects and medical experts highlights the substantial contributions of serious games to medical education, elevating them beyond mere entertainment to become essential educational tools.