It is hoped that the tool will improve the diagnostic pathway and free up radiologists’ time
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) has announced that it is piloting a new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning software system for prostate cancer diagnosis.
Working in collaboration with Lucida Medical, LTHT will test the effectiveness of the Prostate Intelligence (Pi) tool in detecting disease lesions from MRI scans.
The Trust hopes that the tool will help speed up the currently complex diagnostic pathway, free up radiologists’ time and, in the future, allow patients to be booked for biopsies more quickly.
There are around 55,100 new prostate cancer cases in the UK every year, and MRI imaging plays a vital role in diagnosing the disease and guiding targeted biopsies.
Trained to spot the signatures of cancer using MRI and biopsy data from patients in the UK Netherlands, the Pi software uses AI algorithms to highlight potential areas of concern on MRI scans, as well as assess risk scores and prostate size.
The ongoing study will evaluate the AI-generated results from the tool against real-world outcomes for 100 patients who have recently completed the prostate cancer pathway, with initial retrospective data collection underway and a prospective pilot planned for the autumn.
Oliver Hulson, consultant radiologist at LTHT, said: “Our goal is to determine if this AI tool can accurately identify prostate cancer without underestimating or overestimating the likelihood based on MRI scans.
“If successful, this could enable us to streamline our prostate cancer pathway and reduce the waiting time for a biopsy from the current two to three weeks to less than one week. Ultimately, faster diagnosis means faster treatment and better outcomes for our patients.”