Study claims new AI algorithm is better at identifying cancerous nodules than existing methods

A new artificial intelligence tool is able to accurately identify cancer on CT scans, in a development scientists and doctors say could speed up diagnosis of the disease.

The AI tool, designed by experts at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Institute of Cancer Research, and Imperial College London, could fast-track patients to treatment.

The team used CT scans of around 500 patients with large lung nodules to develop an AI algorithm using radiomics.  The technique is able to extract important information from medical images not easily seen by the human eye.  The model was then tested to determine if it could accurately identify cancerous nodules, using a measure called area under the curve (AUC) to see how effective the model was at anticipating cancer.

The results showed the AI model could spot each nodule’s risk of cancer with an AUC of 0.87.  The performance improved on the Brock score, a test used in clinic, which scored 0.67.

Chief investigator of the study Dr Richard Lee, said “Through this work, we hope to push boundaries to speed up the detection of the disease using innovative technologies such as AI”.

The breakthrough comes after AI developed a treatment for an aggressive form of cancer in just 30 days and demonstrated it can predict a patient’s survival rate during doctors’ notes.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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