Key points from article :
A recent trial at a UK hospital trust showed that AI technology significantly improves the detection of bowel lesions that could develop into cancer, leading the trust to adopt the technology for routine use.
The AI system, used during colonoscopies, helped detect an additional 0.36 lesions, known as adenomas, per procedure, enhancing the effectiveness of traditional methods.
The technology is particularly effective at identifying small or flat polyps, which are often missed by the human eye, and could play a crucial role in reducing bowel cancer cases, with about 43,000 new diagnoses and 16,000 deaths annually in the UK.
The trial, which involved over 2,000 patients across 10 centers in the UK, demonstrated that the AI device could identify at least one additional adenoma in 8 out of 100 people without increasing the risk of complications. The AI system learns and improves by analyzing more images, which suggests that its effectiveness will continue to increase over time.
Following the successful trial, the hospital trust has integrated the AI technology into its routine colonoscopy procedures, with hopes that it will be adopted more widely across the UK.
The study highlights the potential of AI to enhance cancer detection and prevention in healthcare, offering a significant advancement in the early identification of lesions that could otherwise progress to cancer. The research has been published and is contributing to ongoing efforts to improve outcomes for patients through the use of advanced technology.
The trial was conducted by the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) in collaboration with Newcastle University.
