NHS hospitals to test AI tool that helps diagnose and treat prostate cancer | Prostate cancer

A tool using artificial intelligence to help diagnose men with prostate cancer and guide treatment decisions is to be trialled in NHS hospitals, researchers have announced.

The £1.9 million Vanguard Path study, funded by Prostate Cancer UK and led by researchers at the University of Oxford, is expected to last three years and will test an AI tool called ArteraAI Prostate Biopsy Assay. In total, biopsies from more than 4,000 men will be used.

The tool, which analyzes digital biopsy images to produce a personalized risk score, has already been demonstrated in clinical trials to identify men with high-risk prostate cancer who would be most likely to benefit from the drug abiraterone.

However, trials in the United States suggest that this method could also be used for less aggressive forms of prostate cancer to predict which men are most likely to benefit from hormone treatment in addition to radiotherapy.

Additionally, studies have suggested that the tool can help identify patients who can be monitored without requiring immediate treatment.

Dr Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “If and when this is implemented, you will be able to use a single tool, no matter where you are on the aggressiveness scale, to make a very clinically important and life-improving decision for each of these men. » He added that this tool was already widely used in the United States.

The new study will first use prostate biopsy samples from men who have previously been diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer and have appropriate follow-up data, to determine whether the tool’s predictive prowess is visible when applied to UK patients.

The tool will then be trialled at three sites – North Bristol NHS Trust, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – as men follow the normal pathway for prostate cancer diagnosis.

“The biopsies will be analyzed, treatment choices will be made and the man will start treatment. But at the same time, NHS clinicians will receive a result from this tool and be asked: ‘If you had had this, would you have recommended the same treatment or not?'” Hobbs said, adding that part of the trial would also explore how the tool affected the time between diagnosis and treatment choice.

Experts hope this tool will ultimately help reduce under- and over-treatment.

“A good outcome is that this tool is being implemented in the NHS,” Hobbs said. However, for this to happen, he said, it must be demonstrated to be scientifically valid, cost-effective and make a difference in treatment decisions.

Professor Gerhardt Attard, of University College London, who was involved in the study into the use of abiraterone but is not part of the trial, said the research was important because the approaches often worked well in clinical trials.

“When you apply this to the real world of the NHS, a number of challenges and differences will inevitably arise and that is what this study will address,” he said.

Ashley Dalton, Minister of Public Health and Prevention, also welcomed the trial. “This groundbreaking research could be a big step forward, demonstrating the power of technology to potentially transform lives and improve cancer outcomes,” he said.

“This is exactly why we are investing in a digital NHS. By harnessing AI and moving beyond outdated systems, we can transform cancer care – diagnosing earlier, treating more effectively and improving the patient experience.”