England is testing a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool to speed prostate cancer diagnoses, which may save men from weeks of uncertainty about their health.
The tool, which will be piloted through the National Health Service (NHS) in England, uses AI to interpret medical imaging scans and identify lesions in men with suspected prostate cancer.
If the AI tool determines that a scan is high risk, it will be immediately sent to a radiologist for priority review. Patients will be booked for biopsies the same day, enabling doctors to quickly determine if a patient is cancer-free or make a diagnosis a few days later.
The new approach could save these patients up to a month of waiting for a diagnosis, NHS England said.
Under the current protocol, patients suspected of having prostate cancer are supposed to undergo a medical scan and biopsy within a week of their primary care doctor referring them for testing. But with radiologists under pressure, it can take much longer.
Notably, early screenings, such as PSA blood tests, can have abnormal results even if the patient does not actually have prostate cancer. That means some men without cancer may be sent for further testing and then wait weeks for an answer, which could take a toll on their mental health.
NHS England said that if the trial is successful, the AI tool will be rolled out across the health system, which could lead to thousands of men being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer sooner.
“As with all cancers, speed is crucial – the quicker the diagnosis, the sooner treatment can begin and help give the best chance of treatment being successful for patients and their families,” Peter Johnson, the NHS’s national clinical director for cancer, said in a statement.
The tool will be used in 10,000 scans to help radiologists identify cancers. It is part of a £14 million (€16 million) project in the United Kingdom to detect cancers at earlier stages.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer for men, with more than 56,000 new cases diagnosed in England each year, NHS England said.
In the European Union, there are more than 335,000 new cases annually and about one in 11 men will develop prostate cancer over their lives.
