Project seeks to use AI to identify bowel cancer

Researchers leading a six-million-pound collaboration claim that Artificial Intelligence-assisted capsule endoscopy could be used to diagnose bowel cancer.

A six-million-pound Horizon Europe grant has been given to 12 European partners to work toward removing the current economic, technical and medical barriers to implementing AI-supported Image Analysis in Large Bowel Camera Capsule Endoscopy (AICE).

This includes recognising where additional investigation is essential in addition to providing evidence that AI algorithms are at least as successful as humans at examining endoscopy images.

NHS Highland and Islands, Strathclyde University and The Data Lab are a number of those included in the four-year AICE project.

Aspects such as the development and validation of algorithms, clinical indications and guidelines, patient engagement, the creation of a clinical support platform, cost-efficiency, future implementation strategies and ethical considerations will be covered by the multidisciplinary team.

The expected benefits include fewer complications related to the diagnostic procedure, less advanced staged cancers and earlier initiation of treatment.

Professor Roma Maguire from Strathclyde University has stated: “Capsule endoscopy, particularly AI-assisted, has huge potential to improve the early diagnosis of bowel cancer, but for such an approach to be adopted it has to be acceptable to patients. We are developing digital tools that will help us to understand patient outcomes of capsule endoscopy and crucially patients’ experience of, and feelings about, this procedure.”