An investment of £1.5m could enable local breast cancer patients to receive their diagnosis more swiftly due to the potential of artificial intelligence, a cause for celebration for Joanna Long, a former sufferer who was at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham on her last day of radiotherapy treatment with her dog Bosco.
Ibex Medical Analytics, specializing in developing artificial intelligence solutions, will receive £1.5m as part of the UK Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award. They are recognized as leaders in this field.
Ibex has partnered with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), the University of Nottingham, and four other NHS trusts to evaluate the potential of AI in detecting breast cancer. The goal is that this research will lead to a quicker diagnosis for patients down the line.
Joanna Long, a patient at the University Hospital Birmingham (UHB), is currently being treated.
Joanna Long says:
“It’s fantastic news that local women will benefit from this funding. I was at my fittest and it came as a shock to find a lump.
“I was told I had a 50-50 chance of the biopsy coming back as cancerous. While I was optimistic that those were high odds to be told it wasn’t cancer, you just cannot rest until you know.
Joanna went on to say:
“That two week wait between me having my biopsy and getting my results was the absolute worst part of my treatment and the whole process. At least once I had the answer I was no longer lying awake wondering.
“Anything that someone can do to make that two week wait not so heavy on patients’ mental health will be such a huge benefit.”
The Galen Breast solution from Ibex is designed to assist pathologists with the use of AI-based tools and data which can be used to identify and classify various types of breast cancer.
Professor Shabaan, our Trust’s Consultant Pathologist, is heading the venture as the principal investigator. Alongside other pathologists, she will assess Galen Breast on people living with breast cancer as part of regular practice.
They will assess the technology’s effect on the accuracy of diagnosis, its ability to decrease review time for cases, and its influence on cost-efficiency in diagnosing breast cancer with a shorter patient wait period.
Professor Shabaan says:
“This is great news for our patients and for UHB, as it puts us at the forefront of digital and artificial intelligence for pathology. It will help us to streamline our pathways and hopefully get results quicker for our patients.
“Here at UHB we have the advantage of having a diverse population of patients. Currently many AI programmes only test on Caucasian [white] patients, so we have the opportunity to produce information that will help all patients with breast cancer, from all ethnic backgrounds.”
It has been discovered that an overwhelming majority of females diagnosed with breast cancer at its initial stage have a life expectancy of no less than five years.
Salena Bains is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon, and the Clinical Service Lead for Breast Surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham.
Salena Bains says:
“This is great news for our patients and the future of our service. We know that patients who are diagnosed with breast cancer earlier on are more likely to have successful treatment.
“This project has the potential to reduce the time it takes for us to diagnose patients with breast cancer and therefore significantly improve their outcomes and experience.”
AI-powered diagnosis tools are not a replacement for human expertise; they represent a valuable tool in the fight against breast cancer. As technology evolves and AI becomes more sophisticated, these tools will likely become even more accurate and effective, further improving outcomes for women worldwide.
In summary, AI-powered diagnosis tools are a game-changer in breast cancer detection, offering a more accurate and reliable way to diagnose this disease. By harnessing the power of AI, we have the potential to save lives and improve the quality of life for women everywhere.
Source: uhb.nhs.uk
