AI software will help clinicians diagnose lung cancer earlier and reduce waiting lists for patients

A new artificial intelligence software that will help doctors to make quicker and more accurate decisions when diagnosing potentially cancerous lung legions, has received major government funding. The lung cancer predication AI software, Virtual Nodule Clinic (VNC), which has been developed by Optellum (Oxford, UK), will examine lung nodules to determine whether they are benign or malignant. The pioneering AI solution has been shown to outperform existing methods to predict malignancy in nodules in a multi-center study conducted by Nottingham, Oxford and Leeds clinicians with results published in BMJ Thorax last year. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK, accounting for 21% of all cancer deaths in any one year. When diagnosed at an early stage, almost 57% of people in the UK with lung cancer will survive their disease for five years or more, compared with only 3% when the disease is the latest stage. Currently, around three-quarters of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at a late stage in the UK, although the survival rate for small tumours treated at Stage IA is up to 90%.