- Annalise.ai has been selected as the preferred provider by six imaging networks as part of NHS England’s new AI Diagnostic Fund (AIDF).
- The AI-powered decision-support system which is already in use in the NHS can identify up to 124 findings on chest X-rays[1], making it one of the most comprehensive solutions currently available to clinicians worldwide.
- The tool will be made available to clinicians performing 2.8 million chest X-rays each year – more than one third of all chest X-rays performed in England.[2]
- The Annalise.ai chest X-ray AI solution has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy by 45% and increase diagnostic efficiency by 12%.[3]
LONDON, 3rd June, 2024 – Following several tender wins through NHS England’s AI Diagnostic Fund[4], Annalise.ai’s chest X-ray solution will be used on 2.8 million chest X-rays annually across six imaging networks throughout England to support early lung cancer diagnosis. This represents 35% of all chest X-rays performed in the country each year. The AIDF was established to accelerate the deployment of the most promising AI imaging and decision support tools to help diagnose lung cancer patients more quickly, potentially saving millions of lives. The fund provides £21 million to 11 imaging networks, covering 64 NHS trusts across England. The open and competitive tender process was managed using established frameworks.
Lung cancer is the UK’s biggest cancer killer, with nearly 35,000 deaths in the UK attributed to the disease annually, accounting for one in five (21%) of all cancer deaths.[5] Six in ten people will survive more than five years if lung cancer is diagnosed at the earlier stages, but this falls to just one in ten for those diagnosed at the latest stage.[6]
Annalise.ai technology is engineered to enable rapid, precise detection of up to 124 findings, including indicators of potential lung cancer, effectively serving as a second set of eyes for clinicians. It prioritises cases swiftly according to the urgency of detected findings, enhancing the triage process and optimising the reporting workflow. Clinicians can configure the solution to group findings according to their priority level based on AI results, allowing critical cases to be rapidly flagged. The technology also adds significant value by identifying acute conditions such as chest sepsis and malpositioned lines and tubes, promoting safety for ICU patients, and helping reduce the occurrence of never events in hospitals. Additionally, Annalise.ai’s chest X-ray solution output can be used in the reporting environment to support draft reports for radiologists to review and approve, helping to manage workloads.
This announcement means Annalise.ai’s solutions will now also be available in Greater Manchester, North East and North Cumbria Imaging Network, Cheshire and Merseyside Radiology Imaging Network, East Midlands Imaging Network, Surrey, Sussex and Frimley Imaging Network and the Yorkshire Imaging Collaborative.
Annalise.ai solutions are already available in more than 40 countries, and the NHS tender wins follow successful deployments of the chest X-ray AI solution at NHS Grampian, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Epsom & St-Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Results from NHS Grampian, where Annalise.ai technology is already deployed, found that using the solution reduced the time between chest X-ray assessment and commencement of lung cancer treatment by nine days on average[7]. Previously the Trust started treatment for 90% of people with lung cancer within 99 days. The addition of Annalise.ai’s chest X-ray solution has reduced this to 76 days, and the proportion of cancers identified at earlier stages increased by 27%.[8][9]
Dimitry Tran, Co-founder and Deputy CEO at Annalise.ai says: “Following successful deployment into clinical use across multiple NHS sites in the last two years, we are delighted that this announcement means our solution can be deployed at a national scale. This will unlock significant benefits for many more patients and clinicians alike covering a third of all chest X-rays processed in the UK.
Our solutions are of the highest quality, rigorously validated, and engineered to meet the needs of hard-working clinicians supporting patients across England. This announcement shows a real commitment from NHSE to introducing innovation that makes a genuine difference to clinicians on the front line.
We look forward to further collaborations with our colleagues in the NHS, supporting them to continue delivering the highest standards of patient care – both now and into the future.”
Annalise has a full-service local team on the ground in the UK, and their technical integration and change management experts will be working closely with NHS staff to ensure successful deployment across the six imaging networks.
References
[1], [3] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(21)00106-0/fulltext
[4] https://transform.england.nhs.uk/ai-lab/ai-lab-programmes/ai-in-imaging/ai-diagnostic-fund/
[5] https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/lung-cancer#heading-Three
[6] https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-symptoms/why-is-early-diagnosis-important/1000#accordion_EDkeyref0
[7], [8] https://shtg.scot/media/2442/20240312-chest-x-ray-ai-imto-v10.pdf
[9] Presented at the European Congress of Radiology, 2024.
