NASA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
NASA: Novel Applications for Sarcoma Assessment
IRAS ID
326856
Contact name
Matthew Marzetti
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Our research aim is to improve the way of deciding whether a lump in soft tissue such as fat or muscle is a type of cancer called a soft tissue sarcoma, or if it is benign using artificial intelligence (AI).
Soft tissue sarcomas are a type of cancer that can appear anywhere in the body where there is soft tissue such as muscle or fat. While sarcomas are rare, benign lumps in soft tissue are common and it is currently very difficult to tell the difference between the two using imaging. This means many patients with benign masses are referred for painful biopsies and waiting lists for biopsies are long due to the large diagnostic workload.
This research aims to develop an AI algorithm that can differentiate between benign and malignant soft tissue masses. While we can develop an algorithm using existing routine data we would like to investigate if adding quantitative MR images could make it more accurate.
We will ask patients who are already having a scan for sarcoma if we can take extra MR images. We will use these images to provide extra information to the AI. The extra images will add a maximum of 10 minutes to the patients’ standard MRI scan, meaning patients will not need to make an extra trip or undergo any extra procedures. Study participants will not need to receive MR contrast as part of this research. The extra images will not be used to make a diagnosis during this research. We will also ask a small subset of patients if they would be willing to come for a second scan so that we can see how reliable our measurements are, but this will be entirely optional.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/YH/0151
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion