RADICAL: Radiograph Accelerated Detection and Identification of Cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A mixed methods study to assess the clinical effectiveness and acceptability of Qure.ai artificial intelligence software to prioritise chest X-ray (CXR) interpretation
IRAS ID
327298
Contact name
David J Lowe
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK yet compared to Europe it has low survival rates. The NHS aims to find 75% of cancers at an early stage as this can improve the chances of survival.
To support this target, Qure.ai have developed the UK-approved qXR product, which is a software program that automatically analyses chest x-rays using artificial intelligence to identify features associated with lung cancer, indicative of other diagnoses, or that contain no abnormal features (‘normal’). qXR is a class IIb medical device that can be used by radiologists to prioritise reporting based upon the presence or absence of these features. This may improve the accuracy and efficiency of reporting these images.
The project includes different elements including -
i) Clinical effectiveness study across 3 sectors within NHSGGC
The primary objective is to assess the clinical effectiveness of qXR to prioritise patients that have suspected lung cancer (identified from AI analysis of a chest x-ray) for follow-on CT
Secondary objectives include:
To assess the potential utility of qXR within the optimised lung cancer pathway in terms of the impact on both patient treatment and radiological workflow
To assess the safety of qXR at ruling out patients from entry onto the cancer pathway
ii) A technical evaluation utilising retrospective and prospective cohorts
The technical retrospective study will determine the performance of qXR using a sample of 1000 CXR images from all chest x-ray referral sources across all sectors (this differs from the prospective study, which only examines outpatient-referred chest x-rays).
iii) A health economic evaluation
Use of per patient healthcare utilisation costs to model cost benefits of qXR, including implementation of supported reporting of normal CXR
iv) A qualitative evaluation
A qualitative evaluation to assess acceptability and barriers to scale-up and implementation
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0211
Date of REC Opinion
15 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion