AI chest X-ray tool made available to radiologists at more than 40 NHS trusts

 by Owen Hughes 

Six imaging networks in England have selected global health tech firm Annalise.ai as their preferred provider to support early lung cancer diagnosis through NHS England’s AI Diagnostic Fund (AIDF).

The £21 million fund, announced by NHSE in June 2023, aims to spur the deployment of AI and machine learning tools that can speed up the diagnosis and treatment of serious illness including cancer, stroke and heart conditions.

Following tender wins under the AIDF, the Annalise.ai chest X-ray tool will be available to radiologists across the Greater Manchester Imaging Network, 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.

This will support the analysis of around 2.5 million chest X-rays across more than 40 NHS trusts in England each year, Annalise.ai said in a press release.

The medical imaging decision support tool from Annalise.ai uses AI to help identify abnormalities in X-rays.

Dimitry Tran, co-founder and deputy CEO at Annalise.ai, said: “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”.

According to a study by Annalise.ai, published in The Lancet in July 2021, the tool is capable of identifying up to 124 different findings on chest X-rays and is designed help facilitate quicker diagnosis of serious conditions like lung cancer.

It can also be used in intensive care settings to identify acute conditions like chest sepsis and incorrectly placed lines and tubes, helping to reduce the occurrence of “never events” in hospitals.

Results from NHS Grampian, where Annalise.ai has been in use since 2022, found that the tool shortened the interval between chest X-ray assessment and the start of lung cancer treatment by an average of nine days and increased the detection of cancers at earlier stages by 27%.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust both recently announced plans to deploy Annalise.ai within their radiology departments.