Macmillan Cancer Support, the UK’s leading cancer charity, is investing £350,100 in Lucida Medical’s pioneering new AI platform, Pi, with the aim of improving the speed and accuracy of prostate cancer tests.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in UK men. There are more than 500,000 men living with prostate cancer in the UK and over 50,000 are diagnosed each year. These numbers are growing, and Macmillan estimates that by 2040 there will be 1 million men living with prostate cancer in the UK. And, while the lowest grades of prostate cancer develop slowly, 12,000 men die from it each year in the UK.
Lucida Medical chief executive Dr Antony Rix said screening for prostate cancer “is associated with earlier stages of detection and better survival rates”, and the avoidance of “unnecessary biopsies can have a transformative impact on the NHS as well as on patients”.
Tanya Humphreys, director of innovation at Macmillan, said Pi “has the potential to transform the diagnosis of prostate cancer”.
The charity estimates there could be one million men living with the disease in the UK by 2040.
She added: “Integrating AI with MRI analysis, Pi offers a level of precision in diagnosis that could greatly enhance the accuracy and efficiency of prostate cancer detection.
“Our consultations with leading clinicians, people with cancer, and health technology experts have all attested to the likely impact of Lucida’s technology in reducing the rate of missed cancers and unnecessary biopsies, thereby improving patient outcomes and experience.
“We are really excited about the possibilities this partnership brings and are deeply committed to advancing cancer care in the UK.”
Pi is built using Lucida Medical’s proprietary AI training technology that’s been trained to identify prostate cancer from MRI scans. Preliminary analysis results presented at the 2023 International Cancer Imaging Society suggest the software has accuracy comparable to expert radiologists.
Making the Pi software available to radiologists across the NHS could speed up the work of radiologists and reduce the risk of both missing cancers and unnecessary biopsies.
“Lucida Medical uses artificial intelligence to support radiologists to interpret MRI scans,” said Professor Richard Simcock, chief medical officer at Macmillan. “It has the potential to avoid thousands of unnecessary biopsies, alleviating pressure on the NHS workforce and budgets. For patients this would mean avoiding anxiety, unpleasant treatments and occasionally dangerous side-effects
Dr Antony Rix, CEO of Lucida Medical, said: “We are delighted to work with Macmillan, as a leading cancer charity who share our vision for Pi to transform the prospects of patients using AI. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males and numbers are projected to rise 62 per cent by 2040.
“Prostate cancer screening is associated with earlier stages of detection and better survival rates. Avoiding unnecessary biopsies can have a transformative impact on the NHS as well as on patients.”
