By using AI to provide clear and detailed information about a man's cancer, the project, which uses a cutting-edge AI tool from precision medicine company Artera, will help doctors make better decisions about whether to monitor or treat it, tailoring the decision to each man's specific needs and therefore reducing the potential for both overtreatment and undertreatment. The project could also help doctors decide the best course of treatment for each man.
Although the way we diagnose prostate cancer is safer and more accurate than ever before, it can still be challenging to determine how aggressive each man’s cancer is.
This can have an effect on treatment decisions. In some cases, these issues lead to some men being treated with surgery or radiotherapy when they could instead be monitored, putting them at risk of life-changing side effects that could have been avoided. At the same time, other men are missing out on treatment, allowing the cancer to spread and reducing their chance of survival.
Now researchers at NHS hospitals and universities in Oxford, Bristol and Glasgow will investigate how the ArteraAI Prostate Biopsy Assay tool could give patients and doctors clearer, more precise information to guide treatment choices.
Called the VANGUARD PATH study, the research is being led by Principal Investigator Professor Clare Verrill with co-leads Professor Richard Bryant and Dr Srinivasa Rao, all from the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, and Professor Jonathan Aning from North Bristol NHS Trust.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences website.