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Southampton pilots AI software to support lung health checks

University Hospital Southampton NHS FT is running a pilot using artificial intelligence to help detect lung cancer at an early stage.

The pilot is part of the NHS England Targeted Lung Health Check programme, a new initiative to improve early diagnosis and survival for those diagnosed with cancer.

The programme at Southampton is using Veye Chest, provided by Amsterdam-based MedTech company Aidence, who also recently joined the AI in Health and Care Award programme, part of the NHS AI Lab.

In July 2020 HTN announced Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS FT partnered with the company to use the technology in clinical practice and lung cancer screening.

The Southampton Lung Health Checks resumed at the end of August, after being paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The service is designed to find any signs of a lung condition at an earlier stage to support the radiologists.

Dr. James Shambrook, Consultant Cardiothoracic Radiologist at University Hospital Southampton, said: “Scale and precision are of utmost importance for making the Lung Health Check programme a success, and we see Aidence as a valuable partner for the years to come.”

Lizzie Barclay, MBChB, Medical Director at Aidencem, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with healthcare professionals involved in the TLHC programmes – their insights are crucial for our ongoing development of clinically relevant AI-solutions which meet the needs of radiologists, and integrate seamlessly into their pre-existing workflows.”