UK’s King’s College London, in collaboration with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, has spearheaded a trial that demonstrates AI can minimise the time required for 20-week pregnancy screening scans.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded study found that AI-assisted scans did not minimise the diagnosis accuracy or reliability, potentially improving patient care and easing the anxieties of expectant parents.
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It claims to be the “first” to apply AI in 20-week pregnancy scans on real subjects and revealed that scan duration was cut by more than 40% with the use of AI.
This allows sonographers to allocate extra time to communicate with parents and investigate areas of concern. The 20-week screening is critical for detecting conditions such as heart defects and spina bifida in the foetus.
Involving 78 pregnant subjects and 58 sonographers, the trial scanned the subjects two times, with an AI-assisted scanner one time and without the other time.
The AI technology claims to have taken multiple thousand snapshots for each foetal measurement, in contrast to the three typically taken manually by sonographers.
These AI-assisted scans proved to be “more reliable”, which may enhance the accuracy of foetal growth and health assessments.
The AI tool streamlines the scanning process by eliminating the need for sonographers to “pause” to save images or take measurements.
The technology is now being expanded through Fraiya, a spinout company from King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’, and King’s College Hospital.
King’s College London clinical research fellow Dr Thomas Day was awarded an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship for this trial.
Dr Day said: “Understandably, this 20-week scan can be a nerve-wracking time for parents, as they’re finding out the health of their unborn child. Our research has shown that AI-assisted scans are accurate, reliable, and more efficient.
“We hope that using AI in these scans will free up precious time for sonographers to focus on patient care, making the experience more comfortable and reassuring for parents.”
