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A first of its kind study has found artificial intelligence (AI) assisted pregnancy scans are almost twice as quick and will help improve patient care.
Results from the trial, published in NEJM AI, found that AI-assisted 20-week scans reduced the scan length by over 40%. The AI-tool freed up sonographers time as they no longer needed to pause, save images, or measure during the scan.
The trial was funded by an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship and led by King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust.
The trial featured 78 pregnant participants and 58 sonographers. Each pregnant participant was scanned twice, once using the AI-assisted scanner and once without the use of AI. The sonographers look for signs of 11 different conditions in a baby, such as heart defects or spina bifida.
The AI-assisted scans automatically took several thousand snapshots of each foetal measurement compared to three taken by a sonographer. They were found to be more reliable and could help medical professionals make decisions earlier that could improve health outcomes for the baby.
Dr Thomas Day, lead author of the study, was funded by an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship for this study. He is a Consultant Paediatric and Foetal Cardiologist at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’, and Clinical Research Fellow at King’s College London.
He 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.”
Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR scientific director, added: “Anything that improves the experience of expectant mothers, gives them reassurance and tailors the care they are offered by healthcare professionals can only be a good thing.
“The use of AI in healthcare has huge potential to impact patient care while saving time and money. This research is another great example of how NIHR works for the health and wealth of the nation.”
AI tool enabled earlier diagnosis of baby’s heart disease
Ashleigh Louison, a 36-year-old, was one of the participants in the trial at St Thomas’ Hospital. During her pregnancy, her son Lennox was diagnosed with heart disease. This early diagnosis allowed doctors at St Thomas’ and Evelina London Children’s Hospital to plan immediate medical care for Lennox when he was born, including lifesaving surgery within two weeks of his birth.
She said: “Receiving an early diagnosis for Lennox was really important, as it meant we could properly plan the road ahead. We immediately knew that he would likely need open heart surgery and that we would be staying in hospital for a few weeks after his birth. This gave us the chance to physically and mentally prepare for what was coming.
“I am so glad to have participated in this trial as I want to support anything that can help save children’s lives through faster and earlier diagnoses of conditions. I know that some conditions can be hard to spot, and so I’m excited at the prospect of using new technology that can help address this. If my participation in this trial ends up helping even just one family, then I’m all for it.”
The AI tool is now being rolled out more widely through Fraiya, a University-NHS spinout company from King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital. The company aims to create AI-powered tools for pregnancy ultrasound that improve medical diagnoses, help healthcare professionals, and enhance care for patients.
Fraiya has been developed as part of the MedTech Venture Builder programme at The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering.
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