According to Cancer Research UK, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the UK, representing 28% of new cancers. Over the last decade, prostate cancer incidence rates have increased 10% in the UK. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence attributes this to the ageing population and improved diagnostics, but there is still a long way to go to improve the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Unlike for other common cancers such as breast cancer, there is currently no national screening programme in the UK. Under the National Health Service’s (NHS) best-practice guidelines, men should receive a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and biopsy within one week of urgent general practitioner referral, but waits can be longer depending on radiologist capacity. The NHS is now trailing an AI software that offers a one-day diagnostics service for suspected prostate cancer, with the goal of providing a diagnosis within 24 hours by using AI to interpret MRI scans.
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Lucida Medical’s AI software, called Pi, has been promoted for its speed and efficiency. The AI interprets MRI scans for men with suspected prostate cancer in minutes, identifying lesions rapidly. High-risk scans are immediately flagged for priority radiologist review, and patients can receive same-day biopsies, potentially receiving either an all-clear on the same day or cancer confirmation within days. The NHS states that this AI technology can detect 95% of prostate cancers.
The trial will begin in early 2026 at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and expand to up to 15 hospitals across England, with 10,000 MRI scans to be analysed. GlobalData epidemiologists forecast that there will be 61,000 diagnosed incident cases of prostate cancer among men above the age of 30 years in 2025, and this is expected to increase to 68,000 cases in 2033. Of the 2033 diagnosed incident cases, GlobalData epidemiologists expect that 15% (10,000 diagnosed incident cases) of cases will be diagnosed at stage 4. However, GlobalData epidemiologists anticipate that if the NHS can rollout the use of Pi nationwide, men with prostate cancer should be diagnosed earlier. This would reduce the percentage of cases diagnosed at stage 4, which could improve patient outcomes.
The new software could reduce patient anxiety during the diagnostic process while increasing NHS capacity and enabling faster treatment initiation.
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By GlobalData
