Sheffield’s AI tool predicts kidney failure six times faster than human expert analysts

Kidney doctors and clinical scientists at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are using AI to better predict when a person’s kidneys might fail.

Consultant nephrologist and clinical lead for genetics Professor Albert Ong, who has been using the tool in his specialist kidney clinic, said the software was six
times faster than manual processes and could be used in kidney clinics throughout the world.

The tool provides an accurate and fast analysis of total kidney volume, a measurement used to assess future kidney lifespan in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a common inherited kidney condition caused by the growth of fluid-filled sacs in the kidneys.

Between 30,000 to 70,000 people in the UK have the disease, which is currently monitored using repeated measurements of kidney enlargement from MRI scans. These scans are made up of slices stacked on top of each other, with analysts having to go through 50-60 slices and carefully trace round the edge of each kidney on screen. This process takes approximately an hour per patient case. By automating segmentation of the scans, the AI has the results available in less than a minute.

“Our AI tool performed as well as the human expert analysts and did the job approximately six times faster,” Professor Ong explained. “Our radiographer colleague Richard Thomas manually traced round the kidneys in all images from a previous European research study. We then fed this collection of images and kidney tracings to an AI algorithm until it had learned to do the tracing process itself to a high standard.”

The AI was developed from an algorithm trained by principal clinical scientist Dr Jonathan Taylor, who is also based at the trust, and tested on hundreds of kidney
MRI scans that came from a previous Europe-wide research project.

The software has been in use at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s 3D Lab since 2022. The tool was developed with the support of clinical scientists and MRI radiographers at the trust who worked with specialist kidney doctors across Europe as part of the CYSTic research project.

Picture: Consultant nephrologist and clinical lead for genetics Professor Albert Ong, principal clinical scientist Dr Jonathan Taylor and MRI radiographer Richard
Thomas with images the AI program is automatically able to assess.

Published on page 14 of the  April 2024 issue of RAD Magazine.