Canon Medical’s innovation designed to improve clinical image clarity & confidence.
The first UK NHS hospital installation of Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE), a deep learning reconstruction Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm, is now live at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey. It is integrated into an Aquilion ONE GENESIS Edition CT scanner from Canon Medical Systems UK and being used to improve the reconstruction and reporting of vascular cases by radiologists.
The innovative software Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) delivers quick, reliable and high-quality image reconstructions from patient CT scans to assist reporting clinicians with more accurate image information to support diagnosis and treatment plans. Using the deep learning algorithm, the solution is trained to differentiate ‘noise’ from true signal, reducing distortions, preserving edges and maintaining details in image outputs. At the same time, the innovation is achieving lower doses than ever seen before in routine CT imaging.
“From a CT scanning operative point of view, we don’t even know that we’ve entered the world of AI as we don’t need to do anything different when setting protocols before patient examinations, it’s all part of the CT system. So there is no barrier to acceptance or AI change management issues from the installation of a new innovation,” states Carmina Esperanza, CT Lead Radiographer at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust.
“The advantages to our radiologists of Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) is much sharper images to report on. The benefits to our patient population is confidence that they are gaining the highest standard of care via investment in the latest medical imaging equipment.”
“Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) is a deep learning medical imaging innovation borne from the momentum of big data and health collaboration projects where high quality information from real patient datasets is drawn into AI systems to automate routine or repetitive tasks,” states Mark Hitchman, Managing Director of Canon Medical Systems UK.
“AI is an exciting future for healthcare, where patients will be able to spend more time with their consulting clinicians who are freed from repetitive or routine image review tasks to focus back onto patient care and specialist cases. Our global and UK R&D labs are fully engaged in expanding the boundaries of medical imaging with AI to integrate simply into our existing modality equipment. This approach will easily pave the path for UK AI adoption.”
The Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) installation on an Aquilion ONE GENESIS Edition CT scanner from Canon Medical UK at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was part of three new CT scanners installed at the Trust replacing incumbent systems. An Aquilion Prime SP CT system was also installed into Frimley Park Hospital for acute work to support A&E and inpatients, plus a further Aquilion Prime SP was installed into Aldershot Centre for Health, an outlying medical centre for outpatient diagnostics.
Commenting on the selection of the CT scanners, Carmina Esperanza states: “Canon Medical UK ticked all the boxes for what we needed to update our CT services. We looked at other providers as part of our replacement evaluation, looking at the scope of the technology, the size of the system and after-sales service, but it was a unanimous decision between the Trust selection panel consisting of radiographers and radiologists. Canon Medical UK is best placed to serve our future needs.”
