What were we asked to look at? 

We were asked to review the evidence for AI assisted lower gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy (colonoscopy) in the identification of pre-cancerous polyps or lower GI cancer, compared with standard care.

Why is this important? 

Lower GI cancer is the fourth most common cancer with 43,000 diagnoses annually in the UK. A quarter of cases were diagnosed as late stage 4 in Scotland during 2021 to 2022. Five-year survival is approximately 60%. There are around 16,800 lower GI cancer deaths annually in the UK, accounting for 10% of all cancer deaths. The cost of GI cancer to the UK was estimated to be more than £1.7 billion in the UK in 2018. 

Referred by

The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway