Imperial College London

THURSDAY, Jan. 9, 2025 -- AI might be able to boost the success rates of in vitro fertilization among hopeful families. An AI program can help doctors analyze ultrasound scans to determine the best timing for a hormone injection associated with egg collection, researchers write in a new study published Jan. 8 in the journal Nature Communications . Getting the timing right can optimize the number of eggs retrieved and improve the odds of having a successful pregnancy , researchers said. “IVF provides help and hope for many patients who are unable to conceive but it’s an invasive, expensive, and time-consuming treatment,” co-senior researcher Dr. Ali Abbara , a clinician scientist at Imperial College London, said in a news release from the school. “It can be heartbreaking when it fails, so it’s important to ensure that this treatment is as effective as possible,” Abbara continued. “AI can offer a new paradigm in how we deliver IVF treatment and could lead to better outcomes for patients.” Doctors use ultrasound scans to monitor the size of follicles, which are small sacs in the ovaries containing eggs. These scans determine when the woman will receive a “trigger” hormone injection to prepare the eggs for collection, researchers said. The timing of the trigger is a key decision, as the injection is less effective if the follicles are too small or too large, researchers said. For this study, researchers had an AI program analyze data on more than 19,000 patients who’d completed IVF treatment in one of 11 clinics across the UK and two in Poland between 2005 and 2023. The AI determined that delivering the hormone injection when most follicles are between 13 mm to 18 mm improved the odds of retrieving more eggs and having more successful pregnancies, researchers said. That’s more precise than the current method, in which doctors generally give the trigger when two or three follicles are larger than 17 mm to 18 mm. “This is an exciting development as the findings suggest that we can use information from a much wider set of follicle sizes to decide when to give patients trigger shots rather than just the size of only the largest follicles - which is what is used in current clinical practice,” Abbara added. The team plans to create an AI tool that will personalize IVF treatment and support doctor’s decision making at multiple steps along the IVF process. “Where the stakes are so high for making the best possible decision, this technique can support doctors’ decision making and lead to better outcomes for patients,” co-senior author Thomas Heinis with Imperial College London’s Department of Computing said. “Importantly, we expect computing power to improve exponentially in the near future, enabling us to make decisions using precise data in a way that hasn't been possible previously,” Heinis added. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

Kearney Urology Center in the US has reported a 50% reduction in biopsies since adopting a new prostate cancer blood test with “unprecedented accuracy”. The test, EpiSwitch PSE, is the culmination of a ten-year British collaboration between Imperial College, Imperial NHS Trust, University of East Anglia and Oxford Biodynamics. There is currently no national screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK, where around 55,100 new cases are diagnosed every year. At-risk men with signs of prostate cancer may be offered a PSA test as the first method of diagnosis. However, this can miss some cancers and is associated with a very high number of false positives, causing patients who do not have the disease to undergo unnecessary biopsies and interventions. The minimally-invasive EpiSwitch combines the PSA test with a DNA test and has been shown to reduce the false positive rate of the PSA test from three in four to less than one in ten. Garrett Pohlman, urologist at Kearney Urology Center, said: “I cannot imagine running my practice without EpiSwitch PSE; it’s a game changer… Since adopting this test, I have cut the number of biopsies in half, allowing men who have tested negative for prostate cancer to avoid the pain and potential side effects of an unnecessary intervention.” Mathias Winkler, consultant urologist and surgeon, Charing Cross Hospital and Imperial College London, described EpiSwitch as a “diagnostic prostate cancer test with unprecedented accuracy”. The new test is currently only available privately in the UK, while it is reimbursed by several insurers in the US, including Medicare. “There is much value in this test, as recognised by clinical and private health-care institutions in both the US and UK today,” said Alexandre Akoulitchev, chief scientific officer, Oxford BioDynamics. “Extending access to the general public in the UK would be subject to the NHS and National Screening Committee.” The announcement comes just one month after researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research found a way to predict how long prostate cancer patients will respond to the PARP inhibitor olaparib, paving the way for the development of new drugs that prevent resistance.

MONDAY, Dec. 16, 2024 -- In an evidence-based guideline issued by the Centre for Research Excellence in Women's Health in Reproductive Life and published online Dec. 8 in Climacteric , updated recommendations are presented for the diagnosis and management of premature/primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). Nick Panay, M.D., from Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital at Imperial College London, and colleagues developed guidelines relating to diagnosis and management of POI based on evidence collected from literature searches and assessment. In general, the recommendations were informed by women with lived experience of POI. The authors note that the prevalence of POI is 3.5 percent, which is higher than previously thought. The updated guidelines included 145 recommendations. The list of clinical questions addressed in this guideline was expanded, including in relation to the role of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in the diagnosis of POI and fertility preservation. The topic of complementary treatments was extended, focusing on nonhormone treatments and lifestyle management. Significant changes from the previous guideline include the recommendation that only follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) >25 IU is required for POI diagnosis and guidance that AMH testing, repeat FSH measurement, and/or AMH may be necessary in cases of diagnostic uncertainty. Recommendations relating to genetic testing, estrogen doses and regimens, use of the combined oral contraceptive, and testosterone therapy were also updated. "The guideline group concluded that there is still an urgent need for more research on the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment options, but also to further elaborate the impact of estrogen deficiency on the health and life expectancy of the women diagnosed with POI," the authors write. Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Abstract/Full Text Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.