Fraxpert: AI-supported fracture diagnosis system to tackle the radiology workforce crisis in the UK

该项目由Seeai LTD的董事和联合创始人Saile Villegas领导，Seeai LTD是一家总部位于利兹的医疗技术公司，旨在减少健康不平等，并在世界每个角落提供最好的医疗服务。Saile Villegas在墨西哥一个男性占主导地位的小镇上由一位单身母亲抚养长大，那里的贩毒集团和暴力事件随处可见。作为一名女性，在STEM领域追求职业生涯是难以置信的。尽管如此，她还是表现出了难以置信的动力，去英国追求她对计算机科学的热爱。现在，她领导着一个多学科专家团队，从放射科医生到计算机科学教授，与英国国家医疗服务体系（NHS）一起开发一种人工智能（AI），可以像放射科专家一样检测骨折。英国每年发生152,000例骨折误诊。通常，疑似骨折的患者会到急诊科（A&E）接受x光检查。由于放射科医生的短缺，这些x射线通常由没有放射专业知识的医疗保健专业人员进行检查，导致在这种高压环境中错误率高达30%。Saile Villegas与NHS Grampian合作了两年，开发了一种名为Fraxpert的人工智能支持的早期骨折诊断系统，以帮助临床医生自信地识别细微（难以看到的）骨折。Seeai已经完成了一个工作原型，该系统的内部验证显示，该系统的检测性能达到了放射科专家的水平。这个项目将把Fraxpert从一个工作原型变成一个受监管的产品。Seeai将走访各大医院（小医院、大医院、城乡医院），研究整合人工智能的最佳临床路径。这项调查还将使Seeai能够识别潜在客户。该奖项的支持将使Fraxpert能够有效地从研发过渡到可以商业化的产品。Fraxpert在医院的成功实施将有助于医疗保健提供者应对放射科医生的短缺，并改善患者的治疗效果。该奖项还将为Saile Villegas提供一个机会，让她掌握将自己的创新成功商业化所需的商业战略技能。此外，该方案提供的指导网络将使她能够向其他妇女学习创新，以提高她作为创新领导者的能力。

This project is led by Saile Villegas, director and co-founder of Seeai LTD, a Med-tech company based in Leeds that aims to reduce health inequalities and deliver the best medical care in every corner of the world.Saile Villegas was raised by a single mother, in a male-dominated town in Mexico, where cartels and violence are around the corner. Pursuing a career in STEM as a woman was beyond belief. Despite that, she showed an incredible drive to move to the UK and pursue her passion for computer science. Now she leads a multidisciplinary team of experts, from radiologists to computer science professors, to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can detect fractures as well as expert radiologists, with the NHS.Every year 152,000 fracture misdiagnosis occur in the UK. Usually, patients with suspected fractures attend the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department and receive an x-ray examination. These x-rays are often reviewed by healthcare professionals without radiological expertise, due to the shortage of radiologists, resulting in a high error rate of up to 30% in this high-pressure environment.Saile Villegas has led a collaboration with NHS Grampian for two years to develop an AI-supported early fracture diagnosis system, named Fraxpert, to assist clinicians in confidently identifying subtle (hard to see) fractures. Seeai has completed a working prototype and the internal validation of the system showed detection performance to the level of expert radiologists.This project will take Fraxpert from a working prototype to a regulated product. Seeai will visit various hospitals (small-large, rural-urban) and research the optimal clinical pathway to integrate the AI. This investigation will also allow Seeai to identify potential customers.The support from the award will allow Fraxpert to effectively transition from R&D into a product that can be commercialised. Successful implementation of Fraxpert in hospitals will help healthcare providers cope with the shortage of radiologists and improve patient outcomes.This award will also provide an opportunity for Saile Villegas to equip herself with the business strategy skills required to successfully commercialise her innovation. In addition, the network of mentoring offered by the programme will allow her to learn from other women in innovation to improve her capabilities as a leader in innovation.