Enhanced phenotyping of melanocytic tumours
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Enhanced phenotyping of melanocytic tumours
IRAS ID
272497
Contact name
E L Clarke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 5 months, 2 days
Research summary
Cutaneous melanoma is curable if resected early but higher stage tumours commonly behave aggressively. Currently, all diagnoses are made by histopathologists. This assessment is highly subjective and in difficult areas like melanoma diagnosis, there is wide variation in opinions between histopathologists, resulting in a large proportion requiring specialist review and 1 in 5 diagnoses being revised. Unfortunately there is also often disagreement between specialist dermatopathologists.
Recently, new technologies have enabled the 'digitisation' of stained tissue slides, allowing histopathologists and researchers to view the tumour tissue at a cellular level on a computer screen. This has allowed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to provide objective assessments of the tissue.
This project involves the use of artificial intelligence algorithms with the hope of improving upon the current subjective histopathological assessment of melanoma. This work aims to provide an automated ‘second opinion’ for less experienced histopathologists, as well as deriving new features that may help predict how a tumour is likely to behave in the future.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0385
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion