OrQA-UK trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
OrQA-UK (Organ Quality Assessment): novel clinical trial of an AI enabled photograph assessment tool to improve organ utilisation in the United Kingdom
IRAS ID
354517
Contact name
Charlotte Hickman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 2 days
Research summary
Organ transplants have transformed the prospects for patients with organ failure, but there are fewer organs available to transplant than people needing them. Those available are under-used because of concerns about quality.
Liver quality can be assessed by sending a small piece (biopsy) to a laboratory, but this costs time and money. Photographs of organs are often used as part of decision-making through the TransplantPath NHS online platform, which is used for transplant administration, but image quality is varied and open to error.
This means that transplant services rely on surgeons taking out the donor organs to judge their quality and health by how they look and feel. Transplant surgeons will often play it safe, for example by overestimating the amount of fat in a liver. This cautious approach means that some good quality organs may not be used.
Our team has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tool (OrQA, Organ Quality Assessment) that can standardise an organ photograph by accurately assessing the organ’s quality and providing an OrQA quality score. The aim of the OrQA-UK clinical trial is to show that the OrQA-Liver (OrQA-L) quality score can assist transplant surgeons in evaluating the quality of donated livers, and reduce the rate at which donated livers are not used by 25%. This could mean 60 extra liver transplants taking place a year.
In this clinical trial, photographs of livers will be randomly allocated to either having an OrQA-L quality score displayed with them, or not. The scores will be displayed alongside the liver images for transplant surgeons to see. This will mean we can assess scientifically if the OrQA-L quality score is helpful to surgeons, while still ensuring patient safety.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/YH/0086
Date of REC Opinion
15 May 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion