UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, Imperial College London, London, UK.
School of Medicine, Worsley Building, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2023 Apr;35(4):219-226. doi: 10.1016/j.clon.2023.01.014. Epub 2023 Jan 23.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the radiotherapy workflow, resulting in improved quality, safety, accuracy and timeliness of radiotherapy delivery. Several commercially available artificial intelligence-based auto-contouring tools have emerged in recent years. Their clinical deployment raises important considerations for clinical oncologists, including quality assurance and validation, education, training and job planning. Despite this, there is little in the literature capturing the views of clinical oncologists with respect to these factors.
The Royal College of Radiologists realises the transformational impact artificial intelligence is set to have on our specialty and has appointed the Artificial Intelligence for Clinical Oncology working group. The aim of this work was to survey clinical oncologists with regards to perceptions, current use of and barriers to using artificial intelligence-based auto-contouring for radiotherapy. Here we share our findings with the wider clinical and radiation oncology communities. We hope to use these insights in developing support, guidance and educational resources for the deployment of auto-contouring for clinical use, to help develop the case for wider access to artificial intelligence-based auto-contouring across the UK and to share practice from early-adopters.
In total, 78% of clinical oncologists surveyed felt that artificial intelligence would have a positive impact on radiotherapy. Attitudes to risk were more varied, but 49% felt that artificial intelligence will decrease risk for patients. There is a marked appetite for urgent guidance, education and training on the safe use of such tools in clinical practice. Furthermore, there is a concern that the adoption and implementation of such tools is not equitable, which risks exacerbating existing inequalities across the country.
Careful coordination is required to ensure that all radiotherapy departments, and the patients they serve, may enjoy the benefits of artificial intelligence in radiotherapy. Professional organisations, such as the Royal College of Radiologists, have a key role to play in delivering this.
人工智能有可能改变放射治疗工作流程，从而提高放射治疗的质量、安全性、准确性和及时性。近年来，出现了几种商业化的基于人工智能的自动勾画工具。它们的临床应用引发了临床肿瘤学家的一些重要考虑因素，包括质量保证和验证、教育、培训和工作规划。尽管如此，文献中很少有关于这些因素的临床肿瘤学家的观点。
皇家放射科医师学院意识到人工智能将对我们的专业产生变革性的影响，并任命了临床肿瘤学人工智能工作组。这项工作的目的是调查临床肿瘤学家对人工智能在放射治疗中的自动勾画的看法、当前使用情况以及使用障碍。在这里，我们与更广泛的临床和放射肿瘤学社区分享我们的发现。我们希望利用这些见解为自动勾画的临床应用开发支持、指导和教育资源，帮助在英国更广泛地获得人工智能支持的自动勾画，并分享早期采用者的实践经验。
在接受调查的临床肿瘤学家中，78%的人认为人工智能将对放射治疗产生积极影响。对风险的态度更为多样化，但有 49%的人认为人工智能将降低患者的风险。人们迫切需要关于在临床实践中安全使用这些工具的指导、教育和培训。此外，人们担心这些工具的采用和实施不公平，这有可能加剧全国现有的不平等现象。
需要仔细协调，以确保所有放射治疗部门及其服务的患者都能从放射治疗中的人工智能中受益。皇家放射科医师学院等专业组织在这方面发挥着关键作用。
