UK Labs Using AI Tool to Predict Kidney Failure Risk

Laboratories at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals are the first in the United Kingdom to use an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic tool to determine patients’ risk of kidney failure.

The tool provides an analysis of total kidney volume, a measurement used to determine kidneys’ lifespan in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). It can deliver accurate results in less than a minute. Manually monitoring ADPKD by repeatedly measuring kidney enlargement from magnetic resonance imaging scans is a labor-intensive process that takes about an hour per patient case.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s 3DLab has used the AI tool since 2022, and the team believes it could be used in kidney clinics worldwide. It was developed from an algorithm trained by Jonathan Taylor, PhD, principal scientist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

Albert Ong, MA, DM, FRCP, FAoP, FERA, is a consultant nephrologist and clinical lead for genetics at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a professor of renal medicine at the University of Sheffield who has been using the tool in his specialist kidney clinic. He noted that the tool is six times faster than manual processes and said, “This tool will enable kidney clinics worldwide to measure kidney volume quickly and accurately. It will make the measurement of kidney volume possible at clinics where there is a lack of specialist expertise.”