A funding boost from the Federal Government will allow the University of Adelaide's IMAGENDO study, which is training artificial intelligence to help diagnose endometriosis, to collect global data for the first time.
IMAGENDO program manager Dr Jodie Avery received $498,291 from the Department of Education's Australia's Economic Accelerator Ignite program, which will be used to create international imaging nodes.
The study aims to create a cross-modality non-surgical tool for the diagnosis of endometriosis using artificial intelligence and is part of the Robinson Research Institute's Endometriosis Research Group, led by Professor Louise Hull.
In this new stage of the study, relationships will be established with specialist imaging clinics in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Europe and Canada.
Endometriosis, where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the womb, affects at least one in seven women or people assigned female at birth.
"Our aim is to reduce the diagnostic delay from 6.4 years to one year, and this grant will make a huge difference to making that a reality," said Dr Avery.
A formal diagnosis will often occur after laparoscopic surgery, but the IMAGENDO team is working to make imaging the primary way to confirm the disease.
"Through this funding, we will be able to collect additional imaging and clinical data to demonstrate a variety of endometriosis markers from diverse populations," said Dr Avery.
"Many AI tools are developed from large banks of imaging scans, particularly when these can be derived from screening programs, such as for lung cancer or breast cancer.
"For endometriosis, there are no screening programs, so we need to collect all our data ourselves, particularly from places where we know they undertake quality endometriosis assessments.
"It is important to provide data from populations with different ethnicities, as they may differ in their presentations of endometriosis, and it will allow us to eliminate inherent bias in the AI system.
"This phase will allow us to advance our current prototype to a regulatory ready diagnostic tool."
This funding is for one year, which will enable the team to set up the infrastructure and governance for the new international nodes for IMAGENDO, with funding also available for training, if needed, as well as administrative support.
University of Adelaide researchers received a total of $3,020,362 for seven projects through this round of the Ignite program.
