AI service to go live at The Royal Marsden to improve cancer care

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is launching an AI radiology analysis service which runs on a clinical imaging platform to improve cancer research and patient outcomes.

The specialist cancer centre partnered with digital business and technology service firm NTT DATA and enterprise imaging AI and machine learning operations (MLOps) platform CARPL.ai, to design and build the AI service.

Funded by a three-year grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the service will be used for research at The Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), including projects in collaboration with other research teams.

The research initiative will focus on developing and evaluating AI algorithms to improve the accuracy of cancer evaluation, including sarcoma, lung, breast and prostate cancers, leading to faster response times, more accurate diagnoses and better-targeted treatments.

Professor Dow-Mu Koh, professor in function cancer imaging and consultant radiologist in functional imaging at The Royal Marsden, said: “AI has immense potential to support clinicians in diagnosing and treating cancer earlier and more precisely.

“By working with NTT DATA and CARPL.ai, we’ve created a scalable research environment that allows us to explore the full potential of AI safely and in a way that could one day transform cancer diagnosis and treatment across the NHS.”

The AI service runs on a MLOps clinical imaging platform, built and operated by NTT DATA.

Once the service is live, research teams at The Royal Marsden will be able to evaluate a range of AI models across several cancer types.

The studies are expected to generate insights into how AI can support clinical decision-making and shape future approaches to diagnosis and treatment.

Through CARPL.ai’s centralised interface and built-in monitoring tools, the research teams will be able to track model performance over time, with the aim of enabling faster feedback loops between development and deployment.

Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR scientific director for innovation, said: “Cancer is one of the biggest killers in the UK. That must change.

“This three-year grant will help researchers push the boundaries of AI-driven technology for cancer detection and diagnosis.

“This AI-powered service represents the cutting edge of cancer research, and it is going to transform treatment, better support NHS staff and ultimately change patients’ lives.

“It is another great example of how NIHR-funded and supported research will ensure the best care is there when patients need it.”

Meanwhile, in March 2025, The Royal Marsden rolled out an advanced radiotherapy planning system to enhance personalised treatment for patients.