Important: DART Programme Data Email Address Update
Thank you to all the sites which are sending data to the DART Programme. Please note that our email address is changing to DART@ouh.nhs.uk.
The previous account will continue to be monitored until the end of June 2025. After that, all data must be sent to DART@ouh.nhs.uk, as this account will no longer be in use.
If you have already sent data to the former account before the end of June 2025, we are processing it and it does not need to be re-sent.
Please do not send emails to both addresses—switching to the new address now will help us avoid duplicate processing.
Thank you for your cooperation.
DART Team
Update on the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme
The National Screening Committee has renamed the Total Lung Health Check programme, which is now known as the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme
In June 2023, the Westminster government announced the rollout of a national targeted lung cancer screening programme following a recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC).
Lung cancer screening aims to detect lung cancer sooner, often before symptoms develop and when treatment is more likely to be successful.
The name change is an important milestone in the scaling up and transformation of the TLHC initiative into this new national screening programme. The new name is consistent with the national NHS screening programmes and follows research that showed it would help improve understanding of the programme and its purpose.
So far, more than 1 million people have taken up their lung cancer screening invitations and screening has diagnosed more than 5,500 people with lung cancer. Over 75% of these lung cancers were found at an early stage (1 or 2), compared to less than 30% of lung cancers detected outside of screening.
Prof Fergus Gleeson (University of Oxford) and Dr Richard Lee (Royal Marsdon) represented the DART partnership at the Oxford Centre for Cancer Early Detection and Prevention (OxCODE) symposium
Their poster gave an up-date on the DART project
DART is a multi-collaborator research programme aiming to improve multiple facets of Lung Cancer Screening and provide a data set for future. It collects clinical metadata, CT scans, and pathology from participants in NHS England’s Targeted Lung Health Checks (TLHC) programme.
DART has Health Research Authority and Confidentiality Advisory Group approvals and has uniquely linked the data collected to Health Episode Statistics data, to enable long term outcome data to be collected.
The collection of this data has involved linking TLHCs and their associated Hospitals, Radiology and Pathology departments, and transferring the data into the Oxford University Hospital’s Secure Data Environment and to academic and commercial collaborators.
DART is now linked to 14 TLHCs, and 3 further sites are in the process of linking. It has curated 245,160 participants post opt-out, and has currently, 114,598 CT scans, and 1,434 digital pathology samples and is increasing weekly.
The DART dataset is enabling development, testing and validation of Artificial Intelligence algorithms that improve the selection of participants for LCS, detection of pulmonary nodules and lung cancers on CT scans, diagnosis of lung cancer and subtyping on digital pathology images, and prognostic algorithms to determine the need for neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment post resection.
Unlocking the future of lung cancer screening: How DART is redefining early diagnosis
When it comes to the battle against lung cancer, early detection is the key to saving lives. But what if there were a way to transform the diagnostic process and make it more accessible? That is what we’re trying to achieve through our research programme funded by Innovate UK and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and commercial companies GEHC, Optellum and Roche Diagnostics.
What is DART?
DART is an ambitious initiative focused on harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the way we diagnose lung cancer. We collaborate with lung health checks across the UK collecting invaluable data to develop AI algorithms that will redefine early diagnosis and, ultimately, save lives.
The urgent need for early diagnosis
Lung cancer is often a silent predator, revealing its presence only when it’s reached an advanced stage. By then, treatment becomes far more challenging, and the prognosis can be bleak. The key to improved outcomes lies in diagnosing lung cancer at stage one and two when treatment options are more effective and less invasive.
The power of big data
One of DART’s distinguishing features is the scale of our data collection. While the other largest dataset in the world comprises of 28,000 CT scans, often performed on older machines, the DART dataset has already surpassed that figure. But that’s just the beginning. Our vision is to grow this dataset to a quarter of a million CT scans, making it ten times larger than the current world’s largest lung cancer screening dataset.
A collaborative approach
DART thrives on collaboration. It brings together diverse teams, combining imaging and data, to improve the decision-making process for radiologists. By analysing vast amounts of patient data, they aim to predict outcomes for different patient groups, helping medical professionals make more informed decisions.
Maintaining privacy and ethical standards
Patient privacy and data security are top priorities for us. We employ de-identification methods to protect patient information and ensure that data users don’t inadvertently access sensitive details. This approach safeguards both patients and researchers.
The future of lung cancer screening
We believe that AI will play a pivotal role in the future of lung cancer screening. With the responsibility to design lung cancer screening for the next generation, we aim to make a global impact by facilitating early diagnosis and improving patient care worldwide – which is the most extraordinary opportunity.
We hope our innovative approach to lung cancer diagnosis will change the landscape of early detection and save countless lives in the process.
Have your say
The DART project is about using data to better predict lung cancer so it can be treated earlier.
The project invites those in any way affected by lung cancer or lung cancer screening to advise us on the best ways to tell those attending lung cancer screening how their data is being used. We are planning to hold an advisory focus group by video conference on Wednesday 23rd November and invite those whose lives have been affected in any way by lung cancer to join us. Your input will make a valuable contribution to the project by ensuring we are clear about what data is collected and how it is used. If you are interested, please email DART Lung Health Project dart@oncology.ox.ac.uk.
The NHS Lung Health Check is a service that is running in some parts of England. It aims to help diagnose lung cancer at an earlier stage when treatment may be more successful.
People are invited for a lung health check if they:
are aged between 55 and 75
are registered with a GP
have ever smoked
live in an area where the checks are being done
Those at a higher risk of lung cancer have a CT scan. If the scan shows any abnormal areas (nodules), there may be further scans, tissue samples or surgery. This is to check if the area is cancer or not. In most cases it isn’t but in a small number of people it is.
DART researchers want to use information from scans and other test to further improve the early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, leading to better survival rates.
This study is collecting and using data (clinical records and copies of scans and biopsy/resection slides) from over 500,000 participants in these lung health checks. We ask you to advise us on how you feel about DART collecting data after patient treatment and without direct consent, if the documents provided to patients make it clear enough how to request not to be included in the study and how you feel about commercial companies using the data to develop methods to improve recognition of lung diseases. Copies of the documents will be circulated to those interested before the meeting.
World Lung Cancer Day 2022
On World Cancer Day 2022, read how Optellum is working to change the survival rates for lung cancer with an innovative AI platform.
DART is pleased to be partnering with Optellum and others to build and strengthen Artificial Intelligence algorithms for the early diagnosis of lung cancer and other lung conditions. Here Optellum describe their efforts to redefine early intervention of diseases like lung cancer, by enabling every clinician, in every hospital, to make the right decisions and give their patients the best chance to fight back.
Portsmouth encourages participation in Lung Health Checks
People over 55 but younger than 75 who have ever smoked are being offered a free lung health check. See a video here or read NHS news items here and here.
This is part of an expanding lung cancer screening programme.
Registration with ISRCTN
DART has been registered with ISRCTN, using ID 13720905
This includes a Plain English summary under the title “Providing data so computer systems can help with the early identification of lung diseases, leading to more rapid treatment and better survival rates”.
About ISRCTN
Registration with ISRCTN is the first step towards trial transparency and the future dissemination of health research outcomes. Its key aim is to ensure that all healthcare decisions are informed by all of the available evidence, thus, overcoming publication bias and selective reporting. Registration provides opportunities for collaboration and reduces duplication of research efforts; it also improves awareness of trials for clinicians, researchers, patients and the public.
Optellum attains CE marking in Europe
DART partner Optellum has attained CE marking in Europe.
This latest certification will allow for use in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), and opens the door to a European expansion for the growing company. It is the latest milestone for Optellum, which received FDA 510(k) clearance in early 2021 as the first AI-assisted diagnosis application for lung cancer. You can read the full press release online here.
In addition, researchers from the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) have published the results of an academic study in European Radiology which takes a closer look at the Optellum Lung Cancer Prediction (LCP) model. You can read the full story on Optellum’s website here.
Approvals and adoption
NIHR
DART is very pleased that the project has been adopted onto the NIHR portfolio and is therefore deemed eligible for NIHR Clinical Research Network support. Further information about CRN support can be found on the NIHR website.
The 15 Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRN) cover the length and breadth of England and are available to coordinate and support the delivery of research across the NHS in England.
Health Research Authority HRA
DART has had confirmation that HRA and Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW) Approval has been given for the study, on the basis described in the application form, protocol, supporting documentation and clarifications requested and received.
DART has also had notification of Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) conditional support, as per the excerpt from their letter below.
“The role of the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) is to review applications submitted under these Regulations and to provide advice to the Health Research Authority on whether application activity should be supported, and if so, any relevant conditions. This application was considered at the CAG meeting held on 10 February 2022.
Health Research Authority decision
The Health Research Authority, having considered the advice from the Confidentiality Advisory Group as set out below, has determined the following:
The application, to allow the disclosure of confidential patient information from participating trusts to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is conditionally supported, subject to compliance with the standard and specific conditions of support.
Please note that the legal basis to allow access to the specified confidential patient information without consent is now in effect.”
The conditions of support allow for the project to proceed as planned and will be addressed by mid-May 2022. DART will comply with the HRA annual review.