AnAsToMoSIs
AI Approaches To Monitoring Surgical Inpatients
A UKRI Funded, multicentre, prospective, observational, descriptive cohort study.
REC Reference: 24/WS/0071. ISRCTN Registration Number: ISRCTN36476735
Principal Investigator: Miss Fiona N C Smith BSc(Hons) MBChB(Hons) MSc(R) MRCS(Ed)
Keep scrolling for more information about the Anastomosis study and for links to all the study resources.
What is the
AnAsToMoSIs Study about?
This study is investigating if Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to help monitor patients after Microvascular Free Flap Surgery.​​​
What is Microvascular Free Flap Surgery?
This is an operation where, tissue is moved from one part of the body to another and “plumbed” into the new location by joining the blood vessels.
Whilst success rates are very good there can be problems in the first few days that require intervention in theatre. If these problems are identified early there is a greater chance of salvage and hence, doctors and nurses conduct frequent checks of the patients and the flap after the operation.
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​​​These frequent checks include measuring the patient’s observations (e.g. heart rate and blood pressure), assessing the flap's colour and temperature and using a doppler ultrasound machine to hear the blood flow to the flap.
Our
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What is the aim of the study?
The aim of the study is to see if a computer model, trained on images of free flaps and routine free flap monitoring data, can detect problems with free flaps earlier and more accurately than human assessment.
Who can participate?
Adult patients undergoing microvascular free flap surgery at either of the participating hospitals (St Johns Hospital, Livingston or the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle) will be invited to take part in the study.
What does the study involve for participants?
Participants' microvascular free flap surgery will go ahead as normal, but in addition to the normal checks after the operation, photographs will also be taken of the flap at least twice a day.
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Once patients have completed the normal observation period and been discharged home, their flap photographs and monitoring data will be anonymised and collected for the study.
A computer program will then be used to analyse the flap photographs and patient data. The knowledge gained from analysing study participants data will be used to make a tool that could help monitor other patients’ free flaps after surgery.