Results from a trial, funded by an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship and led by King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust, found that AI-assisted 20-week scans reduced the scan length by more than 40%. The AI-tool freed up sonographers time as they no longer needed to pause, save images, or measure during the scan.

The trial featured 78 pregnant participants and 58 sonographers. Each patient was scanned twice, once using the AI-assisted scanner and once without the use of AI. The sonographers look for signs of 11 different conditions, such as heart defects or spina bifida.

The AI-assisted scans automatically took several thousand snapshots of each fetal measurement compared to three taken by a sonographer. They were found to be more reliable and could help medical professionals make decisions earlier that could improve health outcomes for the baby.

Dr Thomas Day, lead author of the study and a consultant paediatric and foetal cardiologist at Evelina London Children's Hospital, part of Guy's and St Thomas', and clinical research fellow at King's College London, said: 'Our research has shown that AI-assisted scans are accurate, reliable and more efficient. We hope that using AI in these scans will free up precious time for sonographers to focus on patient care, making the experience more comfortable and reassuring for parents.'

Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR scientific director, added: ‘Anything that improves the experience of expectant mothers, gives them reassurance and tailors the care they are offered by healthcare professionals can only be a good thing.

‘The use of AI in healthcare has huge potential to impact patient care while saving time and money.'

The AI tool is now being rolled out more widely through Fraiya, a university-NHS spinout company from King's College London, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College Hospital.

Fraiya has been developed as part of the MedTech Venture Builder programme at The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering.