Tool to measure lymph node cancer burden across clinics
Lymph Node Quantification System for Multisite Clinical Trials
They are building AI tools to quickly and accurately measure how much cancer is in lymph nodes from CT and PET/CT scans for people in cancer clinical trials.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11300254 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
This project will create AI-powered software that reads CT and PET/CT scans to measure lymph node cancer burden across multiple hospitals. The team will train the models using a large set of expert-annotated imaging data and link the tools into an existing commercial clinical-trials imaging platform used by many cancer centers. The goal is to reduce manual work and produce faster, more consistent tumor metrics like total metabolic tumor volume during oncology trials. The tools are designed to be deployed across sites so measurements are comparable between centers.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: People with cancer who have CT or PET/CT scans and who are treated at or enrolled in participating oncology clinical trial sites would be the ideal candidates to provide scans or benefit from the tool.
Not a fit: Patients without lymph node involvement, those not undergoing CT/PET imaging, or those treated outside participating centers are less likely to see direct benefit from this grant's work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the tools could make lymph node measurements faster and more consistent, improving trial decisions and helping doctors better track disease.
How similar studies have performed: AI imaging tools have shown promise for automating tumor measurements, but accurate and widely adopted lymph node burden quantification remains limited and this project aims to improve on existing approaches.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kikinis, Ron — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Kikinis, Ron
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.