A hospital trust will continue to use AI technology after a trial found the software helped find bowel lesions which could become cancerous.

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) has been using a computer module called the GI Genius AI device during colonoscopies – a procedure which uses a camera to look inside a person’s bowel.

On average the new technology found an extra 0.36 lesions – known as adenomas – during each colonoscopy, it said.

Prof Colin Rees, a consultant gastroenterologist at the trust, said the new equipment would “save lives”.

“This trial has demonstrated that using artificial intelligence can significantly increase detection of the kind of abnormalities in the bowel that may progress to cancer,” he said.

“We are able to find these lesions, remove them and stop these lesions turning into cancer.”

The AI helped medical staff find more small or flat polyps, which are often missed by the human eye.

There are about 43,000 new cases of bowel cancer each year in the UK and about 16,000 people die from the disease each year, Prof Rees said.

A total of 2,032 patients from 10 centres across the UK took part in the trial.

The research found the AI device identified at least one adenoma in an extra eight out of 100 people and did not increase the risk of complications.

“We now use this technology routinely in our practice and I really hope that it will be used more widely,” said Prof Rees.

“The fantastic thing about using AI is that it learns. It is trained by looking at images.

“It’s adding to its knowledge all the time, so it’s only going to get better.”

The Colo-detect trial was led by STSFT and Newcastle University and involved 10 trusts from across England.