Free Text Prediction Algorithm for Appendicitis

March 2, 2021 updated by: National University Hospital, Singapore

Prospective Study of a Free-text Diagnosis Prediction Algorithm for Appendicitis in the Emergency Department

Computer-aided diagnostic software has been used to assist physicians in various ways. Text-based prediction algorithms have been trained on past medical records through data mining and feature analysis. Currently, all text-based machine learning prediction problem models have been built on extracted data with no research completed on free text based prediction algorithms. This study aims to determine the accuracy of a free text prediction algorithm in predicting the probability of appendicitis in patients presenting to the Emergency Department with abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Developing machine learning models that have a strong prediction power for diagnosis of appendicitis from physician entered free text input can improve diagnostic accuracy of doctors. It also offers the possibility of using prediction algorithms to improve routine clinical care. In the future, multiple machine learning models can be combined to increase prediction accuracy and prediction algorithms can be extended to other diagnoses.

18,000 cases of emergency department presentations over 10 years were used as a training and validation dataset. To develop the appendicitis prediction model, deep learning neural networks with a customized medical ontology were used. The diagnostic accuracy of the model is expressed as sensitivity (recall), specificity and F1 score (harmonic mean). The developed diagnosis predictive model shows high sensitivity (86.3%), specificity (91.9%) and F1 score (88.8) in diagnosing appendicitis from patients presenting with abdominal pain.

The predictive model algorithm will also highlight words in the free text (entered by the attending physician) that it assigns higher probability for predicting an outcome. The doctors will be instructed to provide a percentage likelihood of appendicitis based on the clinical presentation and any available laboratory investigations. The doctor is then shown the prediction of the algorithm as well as the highlighted words for the patient entered. He/she must then provide another prediction of the likelihood of appendicitis after seeing the algorithm generated prediction.

The aim is to evaluate the performance of the algorithm and to assess if usage of the algorithm is able to help emergency doctors improve their diagnosis of appendicitis. The prediction results will be tabulated to assess accuracy of the algorithm, doctors before algorithm input and doctors after receiving algorithm input. The accuracy will be expressed as sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive prediction value, F1 score and F0.5 score.

Approximately 100 emergency doctors will be recruited over the course of 1 year as participants in the study. The doctors will be split randomly assigned to two groups - the algorithm arm and the no algorithm arm. The randomization will be by time (weekly) using variable block randomization of 4 and 6. The patients will be followed up for the final discharge diagnoses.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
689

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Singapore
      • Singapore, Singapore, 119074
        • National University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 99 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Attending physicians will be recruited as study participants and randomised weekly into "algorithm use" versus "no algorithm use".

Patients who fulfilled the above eligibility criteria will have their data collected and entered into the predictive algorithm.

Description

Eligibility criteria of doctors- Inclusion criteria: Junior doctors working in the Emergency Department Exclusion criteria: Refusal of consent

Eligibility criteria of patients-

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of abdominal pain, OR
  • Presence of gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, OR
  • Fever with anorexia

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous history of appendicectomy
  • Refusal of consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
With algorithm use
Diagnostic test: Free text prediction algorithm for appendicitis
A free-text prediction software that predicts the probability of acute appendicitis
No algorithm use

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Accuracy of predictive algorithm for acute appendicitis
Time Frame: 30 days
Accuracy of predictive algorithm and accuracy of doctors with input from the algorithm in diagnosing acute appendicitis
30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
National University Hospital, Singapore

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Kee Yuan Ngiam, Dr, National University Hospital, Singapore

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
December 4, 2017

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 1, 2019

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 23, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 23, 2018

First Posted (ACTUAL)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 30, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
March 3, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 2, 2021

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • N-171-000-456-001

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data will not be made available to other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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