Artificial Intelligence for Rare Disease Diagnosis

June 3, 2026 updated by: Shuyang Zhang, MD, PhD, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

A Multicentre, Randomised Diagnostic Accuracy Study Evaluating AI Assisted Diagnosis of Rare Diseases

A multicentre, randomised diagnostic accuracy study to evaluate whether the rare disease-specific AI can improve diagnostic accuracy and efficiency for physicians managing real-world clinical cases.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Not yet recruiting

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

Rare diseases collectively affect approximately 300 million individuals worldwide. This prolonged diagnostic delay is attributable in large part to the breadth of over 7,000 recognized rare conditions, which far exceeds the clinical exposure of any individual physician. A rare disease-specific diagnostic AI was developed by Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), supporting differential diagnosis generation, clinical workup planning, and genomic variant interpretation. A balanced crossover design ensures that each enrolled physician serves as their own control, substantially reducing confounding from inter-reader variability in baseline diagnostic competency. Within each physician, cases are randomly assigned at the case level to either the AI-assisted or unassisted condition, such that each physician reads a subset of cases with AI assistance and the remaining cases without. This within-reader, case-level randomization eliminates the need for a washout period and directly controls for inter-reader differences in baseline diagnostic competency. All cases are collected from real-world clinical settings with independently confirmed gold-standard diagnoses and span a pre-specified spectrum of rare and non-rare disease categories, reflecting the differential diagnostic challenge encountered in routine clinical practice, to ensure diagnostic breadth and clinical representativeness. Physician seniority (junior vs. senior) is incorporated as a pre-specified stratification and subgroup analysis variable. Diagnostic outputs are evaluated by an independent Expert Adjudication Committee, blinded to the assistance condition, using standardized scoring criteria established prior to data collection.

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.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

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.
150

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • China
      • Beijing, China
        • Peking Union Medical College Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Cangzhou, China
        • Cangzhou Central Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Changchun, China
        • Changchun Sacred Heart Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Dongguan, China
        • Dongguan People's Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Foshan, China
        • First People's Hospital of Foshan
        • Contact:
      • Guiyang, China
        • Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Jilin City, China
        • Jilin Central General Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Kunming, China
        • The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province
        • Contact:
      • Lhasa, China
        • Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Tianjin, China
        • Tianjin Children's Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Wuhai, China
        • Wuhai People's Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Xining, China
        • Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital
        • Contact:
      • Zhangzhou, China
        • Zhangzhou Municipal Hospital of Fujian Province
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 1. Licensed physicians at the junior or senior level affiliated with internal medicine, neurology, pediatrics, and rare disease-related departments.
  • 2. Willingness to provide written informed consent, adhere to trial protocols, and complete all required pre-study training prior to enrollment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • 1. Prior exposure to any of the clinical cases included in the study case library.
  • 2. Direct participation in the design or development of the AI model.

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

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
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.
Experimental: Intervention Arm
Physicians complete assigned diagnostic tasks with the assistance of AI system in addition to conventional clinical resources.
Other: AI-Assisted Diagnosis
A rare disease-specific diagnostic AI model is used to accept free text input and assist in rare disease diagnoses. During the experimental condition, physicians may interact with the system freely alongside standard clinical resources to support their diagnostic reasoning.
No Intervention: Control Arm
Physicians complete the assigned diagnostic tasks using conventional clinical resources only (e.g., medical databases and literature), without access to any generative AI tools. This arm reflects routine clinical diagnostic practice.

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
Top-3 Diagnostic Accuracy
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (from case presentation to diagnostic report submission).
The percentage of definitive diagnosis is included within the physician's top 3 choices.
Up to 60 minutes per case (from case presentation to diagnostic report submission).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Diagnosis Time per Case
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (from case presentation to diagnostic report submission).
Elapsed time from initial case presentation to final diagnostic report submission, recorded automatically via system logs.
Up to 60 minutes per case (from case presentation to diagnostic report submission).
Workup Plan Quality
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (from case presentation to diagnostic report submission).
Quality score of the clinical workup plan assigned by an independent expert committee using a standardized Likert Scale. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating better workup plan quality.
Up to 60 minutes per case (from case presentation to diagnostic report submission).
Physician Reported Usability of the AI-Assisted Diagnostic System
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Physician-reported usability of the AI system, assessed after completion of each AI-assisted case reading using a 10-point physician-rated usability scale. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating better system usability.
Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Physician Reported Workload
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Task-related workload experienced by physicians, assessed after completion of each AI-assisted case reading using a 10-point Physician Workload Likert scale. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating a higher workload.
Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Physician Satisfaction
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Overall satisfaction of physicians with the diagnostic workflow, assessed after completion of each AI-assisted case reading using a 10-point Satisfaction Likert scale. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating higher satisfaction.
Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Physician Intention to Adopt AI-Assisted Diagnostic Support
Time Frame: Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).
Physician willingness to integrate AI system into routine clinical practice, assessed after completion of each AI-assisted case reading using a 10-point Adoption Intention Likert scale. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating higher adoption intention.
Up to 60 minutes per case (upon completion of each case reading).

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.
Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital
First People's Hospital of Foshan
Dongguan People's Hospital
Qinghai People's Hospital
Cangzhou Central Hospital
The First People's Hospital of Yunnan
Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital
Tianjin Children's Hospital
Zhangzhou Municipal Hospital of Fujian Province

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: Shuyang Zhang, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

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 (Estimated)

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.
June 20, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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.
December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

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.
June 1, 2027

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).
May 28, 2026

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.
June 3, 2026

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.
June 4, 2026

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.
June 4, 2026

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.
June 3, 2026

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.
June 1, 2026

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.
  • PUMCH I-23PJ948

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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