Pragmatic RCT of AI-Assisted Reading for Malignant Hepatic Lesions on CE-CT

August 14, 2026 updated by: Yu Shi, Shengjing Hospital

A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of AI-Assisted Reading Compared With Standard Radiology Interpretation for Malignant Hepatic Lesions on Contrast-Enhanced CT: Diagnostic, Clinical and Workflow Outcomes

The purpose of this multicenter pragmatic randomized controlled trial is to determine whether AI-assisted interpretation of multiphasic liver contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) is non-inferior to standard radiology reporting with respect to missed clinically significant malignant focal liver lesions, **with the non-inferiority margin prespecified in the statistical analysis plan before enrollment**, and whether it improves lesion detection, diagnostic characterization, downstream clinical management, and reporting efficiency. On AI-assisted center-days, AI results will be revealed only after the first-line radiologist has saved an unaided initial assessment and may be used to revise the final report. On control center-days, examinations will be interpreted using the standard radiology workflow without access to AI tools.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Multiphasic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) is widely used to evaluate focal liver lesions, but clinically significant malignancies may be missed or incompletely characterized. This prospective, multicenter, pragmatic, cluster-randomized, center-day crossover trial will compare AI-assisted reporting with standard radiology reporting. Center-days will be assigned in an approximately 1:1 ratio using a centrally generated randomized sequence, and each participant will receive only one workflow. In the AI-assisted arm, the radiologist will save an unaided initial assessment before the locked AI output is revealed and may revise or retain the assessment before authorizing the final report. In the control arm, examinations will be interpreted without access to AI outputs. The primary outcome will be the proportion of participants with a reference-standard-confirmed clinically significant malignant focal liver lesion that was missed or inadequately characterized in the final report. The reference standard will incorporate histopathology, follow-up imaging, multidisciplinary consensus, and relevant clinical records. Non-inferiority will be assessed using a margin prespecified in the statistical analysis plan before enrollment, followed by superiority testing if non-inferiority is demonstrated. Secondary outcomes include senior-review workload, final report turnaround time, detection rate of clinically significant malignant liver lesions, clinically appropriate management-change rate, and time to initiation of treatment for liver malignancy.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

40000

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • China
    • Liaoning
      • Shenyang, Liaoning, China, 110004
        • Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University
        • Contact:
        • 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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Age range 18 years and above
  2. Underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced abdominal CT examination with liver coverage
  3. Imaging must include at least three required phases: non-contrast, arterial phase, and venous phase; a delayed phase is optional
  4. Complete imaging data that meet AI system and radiologist interpretation requirements.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. History of recent upper-abdominal surgery (within 30 days) or major hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery affecting liver evaluation (e.g., liver transplantation or Whipple procedure); patients with prior simple cholecystectomy or single-lesion interventional procedures are not excluded
  2. History of recent hepatic trauma (within 30 days)
  3. Poor image quality or severe noise artifacts (e.g., metal or motion artifacts)
  4. Missing required imaging phases (required at least non-contrast, arterial, and venous phases) or inadequate scan range (e.g., lower-abdomen CT such as pelvic or rectal scans not covering the liver)

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: AI-on: AI-assisted abdominal CE-CT reporting
Intervention: AI-assisted interpretation of abdominal CE-CT
Other: AI-assisted abdominal CE-CT reporting
After the unaided initial assessment is saved, the locked AI system will display lesion localization, patient-level and lesion-level malignancy probabilities, prespecified lesion-class suggestions, and uncertainty or technical-failure warnings. The first-line radiologist may revise or retain the initial assessment and must record acceptance, rejection, or uncertainty for clinically important AI suggestions. The senior reviewer may view the initial assessment, AI output, and revision history. AI may not autonomously authorize reports, prescribe management, or communicate diagnoses directly to participants.
Active Comparator: AI-off: Standard abdominal CE-CT reporting without AI assistance
Routine interpretation of abdominal CE-CT without access to AI system (standard of care)
Other: Standard abdominal CE-CT reporting without AI assistance
Eligible multiphasic abdominal CE-CT examinations will be interpreted and reported according to the site's standard radiology workflow, including routine senior review where applicable. AI system outputs will not be available to radiologists or clinical staff, and no AI-triggered safety-net review will be performed. Routine report addenda, urgent communication, multidisciplinary review, additional imaging, and subsequent clinical management will remain available according to standard clinical practice.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Per-participant rate of missed clinically significant liver malignancy
Time Frame: From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months
Proportion of all enrolled participants with at least one reference-standard-confirmed clinically significant liver malignancy, including hepatocellular carcinoma, liver metastasis, or another primary hepatic malignancy, that was not identified or appropriately characterized in the final index CE-CT report. The reference standard will comprise histopathology when available; otherwise, 12-month imaging and clinical follow-up and relevant record linkage, adjudicated by an independent committee masked to allocation. Non-inferiority will be assessed against a margin prespecified before enrollment.
From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Senior-review workload
Time Frame: Up to 24 hours after the eligible CE-CT examination becomes available for interpretation
Number of examinations requiring senior radiologist review per 100 eligible CE-CT examinations, compared between AI-assisted and standard-reporting center-days.
Up to 24 hours after the eligible CE-CT examination becomes available for interpretation
Final report turnaround time
Time Frame: Up to 24 hours after the complete CE-CT examination becomes available for interpretation
Time in minutes from availability of the complete CE-CT examination for interpretation to authorization of the final clinical report.
Up to 24 hours after the complete CE-CT examination becomes available for interpretation
Detection rate of clinically significant malignant liver lesions
Time Frame: From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months
Proportion of enrolled participants with a reference-standard-confirmed clinically significant malignant liver lesion identified in the final index CE-CT report. Results will be reported overall and for prespecified subgroups, including confirmed HCC smaller than 2 cm, BCLC stage 0 HCC, and liver metastases stratified by primary tumor site.
From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months
Clinically appropriate management-change rate
Time Frame: From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months
Proportion of participants with an independently adjudicated change in diagnostic evaluation, referral, biopsy, treatment, or surveillance attributable to the final index CE-CT report, including avoidance of unnecessary downstream work-up.
From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months
Time to initiation of treatment for liver malignancy
Time Frame: From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months
Time in days from the index CE-CT examination to initiation of first anti-hepatic malignancy treatment (surgery, ablation, transarterial therapy, systemic therapy, or radiotherapy) among participants with reference-standard-confirmed malignant liver lesions. Median time and interquartile range will be reported, and the proportion of participants starting treatment within clinically relevant time thresholds (e.g., 30 days, 60 days, 90 days) will be compared between groups.
From the index CE-CT examination through 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Shengjing Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Yu Shi, MD, Shengjing Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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)

August 17, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 11, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 14, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 17, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 14, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SH-Lion2RCT--Intervention

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL

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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