Background
Radiological imaging contains a wealth of quantitative information that can support earlier diagnosis, personalized treatment selection, and objective therapy monitoring. Today, however, most of this information remains inaccessible in routine clinical practice because manual quantification of imaging biomarkers is too time-consuming and complex. As a result, clinical decisions are often based on limited measurements and qualitative image interpretation, while valuable information from routinely acquired CT scans remains unused.
Problem description
Although many AI algorithms for medical imaging have been developed, most focus on a single disease or imaging finding and are difficult to deploy broadly in clinical practice. Existing solutions often lack robustness across different scanners and hospitals, provide limited workflow integration, and do not deliver standardized quantitative outputs that radiologists can readily use. Consequently, the promise of precision medicine based on radiological imaging has not yet been fully realized.
Project summary
The Precision Medicine for Radiology (PMR) project develops an integrated AI platform that automatically extracts clinically relevant biomarkers from routine thoracic and abdominal CT scans. The project focuses on six important clinical domains: pulmonary hypertension, bronchiectasis, mucus burden, tumor burden, body composition, and osteoporosis. Instead of creating isolated AI tools, PMR combines these analyses within a single scalable framework that generates standardized, clinically interpretable results and integrates seamlessly into radiology workflows.
PMR is a collaboration between Thirona B.V., Plain Medical B.V., and Radboudumc. Together, the partners combine expertise in AI development, radiology, clinical validation, and medical software implementation. The goal is to translate promising research prototypes into a clinically validated demonstration platform that supports precision medicine and creates additional value from every CT scan acquired in routine care.
Funding
PMR is supported by the Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling (EFRO) - Oost-Nederland 2021-2027 programme and is carried out by Thirona B.V., Plain Medical B.V., and Radboudumc.
