My name is Rauand Duhoky, and I am a Colorectal Clinical Research Fellow working alongside Prof. Jim Khan at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, as well as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Adrian Hopgood at the University of Portsmouth.
As an expert bowel cancer centre and an early adopter of the robotic surgical platforms, PHU has been a major factor in the establishment of robotic rectal cancer surgery in the UK. Cancer of the rectum, which is cancer in the last 15 cm of the large bowel, is a common type of cancer. The treatment for this type of cancer is taking out the whole tumour with an operation.
This used to always be done with an open procedure, leaving a big scar, and is still the case for 28% of rectal cancer patients in the UK. With the rise of key-hole surgery we can do the same surgery with smaller wounds, leading to a shorter recovery time after surgery, but the standard (laparoscopic) key-hole surgery has its own limitations. The robotic approach tries to overcome these limitations through advanced tools.
For my PhD project, I am exploring the use of AI and machine learning models to analyse research databases for improving the surgical treatment of rectal cancer patients. My main project is to develop a tool that can predict how difficult a person with rectal cancer will be to operate.
This difficulty can depend on a lot of factors, a few examples of which are the angle and size of their pelvic bones, the tumour size and other tumour characteristics, whether the patient has had surgery before, whether they have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and their weight. The tool will be based on expert opinions, MRI scans of the rectum and tumours, and on a combination of all the data available.
The ultimate goal is to provide this tool online free of charge, so that any doctor can use it to predict how difficult the surgery will be. This will help the surgeon in making the best possible decisions on preparation, treatment, and even possible referrals to expert centres for their patients, which will hopefully improve standard of care for these patients.
Aside from this main project, the PhD project will include several other retrospective data analyses of large datasets to investigate any differences in outcomes for rectal cancer surgery between the laparoscopic and robotic surgical techniques.
These studies will make use of machine learning models to optimize statistical power and reduce risk of bias where possible. Through this, we hope to determine what the potential benefits of the robotic platforms are for the treatment of rectal cancer.
I am grateful to have the support of the Research department at PHU, the School of Computing at the University of Portsmouth, and especially of the Portsmouth Bowel Cancer Appeal to be able to complete my research projects. I hope that my work helps improve the care of rectal cancer surgery and improve the treatment for everyone suffering with rectal cancer.