Ibex BH at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Welcome to our official study site for our ongoing research project, which is a collaboration between the University of Exeter, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT), and Ibex Innovations Ltd.

Our project explores the implementation of the Ibex Bone Health (BH) software within clinical care at RCHT. Ibex BH is a commercially available software application designed to provide opportunistic screening for osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a “silent” disease that weakens bones, often going undetected until a fracture occurs. Currently, the gold standard for diagnosis is a DXA scan, but long waiting times and equipment shortages can delay vital treatment. Our research explores how the Ibex BH innovation can identify patients at risk of osteoporosis opportunistically when they present for a routine wrist X-ray already being taken for other reasons.

Ibex BH works by:

• Analysing Routine X-rays: Ibex BH processes image data from standard digital wrist X-rays that are often taken for other reasons, such as suspected fractures or arthritis.
• Measuring Bone Density: Using a physics-based algorithm, the software predicts a 3D model of the patient’s anatomy to generate measurements of bone mineral density.
• Providing Comparable Results to DXA: The outputs produced by Ibex BH are comparable to those returned by a DXA scan, which is currently the clinical gold standard for diagnosing osteoporosis.
• Acting as a Diagnostic Aid: Ibex BH results are reviewed by the Fracture Liaison Service, regardless of whether there is a fracture present or not. This means a larger pool of patients benefit from assessment for poor bone health requiring further assessment or treatment.

By integrating into existing clinical workflows, Ibex BH aims to identify at-risk patients earlier, potentially reducing the time to treatment and preventing future fragility fractures.

Study Objectives

Our project is the first usage of Ibex BH in a clinical environment. It is a feasibility study designed to:

1. Validate Accuracy: Continue collecting data comparing the bone density results from the Ibex BH software with gold standard DXA scans in a real-world clinical setting.
2. Evaluate Integration: See how easily this software fits into the existing clinical workflow at RCHT and how it can benefit patients.
3. Understand Patient Views: Engage with patients and clinicians to learn what they think about opportunistic screening and how best to apply it in clinical practice.

Our Partners and Funders

This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through the i4i Connect programme.