AI mammography detects more cancers, cuts workload: Study

A brand new research signifies that synthetic intelligence has the potential to help in breast most cancers prognosis, particularly in nations going through a scarcity of radiologists. Although it’s nonetheless within the early levels, AI applied sciences, comparable to deep studying algorithms, have proven promise in aiding the evaluation of medical photos, together with mammograms.

Doctors and scientists from Sweden’s Lund University have discovered that AI-supported mammography screening “almost halved radiologists’ workload” throughout a randomized trial beneath a Swedish nationwide breast most cancers screening program.

“An AI-supported mammography screening resulted in a similar cancer detection rate compared with standard double reading, with a substantially lower screen-reading workload, indicating that the use of AI in mammography screening is safe,” the researchers discovered.

“Interim findings from a cohort of over 80,000 women in Sweden reveal AI-supported screening detected 20% more cancers compared with the routine double reading of mammograms by two breast radiologists,” the staff defined.

But they added that the trial outcomes wouldn’t be finalized “for several years.”

The researchers, whose findings have been revealed within the Lancet Oncology, mentioned it stays to be established if utilizing AI “reduces interval cancers” earlier than deciding whether or not utilizing AI in mammography screening “is justified.”

“We still need to understand the implications on patients’ outcomes, especially whether combining radiologists’ expertise with AI can help detect interval cancers that are often missed by traditional screening, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the technology,” mentioned Kristina Lång of Lund University.

But the staff mentioned AI help could possibly be wanted in nations that don’t have sufficient radiologists.

“There is a shortage of breast radiologists in many countries, including a shortfall of around 41 (8%) in the U.K. in 2020 and about 50 in Sweden, and it takes over a decade to train a radiologist capable of interpreting mammograms,” they mentioned.