More cancer cases can be found when radiologists are assisted by AI in reviewing the breast images from the mammography examination. AI-supported screening is considered safe and can provide significant time savings, according to a new study.
A total of 80,000 Swedish women were drawn into two different screening methods. The mammograms from half of the women were reviewed in the traditional way by two breast radiologists without the support of artificial intelligence (AI).
In the second group, AI was used to identify increased risk of breast cancer. In the identified high-risk cases, two radiologists were allowed to review the images, but the others were only reviewed by one doctor.
“We found that review with AI resulted in 20 percent more cancer cases than in the group where two radiologists assessed the X-rays, but only three more false positives, that is, where the suspicion of cancer disappeared after additional investigation,” says researcher Kristina Lång in a press release from Lund’s university.
The AI method also saves time – on the 40,000 AI-examined women, five months of radiological work was saved.
The study, which has been published in The Lancet Oncology, needs to be followed by more people before safe conclusions can be drawn, she underlines. In an upcoming study in which 100,000 women are included, the researchers will continue to investigate in more depth which types of cancer are detected with AI review and review without AI.
The most important thing is to find the types of cancer that can grow quickly and spread, emphasizes Kristina Lång, who is associate professor in diagnostic radiology and senior physician.