AI Ushers in New Breakthroughs in Breast Cancer Screening

Jace Dela Cruz, Tech Times 05 March 2023, 08:03 am

Early results have shown that advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are beginning to make breakthroughs in breast cancer screening. The technology is proving to be at least as effective as human radiologists in detecting the signs that doctors sometimes miss, according to a report by the NYT.

This is one of the most tangible signs of how AI can improve public health. The Hungarian government, which has a strong breast cancer screening program, has been testing AI on real patients.

(Photo : YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
A woman wears a pink ribbon on her chest as she attends an event organized by the Women's Ministry to commemorate the International Day of the fight against breast cancer at the Bolivar square in the historic center in Caracas on October 19, 2022.

AI in Cancer Screenings

Five hospitals and clinics that perform over 35,000 screenings a year have rolled out AI systems starting in 2021 to check for signs of cancer that a radiologist may have missed. Clinics and hospitals in the United States, Britain, and the European Union are also beginning to test or provide data to help develop the systems.

One radiologist at Bács-Kiskun County Hospital outside Budapest was able to order a biopsy for a patient after AI software flagged several areas on a mammogram as potentially cancerous. Two other radiologists had previously missed these signs, as per NYT's report.

The use of AI in detecting breast cancer faces several obstacles, say doctors and AI developers. These include the need for more clinical trials to assess the system on a wider range of women and to ensure it can identify more complex forms of cancer and cut the incidence of false positives.

There is also a debate about whether AI will replace human radiologists, with some institutions resistant to the idea. However, many experts believe that the technology will work best when used in tandem with trained doctors.

Lifesaving for Women

According to Dr. László Tabár, a leading mammography educator in Europe, AI could ultimately prove lifesaving for many women. While some AI evangelists believed the technology could be easily adapted to detect illnesses and diseases such as breast cancer.

Meanwhile, London-based Kheiron Medical Technologies developed an AI system that was trained using over five million historical mammograms and which creates a mathematical representation of normal mammograms and those with cancers.

The technology has been shown to match the performance of human radiologists and reduce their workload by at least 30% because it reduces the number of X-rays they need to read. The AI system has been tested in Hungary, with encouraging results, as well as in other countries.

This goes to show that AI is advancing and is gradually helping the medical field in various aspects. However, it still has a long way to go before the healthcare industry becomes dependent on this technology.