A research team have potentially made a promising breakthrough as new study findings show that artificial intelligence-powered breast screening technology can detect abnormalities that current practices would have missed.
As part of a three-year project funded by UK Research and Innovation, academics from the University of Aberdeen, healthcare professionals from NHS Grampian and an industry partner analysed 220,000 mammograms from more than 55,000 patients.
The analysis found that the technology was effective at identifying potentially missed cancer – otherwise known as interval cancers – which are detected between screenings.
The innovation would have suggested recalling 34.1% of the women who went onto develop interval cancers – these would’ve remained undetected under current screening procedures until the patients developed symptoms.
Radiology imaging researcher at the University of Aberdeen, Dr Clarisse de Vries, said: “Our finding is a massive step forward in using AI technology in diagnostic medicine – we showed that once ‘tuned’ to the local environment, AI can be of enormous benefit to clinicians and importantly, people who may be at risk of developing cancer.”
Although the results demonstrate the “huge potential” in AI, Dr de Vries emphasised that “AI tools must be tested first and tuned for the local population and conditions”.
“Previously, it was unclear whether AI tools developed elsewhere could be used in different settings and screening centres. Now we know there are risks in just taking an AI tool developed elsewhere and implementing it locally. You must first test the tool on the local data to ensure it will work as expected,” she added.
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