AI could halve time reading breast cancer scans, study suggests

Artificial intelligence could help almost halve the workload of radiologists when it comes to searching routine scans for signs of breast cancer.

By:AFP
| Updated on: Aug 03 2023, 07:37 IST
Women’s Day Gift Ideas: iPhone 13, AirPods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, more
breast cancer
1/6 iPhone 13: After the launch of the iPhone 14 series, iPhone 13 is now more affordable than ever. What does it offer? The power of A15 Bionic chipset, dual 12MP camera performance, and long battery life. It is currently priced at Rs. 61999 on Amazon and Flipkart.  (HT Tech)
image caption
2/6 Apple AirPods Pro: It is a great tech gift option this International Women's Day. Apple also offers an engraving option, which gives these AirPods a personalized touch. It is available on Amazon for Rs. 26900. (HT Tech)
breast cancer
3/6 Samsung Galaxy Watch 4: A smartwatch is a great gift for women who are always on the go. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 offers amazing features, including a period tracker and continuous SPO2 sleep measures, and a lot more. It is priced at Rs. 34999. (Amazon)
image caption
4/6 PLAYFIT SLIM2C: Looking for an affordable smartwatch? Check this PLAYFIT SLIM2C priced at just Rs. 3999. It comes as a Bluetooth-based CALLING smartwatch with a 1.3-inch circular dial with 500 nits brightness.  (www.theworldofplay.com)
image caption
5/6 Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 Instant Camera: It can help you capture your loved ones’ happy moments in more detail. Use a close-up lens at a distance of 35–50 cm to produce a perfect shot. It is priced at Rs. 7696.  (Fujifilm)
image caption
6/6 Samsung Galaxy S22: The list doesn't end here! If you are looking for an Android flagship smartphone, then Samsung's last year flagship is now available at just Rs. 52989 on Flipkart. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and features a 50MP+10MP+12MP camera setup. (HT Tech)
breast cancer
icon View all Images
With many countries suffering from a shortage of radiologists, there are hopes that AI could make the time-consuming job of analysing routine scans quicker and more accurate. (Pexels)

Artificial intelligence could help almost halve the workload of radiologists when it comes to searching routine scans for signs of breast cancer, a large Swedish study suggested on Wednesday.

The interim results of the trial were hailed as promising, but the authors cautioned that more research was needed before AI can be used to screen for breast cancer on a wider scale.

You may be interested in

MobilesTablets Laptops
7% OFF
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • Black Titanium
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 256 GB Storage
23% OFF
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G
  • Green
  • 12 GB RAM
  • 256 GB Storage
Google Pixel 8 Pro
  • Obsidian
  • 12 GB RAM
  • 128 GB Storage
Apple iPhone 15 Plus
  • Black
  • 6 GB RAM
  • 128 GB Storage

While increasingly convincing chatbots such as ChatGPT have driven speculation about the future potential applications of AI, one area in which the technology has already shown proficiency is in reading medical scans.

Also read
Looking for a smartphone? To check mobile finder click here.

With many countries suffering from a shortage of radiologists, there are hopes that AI could make the time-consuming job of analysing routine scans quicker and more accurate.

This could have a particularly large impact for breast cancer. More than 2.3 million women were diagnosed with the cancer in 2020 alone, according to the World Health Organization, and it caused 685,000 deaths.

Regular screening is vital to identifying early signs of cancer. In Europe, women aged 50 to 69 are advised to get a mammogram every two years, with the resulting scan analysed by two radiologists.

The study in Sweden involved the scans of 80,000 women who had mammograms at four sites in southwest Sweden between April 2021 and July last year.

- 'Considerable importance' -

Their scans were randomly divided for analysis to either an AI-supported system or two human radiologists, who served as the control group.

The AI algorithm read the scans and predicted the risk of cancer out of 10. Its predictions were then checked by a radiologist.

The AI-supported system spotted 20 percent more cancers, the study said, which worked out to be an additional case for every thousand women screened.

When it came to false positives -- when a mammogram is first thought to look suspicious but is later cleared -- both the AI-supported system and the two humans spotted the same rate: 1.5 percent.

And the workload for radiologists was reduced by 44 percent for the AI group, because only one person was required to read the scans rather than the normal two.

"The greatest potential of AI right now is that it could allow radiologists to be less burdened by the excessive amount of reading," said Kristina Lang, a radiologist at Sweden's Lund University and lead author of the study.

But Lang said the "promising interim safety results" were "not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening," she said in a statement.

It will take two more years before the trial can say whether using AI leads to a reduction in what are called interval cancers, which are detected between routine screenings, the researchers cautioned.

Stephen Duffy, a professor of cancer screening at Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the study, pointed out that the AI algorithm may have over-diagnosed certain forms of early breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ.

Nonetheless, he praised the "high-quality study", saying that reducing the burden on radiologists' time was "an issue of considerable importance in many breast screening programmes".

Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

First Published Date: 03 Aug, 07:37 IST
NEXT ARTICLE BEGINS

Editor’s Pick