“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 study found.
The study was performed by a research team out of Lund University in Sweden and, accordingly, followed 80,033 Swedish women for just over a year in 2021-2022 . Of the 39,996 patients that were randomly assigned AI-empowered breast cancer screenings, 28 percent or 244 tests returned screen-detected cancers. Of the other 40,024 patients that received conventional cancer screenings, just 25 percent, or 203 tests, returned screen-detected cancers.
Of those extra 41 cancers detected by the AI side, 19 turned out to be invasive. Both the AI-empowered and conventional screenings ran a 1.5 percent false positive rate. Most impressively, radiologists on the the AI side had to look at 36,886 fewer screen readings than their counterparts, a 44 percent reduction in their workload.Great deals on consumer electronics delivered straight to your inbox, curated by Engadget’s editorial team.