AI Improves Breast Cancer Detection. But Will That Save Lives?
A large, rigorous study in Sweden of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screenings suggests AI can help doctors detect cancers more efficiently. We need more such studies to determine when the technology has real value — and when it might have risks. And although the findings are incredibly promising, because Europe uses different processes and technologies for cancer screening, the US needs to commit to running its own similar studies to guide doctors here.
Previous large studies all looked back at old medical records to gauge whether AI was capable of detecting cancers as accurately as doctors. This study is the first trial of its size to test AI in real time on real patients — and will one day tell the field whether it actually improves the health of women. All of this is critical information as technology increasingly becomes integrated into health care.
In the study, some 80,000 women in Sweden were randomly assigned to either receive a double reading, where two independent radiologists look at the mammogram, or an AI-supported screening, which was performed by one radiologist and a computer.
The first stage of the study, the results of which were reported this week in the Lancet Oncology, was designed to ask whether it was safe to integrate AI into practice. The answer is a resounding yes. Overall, the computer helped humans flag more cancers, detecting about 20% more cancers than the two radiologists. Impressively, it did so with about the same rate as false positives (e.g. screens that looked like cancer but didn't turn out to be).
Moreover, the researchers clearly showed that AI can reduce the workload for radiologists. Although the team didn't directly measure the number of hours saved by using a computer to
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