This month, researchers in Sweden published a study in The Lancet Oncology that compared the efficacy of artificial intelligence-supported mammogram screening versus the standard double reading by radiologists.
The researchers found in their randomized trial that AI-supported mammography screenings are safe, almost halved radiologists’ workload, and detected cancers that reviewing doctors missed.
Not surprisingly, the findings garnered international news coverage. Breast cancer is a global health threat, with more than 2.3 million women worldwide diagnosed each year and nearly 700,000 deaths.
Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, director of the Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys, was among experts interviewed by global media to provide context to the Swedish findings. He was interviewed on Alhurra, a U.S. government-owned Arabic-language satellite TV news channel that broadcasts internationally outside of the U.S.
You can watch the interview here. It’s in Arabic, but essentially Ronai said:
“This randomized trial of over 80,000 women offers an important advance for early detection of breast cancer, based on AI support of radiologist workload. AI will assist but not replace the role of radiologists in these assessments, and thus, is expected to enable radiologists to attend to more difficult cases. Caution from detections of less harmful lesions (which was one of the outcomes in this study), requires more training and careful validation. Overall, this is an important and safe advance in our quest for early detection of cancer, in this case, breast cancer.”