AI finds English woman's breast cancer after mammogram didn't spot it
An English woman said artificial intelligence found her breast cancer after getting cleared in a routine scan.
BBC reported that Littlehampton, West Sussex resident Sheila Tooth, 68, had a mammogram at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which is using AI to improve breast cancer screening by spotting cancer that human "readers" might miss.
Tooth's cancerous cells were almost undetectable and had not been spotted before the AI found them.
"I'm deeply grateful for it to have been caught so early," she's quoted as saying. “When I talk to friends, we just can’t believe this AI can detect what the human eye can’t always see. I just feel so lucky."
Tooth noted it may have been her last mammogram, and that her early cancer might have developed into invasive cancer in her 70s.
UHSussex is among 15 trusts across the United Kingdom that participated in a two-month project using AI to analyze mammograms.
During the project, over 12,000 "normal" mammograms were reviewed using AI.
The AI suggested that under 10% of the mammograms be re-read by a clinical panel to identify any potential cancers that weren't detected in the initial screening.
Eleven women were asked to come back for investigation, and five of them were found to have breast cancer.
Olga Strukowska, consultant radiologist and director at the West Sussex breast screening program, said AI screening is "exciting."
"The earlier and more accurately we detect cancer, the better the chance our patients will have a positive outcome," Strukowska said. “That’s why this is so exciting. Using AI increases accuracy while reducing the number of missed cancers and lowering false positives."
She noted how AI "empowers screening services to deliver confident, accurate, timely results through deep learning technology that works with radiologists and promotes high-quality standards of care for our patients.”
Every year, around 650 women in Sussex are diagnosed with breast cancer following their screening, according to BBC.
The program invites women aged 50 to 71 for a screening every three years.
UHSussex is looking to participate in a national randomized controlled trial as part of the next phase of using AI in breast screening.
