AKIPRESS.COM - The use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening increases the chance of the disease being detected, German researchers have found.

Researchers have tested AI in a nationwide screening programme for the first time, revealing it offers benefits in a real-world setting, The Guardianjavascript:mctmp(0); reported.

"We could improve the detection rate without increasing the harm for the women taking part in breast cancer screening," co-author of the study from the University of Lübeck in Germany Alexander Katalinic said, adding the approach could also reduce the workload of radiologists.

Katalinic and his colleagues analysed data from 461,818 women in Germany who underwent breast cancer screening between July 2021 and February 2023 as part of a national programme targeting asymptomatic women aged 50–69.

All of the women had their scans independently examined by two radiologists. However, for 260,739 of the women, at least one of the experts used an AI tool to support them.

Overall, 2,881 of the women in the study, which is published in the journal Nature Medicine, were diagnosed with breast cancer. The detection rate was 6.7% higher in the AI group. However, after taking into account factors such as age of the women and the radiologists involved, the researchers found this difference increased, with the rate 17.6% higher for the AI group at 6.70 per 1,000 women compared with 5.70 per 1,000 women for the standard group. In other words, one additional case of cancer was spotted per 1,000 women screened when AI was used.

Crucially, the team said the rate at which women were recalled for further investigation as a result of a suspicious scan was approximately the same.

"In our study, we had a higher detection rate without having a higher rate of false positives," said Katalinic. "This is a better result, with the same harm."

The team said the tool's "safety net" was triggered 3,959 times in the AI group, and led to 204 breast cancer diagnoses. By contrast, 20 breast cancer diagnoses in the AI group would have been missed had clinicians not examined the scans deemed "normal" by AI.

Stephen Duffy, emeritus professor of cancer screening at Queen Mary University of London, who was not involved in the work, said the results were credible and impressive.

"Here in the UK, there is specific interest in whether use of AI plus a single radiologist can safely replace reading by two radiologists. The sooner this is researched definitively the better," he said.