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Well before ChatGPT reared its head and made AI a household topic around the world, the medical world was already keen on using AI-powered tools. For years, scientists have tested out whether bots could be used to help diagnose diseases in people, especially when it comes to the attention to detail required in assessing medical imagery. The results have been startling—even in some creepy ways.
So it seems AI will play a role in medicine moving forward, perhaps sooner rather than later. A new study published by The Lancet Oncology on Tuesday found that AI used in breast cancer screenings is remarkably accurate. AI-supported screenings successfully diagnosed 20 percent more instances of cancers when compared to the standard double reading of mammograms by two human radiologists. The use of AI did not increase false positive breast cancer diagnoses; and it in fact helped reduce the workload required in studying mammograms by a whopping 44 percent.
“These promising interim safety results should be used to inform new trials and program-based evaluations to address the pronounced radiologist shortage in many countries,” Kristina Lång, a breast cancer radiologist from Lund University in Sweden and the lead author of the new study, said in a press release. “But they are not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening. We still need to understand the implications on patients’ outcomes, especially whether combining radiologists’ expertise with AI can help detect interval cancers that are often missed by traditional screening, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the technology.”