New clinical data on breast cancer detection tech from Hologic is going to be presented at the Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America – RSNA at Chicago, Illinois.
According to the president of Breast & Skeletal Health Solutions of the company, Mark Horvath, at Hologic, they are committed to advancing their breast cancer detection tech in order to support women who are at every stage of the breast health spectrum, and as per him, the real-world studies are indeed a critical part of that. It is well to be noted that artificial intelligence is growingly making its presence felt and has become quite a critical tool when it comes to mammography, and they are very much encouraged to witness data coming from numerous studies highlighting its potential in order to help radiologists to work more effectively and efficiently sans sacrificing the quality.
In a study led under the leadership of the Associate Medical Director of Quality with Mass General Brigham, Dr. Manisha Bahl, M.D., MPH, FSBI, and Associate Professor of Radiology with Harvard Medical School, researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital went on to assess the imaging technology of 3DQuorum® imaging technology from Hologic.
Based on over 160,000 screening mammography exams, the retrospective study went on to compare cancer detection rates prior to as well as after adopting 3DQuorum imaging technology, which uses AI in order to decrease the number of 3D imaging slices that the radiologists need to review without compromising on the image quality, sensitivity, or precision. In the most common terms, the technology is very much comparable to condensing a 60-page book into a 10-page summary, which goes on to retain all the relevant information and also underscores major findings.
Notably, the study found no major difference when it comes to cancer detection rates after the execution of 3DQuorum. With the ongoing shortages of radiologists, these results go on to suggest the potential of the technology so as to streamline the workflows of the radiologists and save much valuable time while simultaneously maintaining very high effectiveness when it comes to detecting cancers.
According to Dr. Manisha Bahl, M.D., MPH, FSBI, AI goes on to hold a boundless potential in healthcare, which one is only starting to tap into, with a broad range of applications that can enhance patient care. In terms of breast cancer screening, technologies such as 3DQuorum go on to help radiologists to work more effectively while at the same time, delivering similar high-quality care for every woman. She adds that through streamlining the review process, AI enables them to focus their attention where it makes more sense, which is detecting cancers early and supporting every patient with confidence.
There is yet another study, which is led by the Chair of Digital Screening and Head of the Digital Cancer Screening Research Group at the University of Nottingham, U.K., Professor Yan Chen, Ph.D., which looked at the Genius AI® detection solution from Hologic as compared with radiologists. In this study, there were 108 radiologists from the U.K. as well as the U.S. who reviewed 75 challenging breast cancer scenarios, and the AI system went on to evaluate the very same cases.
In totality, the AI technology went on to perform similarly to that of radiologists. It found more cancers; however, it also showed lower specificity, which means that it could very well flag more false positives. Though the study is currently ongoing, these initial findings do indicate that AI can help radiologists manage their workloads in scenarios where double reading by more radiologists is needed; however, the staffing may be limited.
Hologic is also going to showcase its latest innovations at RSNA, which include leading breast surgery technologies, the AI-powered Genius AI Detection suite of products, and the next-gen Envision™ Mammography Platform that has a tilt positioning, which is designed to adapt to patients. The company is going to host many medical education events across the congress, spanning the latest technologies when it comes to AI, contrast-enhanced mammography – CEM as well as breast surgery.
