A ground-breaking Australian study using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help improve and transform breast screening is set to benefit thousands of Australian women.
The $2.26 million project aims to transform breast cancer screening in a way that improves detection, lowers harm, reduces cost, and causes less stress for women undergoing a mammogram.
Led by St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research and supported by BreastScreen Victoria, the project is funded by the Commonwealth Government’s Medical Research Future Fund.
A key component of the project is a series of studies where researchers will use an artificial intelligence algorithm they have trained to detect breast cancer in mammographic images.
The algorithm will be tested alongside scans that are done each day at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, home to the state’s largest BreastScreen Victoria clinic.
Project lead, Dr Helen Frazer, Clinical Director at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne’s BreastScreen, says the project has a unique opportunity to play a leading role in Australia’s battle against breast cancer.
A woman who has a mammogram today would expect to get her result of an all clear in about two weeks’ time. With AI, this result could be instantaneous.
“By using AI we are confident we’ll be able to deliver more accurate results more quickly, reducing the stressful time spent waiting for the result,” says Dr Frazer.
“Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Australian women,” says Dr Frazer.
While screening is very effective in reducing deaths, reading mammograms is challenging. More women are called for reassessment after a mammogram than those who end up with an eventual cancer diagnosis.
By using AI screening models alongside our existing practices, we hope to transform Australia’s breast screening program and help reduce the number of lives lost to breast cancer.
The BRAIx project is an ACMD Project involving partners at The University of Melbourne and The University of Adelaide.
You can support our innovative research projects by donating to ACMD.
