The AI-based mammography screening paper by Google scientists first published in Nature is bringing public awareness to one of the most promising fields of artificial intelligence, presenting the perfect opportunity for CureMetrix to highlight our AI-driven mammography solutions that are already in the market saving today. Highlighted in the Journal of Digital Imaging in April 2019, CureMetrix is currently being used to support radiologists in clinics in the US, Brazil, and Mexico.
Our solution for early and accurate detection of breast cancer in mammograms benefits patients, radiologists, and clinics and has demonstrated the following:
- Improved cancer detection rates by 27%, increasing early detection and saving lives
- Reduced false positives by 69% over traditional CAD
- Improved efficiency with up to 30% faster image reads
These real-world results have been achieved, in part, based on the fact that we have collected over 2.5 million studies with data from across the globe, improving our algorithm for use across age groups, ethnicities, and breast tissue densities.
Additionally, our technology has been developed with a team of expert data scientists and world-renowned radiologists to ensure that the technology produced applies to a radiologist’s workflow in a clinical setting. One of the key roles the radiologist plays in screening is to decide whether a mammogram is suspicious which may then result in a recall. To be effective in a clinical setting, an AI solution must optimize the radiologist’s workflow by giving the highest priority to the most suspicious cases rather than the first-in, first-out approach.
There are other crucial aspects to bringing an AI-based radiology solution to market including clinical validation and FDA clearance, algorithm testing across varying populations, security and HIPAA compliance, and more. CureMetrix gained its first FDA clearance in March of 2019, clearing the way for clinicians in the US to use the cmTriage™ technology. While the solution had already been in use in other countries, this allowed for wide-scale use domestically in the US.
One of the most exciting and encouraging aspects of the CureMetrix achievements is that all of this was done by a small team within a start-up environment. It is often assumed that large technology companies, like Google, are the only place where artificial intelligence is being advanced. We believe that the media attention being generated by Google’s paper will shine a light on the AI solutions for mammography, as well as many other healthcare and industrial sectors, that have been produced by companies of all sizes. This is how innovation in AI for the benefit of all will continue to grow.