Lunit, a South Korea-based provider of artificial intelligence (AI) powered cancer diagnostics has signed a supply and licence agreement with Capio St Göran, Sweden’s largest private hospital. It will provide Lunit INSIGHT MMG, an AI solution for mammography analysis, for three years.

The collaboration will allow the hospital to analyse approximately 78,000 patients’ mammography images each year, which will greatly contribute to Sweden’s national cancer screening program.

A recent study, led by Dr Frederik Strand at Karolinska University Hospital, demonstrated that the combined analysis of one radiologist and AI was able to achieve higher cancer detection and lower recall rates than analysis carried out by two radiologists.

The Lunit INSIGHT MMG technology works by interpreting mammograms as an independent reader in a structural and validated setting to enhance productivity. This will free up radiologists’ time to do higher analysis and lower their amount of reading time. It will mean a greater focus on diagnostics and shorter waiting times, as well as the detection of tumours at a less advanced stage.

The technology will greatly support the industry in Sweden where there is currently a shortage of radiologists, which is challenging mammography analysis.

"This innovative step to becoming the world's first breast center using AI as an independent reader, allows radiologists to be less burdened from the excessive amount of reading, enabling them to focus on more advanced diagnostics and ensuring shorter waiting times for patients," said Dr. Karin Dembrower, Senior Physician of Capio St Göran Hospital Mammography Clinic.

"In the short term, we anticipate detecting more cancers; in the long term, we envision a decrease in interval cancers and the detection of smaller tumors. We are excited to conduct further studies to explore these possibilities."