Nijmegen, The Netherlands, November 12, 2024 – In a powerful front-page story in De Telegraaf, Karin Boxem, 56, from Giesbeek, the Netherlands, reflects on how AI could have changed her cancer journey.
Six years ago, Boxem was screened for the first time in the Dutch National Breast Cancer Screening Programme. Shortly afterwards, she received her results letter saying that everything was fine. Unfortunately for Boxem, who has very dense breast tissue, everything was not fine as four years later she was diagnosed with multiple tumors in both breasts. Boxem underwent a double mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy to treat her cancer.
Transpara May Have Spotted the Tumors Earlier
Recently, Boxem provided her original mammograms to ScreenPoint Medical for them to be reviewed using Transpara breast AI, which spotted one early-stage tumor, in her right breast. Three years later, there were three tumors in her right breast and one on the left.
“It was at that point that it became clear: Transpara could have spotted the tumors much sooner. If I had known three years earlier, then I probably would have been able to keep my breasts.”
As one of the first hospitals in the Netherlands, the Alexander Monro Hospital (AMZ) in Bilthoven uses Transpara breast AI when assessing a mammogram. “I know of more similar cases where a diagnosis was missed,” says Dr. Ritse Mann, a radiologist at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital. According to Dr. Mann, AI can certainly help detect tumors more often and earlier.
Transpara breast AI serves as an extra pair of eyes for radiologists to help early cancer detection and reduce recall rates. Developed, tested and trained on millions of images across diverse patient populations, Transpara is designed to identify distinct features in mammograms that are likely to represent signs of cancer. It has been proven to improve the reading performance of all radiologists, regardless of their experience level, delivering accurate and consistent results for all women.
Future of Breast Cancer Care with AI
Knowing that missed cancers are a real possibility, every woman who participates in mammogram screening, experiences some level of anxiety—wondering if her cancer might have been overlooked.
AI today is ubiquitous – it is all around us and is well suited to manage repetitive processes and to identify patterns in large amounts of data. The application of AI to diagnostic image interpretation tasks such as cancer detection and risk assessment can standardize the tools and approaches to perform breast imaging tasks, particularly reading mammograms. As a result, AI can decrease the time needed to read exams, improve accuracy and decrease radiologists’ workload.
Breast AI is a potentially life-saving tool. And screening with AI should not be seen as optional.
According to Marjolein de Jong, director of the Alexander Monro Breast Cancer Hospital, a leading breast cancer specialist hospital in The Netherlands, “More research is always good. But let’s implement this technology widely and quickly now.”
