LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer for women in the U.S., making early detection crucial. AI could soon make that easier at Louisville hospitals.
“Breast cancer can be really small, really cloudy, and really easy to miss,” said Sohail Contractor, UofL Chair of Radiology.
Doctors across the country are now using artificial intelligence to read mammograms and detect breast cancer. Radiologist Contractor hopes UofL’s Brown Cancer Center joins these hospitals in early 2025.
AI can find more than a radiologist’s naked eye and point out the abnormalities and “highlight them as a heat map.” This helps radiologists, like Contractor, be more accurate and detect the cancer sooner.
UofL Health is no stranger to adding AI to the workflow. In 2021, radiologists began utilizing the technology with everything from rib fractures to lung clots and brain bleeds.
“It really allows us to have that sort of extra set of eyes on those films, so that we’re not missing critical findings,” Contractor said.
Though breast density can limit current versions of AI’s accuracy, the technology is in early stages.
“We’re probably in version 0.1 of AI,” Contractor said. “I think over the next 5 to 10 years the technology will take off really well. It’s very promising.”
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