In response to a new trial using AI software within breast cancer screening at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust*, Dr Kotryna Temcinaite, head of research communications at Breast Cancer Now, said:
“Detecting breast cancer early is crucial as the sooner it’s diagnosed the better the chance of treatment being successful. We look forward to the results of this trial to understand if AI can help improve breast cancer screening and increase capacity in the future. But there are urgent issues in the breast screening programme that must be addressed now. With the worrying news that more than one million women missed out on screening last year, the government must take action to recover breast cancer screening standards. It also needs to set out a concrete plan to tackle the programme’s underlying issues and ensure it’s ready to make the most of new innovations, like AI, in the years to come.”