Google licenses AI for breast cancer detection

Google granted a license for its research AI algorithm for breast cancer screening to medical technology company iCAD.

We are proud to announce a partnership with @icadmed to – for the first time – license our mammography #AI research model to an implementation partner. Here’s what this could mean for people who are at risk of being diagnosed with #BreastCancer.⬇️ https://t.co/OrrM3H7hsq

— Google Health (@GoogleHealth) November 28, 2022

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The partners aim to conduct clinical trials of the system. Commercial rollout of the product is planned for the first half of 2024.

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Under the agreement, iCAD will use Google Cloud services in developing the infrastructure for secure data storage. The Register reported that they agreed to license the model created by the tech giant for five years.

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However, the system’s availability depends on the ‘success’ of further research and trials.

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“We will move thoughtfully and verify everything as we go,” the company said.

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The partnership builds on Google’s previous work to improve breast cancer detection. In 2020, researchers published a paper arguing that their AI system outperformed several professional radiologists in identifying signs of malignant tumours in the breasts.

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Scientists trained the algorithm on mammography data from more than 91,000 women in the UK and the US. This led to a reduction in false positives by 5.7% and false negatives by 9.4% in expert trials.

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iCAD plans to incorporate Google’s research AI model into existing products. These include the ProFound AI system for detecting malignant soft-tissue tumours and calcifications based on digital breast tomosynthesis data, as well as a personalized risk assessment tool.

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A Google spokesperson said the AI will help make medicine more accessible and accurate. But such changes will be possible only in collaboration with farsighted partners, he added.

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“Google’s collaboration with iCAD is an excellent example of how two organisations have joined forces […] for effective screening of breast cancer worldwide, which will ultimately improve health outcomes for individuals and communities,” the company said.

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In November, the company Science unveiled a neural interface for treating eye diseases, which can cause blindness.

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In September, American researchers began developing software for diagnosing diseases by voice.

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In the same month, researchers from Harvard Medical School developed an AI algorithm for diagnosing diseases from chest X-ray images.

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