South Korean medical AI company Lunit has become the preferred machine reading solution for BreastScreen NSW's early breast cancer detection programme.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

BSNSW is part of the national BreastScreen Australia Program which aims to improve the survival rates of women with breast cancer. It offers free mammograms to women aged 40 and above to detect breast cancer early.

A year after putting up a tender, Cancer Institute NSW, which runs the BreastScreen programme in NSW, has chosen Lunit's proposal to supply its Lunit INSIGHT MMG. The AI-based technology is able to analyse mammograms with 96% accuracy.

Before deploying the solution, Cancer Institute NSW will first validate the Lunit INSIGHT MMG to confirm its potential clinical benefits. About 650,000 mammograms will be used to test and compare the readings from the AI solution to historical reports delivered by BSNSW radiologists.

Later, prospective validation of the technology will be conducted by assessing approximately 240,000 exams over an eight-month period. 

After this, the mammography solution will be rolled out and integrated into the BSNSW PACS environment to assist radiologists with screening exams. In this final phase, it will still be validated for its clinical use.

It is only after completing all initial implementation phases will Lunit receive a five-year operational contract with Cancer Institute NSW.

WHY IT MATTERS

The BSNWS contract, which is Lunit's first contract for a national breast screening programme, will allow the company to support screening exams for about 350,000 women each year.

"This is the first time Lunit has been awarded the opportunity to provide our AI solution for a national breast screen programme. We plan to proactively prepare for the rapidly increasing demand in national screening programmes around the world, in addition to actively seeking new business opportunities," Lunit CEO Brandon Suh commented.

THE LARGER TREND

The Lunit INSIGHT MMG is already supporting another free breast screening programme. The Baheya Foundation in Egypt aims to use AI technology to help screen about 500,000 women each year.

The mammography tool, along with the Lunit Insight CXR, an AI chest x-ray solution, has also been adopted by the private Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand and most recently by SEHA, the largest healthcare network in the United Arab Emirates.