Affidea partners with ScreenPoint Medical to increase diagnostic accuracy of screening mammography with the use of AI

Amsterdam, 11 July, 2019: Affidea and ScreenPoint Medical announced a strategic partnership to streamline and improve the clinical performance of screening mammography and drive the earlier detection of breast cancer. The partnership will leverage Affidea’s growing footprint in the European breast imaging marketplace and will provide a unique opportunity for ScreenPoint Medical to implement the innovative AI solution, Transpara™, in another three European countries - Greece, Hungary and Spain.

Transpara™ is an AI solution for breast cancer screening, that uses deep learning algorithms to automatically detect lesions suspicious for breast cancer in 2D and 3D mammograms. The software categorises mammograms on a 10-point scale indicating the risk of cancer. Transpara™ Score can be used to triage examinations and prioritise patients for further investigation. CAD marks for calcifications, soft tissue lesions and interactive decision support are provided to radiologists to interpretate images with higher accuracy. Studies have shown that TransparaTM matches the performance of radiologists[1], thus acting as a second opinion increasing diagnostic confidence and accuracy[2].

Giuseppe Recchi, Affidea’s CEO, stated: “This is our second AI innovative project that we embed across our European Network with the goal of expanding precision medicine, improving accuracy and driving a faster, more personalised breast care diagnosis with the help of advanced AI solutions. In this way, our doctors can take full advantage of the AI tools allowing them to foster diagnosis confidence and ultimately, save more lives. We look forward to implementing this AI for the benefit of women across Europe and to working with our partners to develop the very best clinical solutions for patients and doctors”.

Prof. Nico Karssemeijer, CEO of ScreenPoint Medical, added: “We are very excited about this strategic partnership, in which ScreenPoint will have a unique opportunity to work with the largest provider of advanced diagnostic imaging in Europe on implementation of AI in breast imaging practice. With Affidea we share the vision that innovative AI solutions are needed to help radiologists deal with increasing demands on quality and efficiency, while diagnostic imaging procedures are getting more complex. We are proud that Transpara™ is among the first AI applications to be implemented by Affidea and look forward to the collaboration.”

 Prof. Rowland Illing, Senior Vice President, Chief Medical and Digital Strategy Officer Affidea, added: „We are pushing the boundaries in terms of increased diagnostic accuracy, more personalised treatment and ultimately, improved clinical outcomes with an outstanding patient experience. The new AI solution, Transpara™, will provide our doctors with an automated clinical decision support to boost reading performance and faster distinguish between healthy and tumor tissue, increasing diagnostic accuracy”.

Transpara™ is FDA cleared and CE Marked for use with digital mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis.

Breast cancer facts:

  • Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women, with an estimated incidence of 560.000 in 2018, in Europe.[3]
  • 1 in 8 women in EU-28 will develop breast cancer.[4]
  • In 2018, World Health Organisation estimated that 627,000 women worldwide3, out of which 150.0004 only in Europe died from breast cancer.

 

[1] “Stand-alone artificial intelligence for breast cancer detection in mammography: Comparison with 101 radiologists”, Rodriguez-Ruiz et al, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, djy222, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djy222, 2019..

[2] “Detection of Breast Cancer with Mammography: Effect of an Artificial Intelligence Support System” Rodríguez-Ruiz et al, Radiology 290:2, 305-314, 2019

[3] Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer: https://gco.iarc.fr/today

[4]Curado MP et al. Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Vol. IX, IARC Scientific Publications No. 160. IARCPress: Lyon: 2007.

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