RadNet’s DeepHealth Artificial Intelligence Subsidiary Demonstrates Earlier Breast Cancer Detection in New Study
January 11 2021 - 11:15AM
RadNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDNT) today reported that its DeepHealth
subsidiary, a leading developer of artificial intelligence (AI) for
mammography interpretation, published results of its novel AI
algorithms in Nature Medicine, illustrating an ability to detect
breast cancer a year or more earlier than current practice.
DeepHealth compared its AI to five full-time,
breast-fellowship-trained expert radiologists reading the same
screening mammograms. The software exhibited higher performance
than all five radiologists, and the results suggest that the AI
could help detect cancer one to two years earlier than standard
interpretation in many cases. Additionally, the software showed
promising generalization capabilities, demonstrating strong
performance when tested across clinical sites and populations that
were not directly involved in training the AI algorithms.
While AI holds tremendous promise for improving screening
mammography interpretation, there remain substantial challenges in
developing expert-level AI. “Reaching world-class performance
requires a new way of building AI,” said Gregory Sorensen, M.D.,
CEO, and co-founder of DeepHealth. “The brute-force methods that
have worked so well in other domains, such as self-driving cars or
game playing, where data is plentiful, have not translated
effectively to many parts of medicine, where human data is often
scarce. For example, to train the technology for better detection,
AI algorithms must be developed from annotated data where the
cancer status is known. Such data can be difficult to obtain. Then,
to validate performance, the AI should be tested across different
clinical sites and patient populations in different scenarios.”
The new study by DeepHealth demonstrates progress in resolving
these challenges. “We have developed an approach that mimics how
humans often learn by progressively training the AI models on more
difficult tasks. By leveraging prior information learned in each
successive training stage, this strategy results in AI that detects
cancer accurately while also relying less on highly-annotated
data,” said lead author Bill Lotter, Ph.D., CTO, and co-founder of
DeepHealth. “Our approach and validation extend to 3D mammography,
which is particularly important given its growing use and the
significant challenges it presents for AI.”
“Our results point to the clinical utility of AI for mammography
in facilitating earlier breast cancer detection,” Lotter noted, “as
well as an ability to develop AI with similar benefits for other
medical imaging applications. By building AI software with high
performance and generalizability, DeepHealth has the potential to
help radiologists enable more widespread access to high quality
care.”
DeepHealth’s first AI-based product, a software package for
prioritization of 2D and 3D mammograms, is based on the same core
technology described in the Nature Medicine publication. This
product was submitted to the FDA in late 2020, with approval
anticipated in 2021.
Link to Nature Medicine paper:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-01174-9
About RadNet, Inc.RadNet, Inc. is the leading
national provider of freestanding, fixed-site diagnostic imaging
services in the United States based on the number of locations and
annual imaging revenue. RadNet has a network of 334 owned and/or
operated outpatient imaging centers. RadNet’s core markets include
California, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Arizona, and New York.
In addition, RadNet provides radiology information technology
solutions and other related products and services to customers in
the diagnostic imaging industry. Together with affiliated
radiologists, and inclusive of full-time and per diem employees and
technicians, RadNet has approximately 8,600 employees.
For more information, visit www.radnet.com.
About DeepHealth, Inc.DeepHealth, a wholly
owned subsidiary of RadNet, Inc., uses machine learning to distill
lifetimes of insights from medical experts into software to assist
physicians. DeepHealth’s mission is to enable the best care by
providing products that clinicians and patients can trust, through
rigorous science and clinical integration. For more information,
visit www.deep.health.
CONTACTS:
DeepHealth, Inc.Bret BairdChief Commercial Officer
424-832-1480bbaird@deep.health
RadNet, Inc.Mark StolperExecutive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer310-445-2800
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ab4a5a9c-3905-4def-84aa-a15d60c43640
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