PRAIM Study: AI Boosts Breast Cancer Detection by 17.6%, Led by University of Lubeck

Jan 9, 2025, 05:00 PM

A large-scale study conducted in Germany, known as the PRAIM study, has demonstrated the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly enhance breast cancer detection rates in mammography screenings. The study, involving 463,094 women across 12 sites and 119 radiologists during the 2021-2023 period, revealed that AI-assisted mammography improved cancer detection rates by 17.6% compared to traditional methods. AI-supported screenings achieved a detection rate of 6.7 cases per 1,000 screenings, compared to 5.7 cases per 1,000 in the control group. Importantly, this improvement in detection did not increase the recall rate, which remained comparable between the AI-assisted and traditional methods. Additionally, AI reduced false positives by 15% and improved the positive predictive value of biopsies to 64.5%, compared to 59.2% without AI. Conducted by researchers from the University of Lubeck, the study also found that AI-assisted workflows reduced radiologists' workload by enabling faster reading times. These findings underscore the potential of AI to address radiologist shortages and improve the efficiency and accuracy of breast cancer screening programs.