More than two million people across the globe are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. It is one of the world’s most common form of cancer but early detection can certainly go a long way in helping patients fight it. Google has announced that it is partnering with iCad, a healthcare provider that is known for innovative cancer detection and therapy solutions. “At Google Health we’re developing AI to improve the accuracy and expand the availability of breast cancer screenings. Over time, better screenings will improve health outcomes and reduce disparities for people around the world,” said Greg Corrado, head of Health AI, Google. Corrado also said that Google Health’s AI tech could be used to make healthcare more available, more accessible, more accurate.
Using AI and Cloud to help detect breast cancer
Google has licensed its AI technology for breast cancer and personalised risk assessment to iCAD. As part of the agreement, iCAD will apply the licensed technology to further improve its 3D and 2D AI algorithms and will commercialise developed products.
Corrado said that the entire ecosystem needs to work together to advance healthcare solutions that truly better serve patients, doctors, and health systems. Google believes that in screening programs today, there are challenges related to access, accuracy, patient experience, and clinician workload. “iCAD’s breast imaging portfolio of tools and Google Health’s mammography AI technology give radiologists the opportunity to focus on their patients,” said Corrado in a blog post. iCAD will also use Google Cloud’s scalable infrastructure, giving them the ability to rapidly expand cloud-hosted solutions into new regions. “By doing so, iCAD can scale access to AI-based tools in underserved regions where infrastructure challenges may constrain their ability to offer breast cancer screenings,” noted Corrado.
Google is also working with partners to design studies where AI was used to support real screening systems to understand whether the technology can help in a clinical workflow. For instance, the tech giant has a partnership with Northwester Medicine, where it is researching how its technology can help prioritise high-risk cases and shorten the time to diagnosis for screened individuals. Google has similar partnerships for early detection in the UK with healthcare providers.
Using AI and Cloud to help detect breast cancer
Google has licensed its AI technology for breast cancer and personalised risk assessment to iCAD. As part of the agreement, iCAD will apply the licensed technology to further improve its 3D and 2D AI algorithms and will commercialise developed products.
Corrado said that the entire ecosystem needs to work together to advance healthcare solutions that truly better serve patients, doctors, and health systems. Google believes that in screening programs today, there are challenges related to access, accuracy, patient experience, and clinician workload. “iCAD’s breast imaging portfolio of tools and Google Health’s mammography AI technology give radiologists the opportunity to focus on their patients,” said Corrado in a blog post. iCAD will also use Google Cloud’s scalable infrastructure, giving them the ability to rapidly expand cloud-hosted solutions into new regions. “By doing so, iCAD can scale access to AI-based tools in underserved regions where infrastructure challenges may constrain their ability to offer breast cancer screenings,” noted Corrado.
Google is also working with partners to design studies where AI was used to support real screening systems to understand whether the technology can help in a clinical workflow. For instance, the tech giant has a partnership with Northwester Medicine, where it is researching how its technology can help prioritise high-risk cases and shorten the time to diagnosis for screened individuals. Google has similar partnerships for early detection in the UK with healthcare providers.