South Korean cancer diagnostic firm Lunit is to provide Capio St Göran Hospital in Stockholm with artificial intelligence (AI) technology to analyse mammograms for the next three years.

Sweden’s largest private hospital with more than 2300 medical staff is operated by Capio, part of the Ramsay Santé group. The hospital delivers planned and emergency medical care services to 100,000 patients from around Stockholm.

The integration of Lunit’s AI technology will let the hospital analyse approximately 78,000 patients’ mammography images each year, contributing to Sweden’s national cancer screening programme.

Sweden struggles with a shortage of radiologists, posing difficulties for efficient mammography analysis. In response, Lunit Insight MMG is poised to play a role in addressing this shortage and enhancing the efficacy of cancer screening programmes. By harnessing AI, it helps radiologists accurately interpret mammography images, alleviating the burden on limited resources.

AI takes on the role of interpreting mammograms as an independent reader in a structural and validated setting. By leveraging AI technology in a safe, scalable and effective manner, this approach not only enhances productivity but can also reduce the necessary workforce by half in the double screening setting.

The decision to adopt Lunit technology was bolstered by the results of a prospective medical AI study. Led by Fredrik Strand at Karolinska University Hospital, the study examined data from 55,581 Swedish women provided by St Göran Hospital. The study demonstrated that the combined analysis of one radiologist and AI, achieved higher cancer detection rates and lower recall rates compared with the analysis performed by two radiologists.

“This innovative step to becoming the world’s first breast centre using AI as an independent reader allows radiologists to be less burdened from the excessive amount of reading, enabling them to focus on more advanced diagnostics and ensuring shorter waiting times for patients,” said Karin Dembrower, senior physician at Capio St Göran Hospital’s mammography clinic. “In the short term, we anticipate detecting more cancers; in the long term, we envision a decrease in interval cancers and the detection of smaller tumours. We are excited to conduct further studies to explore these possibilities.”

Brandon Suh, CEO of Lunit, added: “We are delighted to partner with Capio St Göran Hospital and be part of their innovating efforts in transforming cancer screening workflows. This collaboration represents a significant milestone in leveraging AI technology to address the radiologist shortage in Sweden. Lunit Insight MMG has the potential to revolutionise mammography analysis, make a substantial contribution to the national cancer screening programme, and ultimately improve patient outcomes as well.”

Lunit is an AI software company devoted to developing technology for precision diagnostics and therapeutics. Founded in 2013, Lunit is a medical AI company with a focus on clinical evidence.

After receiving FDA clearance and the CE Mark, Insight CXR and MMG are clinically used in approximately 2000 hospitals and medical institutions across more than 40 countries.

Lunit is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, with offices and representatives around the world.