Artificial intelligence cuts lung cancer screening false positives

PITTSBURGH, March 12, 2019 - Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Screening is key for early detection and increased survival, but the current method has a 96 percent false positive rate. Using machine learning, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center have found a way to substantially reduce false positives without missing a single case of cancer. The study was published today in the journal Thorax. This is the first time artificial intelligence has been applied to the question of sorting out benign from cancerous nodules in lung cancer screening.