AI better than doctors at spotting prostate cancer on MRI and may reduce unnecessary surgery

Artificial intelligence is better at spotting prostate cancer than hospital doctors, a groundbreaking study found. Developed by experts, the computer system was trained and then tested on more than 10,000 prostate MRI examinations on patients. Using the AI resulted in half fewer false positives and slashed the number of clinically insignificant cancers by a fifth when compared to radiologists, the research revealed. Doctors believe it could help reduce overdiagnosis and prevent unnecessary surgery in the most common cancer among men, hugely benefitting any future screening programme. Researchers predict using AI to help read scans will be crucial in addressing the rising demand in medical imaging worldwide.