Iowa’s largest radiology group, Radiology Consultants of Iowa (RCI), offers a wide range of imaging services for patients,
including breast cancer screening. In addition to the mammograms done at their
imaging center, which is accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR)
as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, RCI radiologists also read
mammography for more than 10 other hospitals, including a high-risk clinic and
a local OBGYN group, totaling an average of about 7,000 exams per year.
“At RCI, we pride ourselves on always having the latest
technology, which was why we upgraded to Hologic’s Selenia® Dimensions® 3D
mammography system in 2014 and Hologic Clarity HDTM with 3D QuorumTM in 2021,”
said Arnold B. Honick, MD, a diagnostic radiology specialist at RCI. “Up until
then, we had previously used an older type of computer-aided detection (CAD)
solution for breast cancer screening, which was not helpful at all, as it
yielded too many false positives. With the sheer volume of images involved with
3D mammography compared to 2D mammography, we knew we needed a better solution
available to improve our team’s efficiency and performance.”
Selecting the Leading, Proven Solution
Although they could have opted for the AI technology that
was bundled with their 3D mammography gantries, the team at RCI decided to
explore other available options, and ultimately decided to become the first
facility in Iowa to adopt ProFound
AI® for Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT), or 3D mammography, in 2021.
“When it comes to AI, iCAD was the first in the game.
Although AI itself is still in its infancy, iCAD is ahead of other companies
that are just entering the market of breast AI now,” said Dr. Honick. “Additionally, the data supporting ProFound AI speaks for
itself. After looking at reader studies for other AI solutions, we were not as
confident that what they were offering was as robust as iCAD’s technology.”
ProFound AI was clinically proven in a large reader study to
improve radiologists’ sensitivity by 8 percent, reduce false positives and
unnecessary patient recall rates by 7.2 percent, and slash reading time for
radiologists by 52.7%.[i]
The team at RCI was also looking for a solution that would
seamlessly integrate into their workflow, without overloading the facility with
additional hardware.
“Other AI solutions are essentially a black box attached to
each gantry, and there is a significant cost per gantry,” said Dr. Honick.
“ProFound AI operates on just one centralized server, which streamlined and
accelerated the integration process.”
“We decided to adopt ProFound AI because we felt it was the
best product available to provide valid CAD markers on DBT. We also found
iCAD’s other breast AI solutions enticing, such as PowerLook® Density
Assessment and ProFound
AI® Risk, as technology we would like to assess,” added Dr. Honick. “If
PowerLook Density Assessment and ProFound AI Risk technology can be studied and
proven to provide a usable risk assessment, then we may be able to avoid
investing in the time and software necessary to provide a Tyrer-Cusick score,
or other risk assessment models. If there is equivalency in the ability to
predict the likelihood of breast cancer, these technologies provide a valuable package
and really offer the ability to personalize patient care.”
Real Time Results
Upon adoption, Dr. Honick and the RCI team immediately
noticed ProFound AI boosted their confidence and helped them to read cases
faster.
“ProFound AI has provided noticeable efficiency improvements
for us already. It gives me the confidence that I’m looking at the appropriate
slices, or images. And using the Case Scores, we are now able to decipher
mammograms with very low likelihood of containing an abnormality from one that
might require further evaluation,” said Dr. Honick. “With so many images to
review with tomosynthesis, it is nice to know that ProFound AI is directing
your eye to possible abnormalities. This helps us to evaluate cases more
rapidly and with more confidence.”
Dr. Honick noted the technology’s Case Scores are
particularly helpful in sorting cases and prioritizing workflow.
“I’ve learned to trust ProFound AI. When I see a low Case
Score, I know I can spend less time on that case,” said Dr. Honick. “This feature
alleviates a significant burden on radiologists, timewise.”
In addition to improved efficiency, the team at RCI also
soon discovered ProFound AI improved their accuracy as well.
“We found a couple cases where ProFound AI helped the
radiologist find a subtle area of distortion that might have been easily
overlooked,” added Dr. Honick. “And these are clearly abnormalities on the
synthetic view that you would never see, so it has certainly helped improve our
performance and accuracy as well.”
Learn more about RCI or read our other customer case studies
to discover how iCAD’s technology is enhancing patient care for our customers
across the U.S. and worldwide.
[i] Conant,
E et al. (2019). Improving Accuracy and Efficiency with Concurrent Use of
Artificial Intelligence for Digital Breast Tomosynthesis. Radiology: Artificial
Intelligence. 1 (4).
Accessed via
https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/ryai.2019180096.