Health Triage S.r.l. and GISMa (Gruppo Italiano Screening Mammografico) have formalized a new collaboration aimed at improving mammography screening programs through the application of artificial intelligence. The aim of this collaboration is to evaluate the effects of a technology specialized in identifying negative cases in screening. Luckily, a large number of screening mammograms are negative, but despite this, the effort and commitment in reading negative images takes away time that needs to be devoted to doubtful cases, recalls, or early invitations. This agreement, signed by Health Triage CEO Davide Dettori and GISMa President Silvia Deandrea, involves the development and implementation of an innovative project aimed at optimizing the resources and effectiveness of mammography screening.
Through this partnership, GISMa will actively collaborate with Health Triage to evaluate the application in clinical practice of this innovative AI technology on negative cases through a clinical trial. GISMa will select a pool of clinical centers in Italy and Europe to participate in the clinical validation, which will be handled by an all-Italian team. In addition, data collection and anonymization methods will be developed, in compliance with GDPR and HIPAA regulations, to ensure privacy and patient safety.
In 2024 all the activities necessary to proceed with the validation will be planned, in order to start the actual validation in early 2025. The project will last for 2 years. GISMa’s contribution will be crucial and rigorous to evaluate and possibly promote, new technological and scientific approaches that will have a positive effect in prevention programs designed to combat this disease.
Davide Dettori, CEO of Health Triage, said, “We are proud to collaborate with such a prestigious organization as GISMa. This project is an important step in demonstrating the application of artificial intelligence in the medical field. The Italian mammography screening program is an absolute excellence and a demonstration of quality public health. The Italian/European mammography screening model is highly protective for women. The professionals who help make these secondary prevention programs possible are of the highest caliber. Territorial complexity, pandemic, and lack of resources hinder quality standards. We believe that these technologies can (a) help to rebalance the resources to be devoted to the screening program and (b) to a standardization of prevention programs by helping to improve quality standards.
Silvia Deandrea. President of GISMa, added: “ Focusing on rationalizing resources on negative cases is an innovative and novel approach. Technologies that help clinicians identify positive cases have often been evaluated. However, technologies that help identify positives may have limitations in terms of specificity, increasing recall rates. Both technologies are important, but we believe that this new approach proposed by Health Triage could be really useful. Therefore, we believe there is a case for further investigating the effectiveness of this technology.
This collaboration further strengthens our commitment to the fight against breast cancer and marks a turning point in the search for technological solutions to improve the quality of care and the improvement of the screening program. The results of the collaboration will be monitored and made available through periodic reports for the benefit of the scientific community and the public.
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