Current and Emerging Insights on AI in Breast Imaging: An Interview with Mark Traill, MD, Part 1

Amid rising breast imaging volume and the strain of radiologist shortages, Mark Traill, MD has been using artificial intelligence (AI) for the past five years. In a recent interview at the RSNA conference, Dr. Traill called AI “indispensable” in navigating his daily workload.

“AI is by my side all day. It helps me find cancers. I've got multiple examples where small lesions came across my board. AI identified them and basically presented them to me on the silver platter. I see these little lesions (and) I think maybe I would have seen (them). Maybe I wouldn't have and I'm repeatedly thankful that AI is there as a safety net to keep a lookout on the images so I don't err in missing an early malignancy,” maintained Dr. Traill, a breast radiologist affiliated with the University of Michigan Health West in Wyoming, Mich.

Dr. Traill emphasized that the mammography worklist triage capabilities with AI can significantly improve turnaround times and facilitate improved efficiencies in patient care.

(Editor’s note: For additional interviews from the RSNA conference, click here.)

“ … Potentially you could identify a patient that needs further workup in a much shorter amount of time. So when you're able to do that at the screening level, everything else downstream will go faster too. You'll be able to get (patients) in for diagnostics quicker. They'll see the surgeon quicker. And ultimately, if they need therapy, they would be able to see the surgeon and the oncologist quicker. … With busy departments, that's a huge advantage to being able to triage those patients to the front of the queue,” noted Dr. Traill, an assistant clinical professor at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

(Editor’s note: For related content, see “Could a Mammography Worklist in Order of Increasing Breast Density Bolster Interpretation and Efficiency?,” “Can Multimodal AI Enhance Prediction of Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis Beyond MRI or Ultrasound-Based Models?” and “FDA Clears Updated AI Platform for Digital Breast Tomosynthesis.”)

For more insights from Dr. Traill, watch the video below.