RadNet subsidiary, Google Health announce agreement to license AI research model

RadNet (RDNT) reported that its lung artificial intelligence subsidiary, Aidence, and Google Health, a division of Alphabet (GOOG), announce an agreement to license Google Health’s AI research model for lung nodule malignancy prediction on CT imaging. Aidence will develop, validate and bring this model to the market to support the early and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer and the reduction of unnecessary procedures in screening programs. Lung cancer screening with low-dose CT has been shown to significantly reduce lung cancer mortality by as high as 24% for men and 33% for women, according to the 2020 NELSON trial. Screening initiatives are increasingly being implemented in Europe, such as the UK’s Targeted Lung Health Checks. In the United States, eligibility criteria have recently been broadened, further reflecting the benefit of lung cancer screening. A major difficulty in lung cancer screening is establishing the nature of detected lung nodules. Most of these nodules are not cancerous. However, properly identifying and diagnosing such nodules can be time-consuming, costly, anxiety-inducing for patients and their families and sometimes invasive, requiring follow-up CTs or surgical interventions.