AI Detects Woman's Cancer After Doctors Tell Her She's Healthy, Likely Saves Her Life: 'This May Have Been My Last Mammogram'

A UK woman is grateful for AI technology that identified cancerous cells in her breast tissue that weren't visible to doctors, per a local news outlet.

"Being 68, this may have been my last mammogram, so my early cancer might have developed into invasive cancer in my 70s," Sheila Tooth, from Littlehampton, West Sussex, told Morgan County Citizen.

Two radiologists reviewed Tooth's mammogram and reassured her there were no signs of cancer. But fortunately, University Hospitals Sussex, where Tooth made her appointment, was one of 15 establishments taking part in a program using AI to potentially improve early detection. The technology indeed spotted cancerous cells that aren't visible to the human eye, the outlet added.

Tooth, a retired nurse who had already overcome non-invasive early breast cancer 15 years ago, was "shocked" and "frightened" by the news but is mostly "grateful" for AI technology now that the cancerous cells have been removed.

"It's extraordinary and I'm amazed," Sheila said. "When I talk to friends, we just can't believe this AI can detect what the human eye can't always see. I just feel so lucky."