MIR Researchers Develop Software to Measure Breast Density

A team of Mallinckrodt Insititute of Radiology radiologists, Washington University researchers and a Silicon Valley technology startup teamed up to develop software that could objectively determine if a patient has dense breast tissue and could benefit from additional or alternative screening. 

Elizabeth E. Mallinckrodt Professor of Radiology and MIR Director Richard L. Wahl, MD, who was a co-author of this study, says dense breast tissue is a risk factor for breast cancer and a challenge for screening, but there is no objective standard to judge density. The researchers and the startup, Whiterabbit.ai, developed software that runs quantitative breast density assessments with a set of 750,752 mammograms from 57,492 patients imaged during 187,627 sessions. The software received market clearance from the Food and Drug Administration and is now commercially available. 

Read more on the School of Medicine’s website