Mammobot: Robot-assisted Breast Screening

Project members: Dr. Tianyuan Wang, Dr. Ioannis Stefanakos, Dr. Roisin Bradley (York Hospital), Prof. Radu Calinescu, and Dr.ir. Jihong Zhu

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. About 12,000 women in the UK die from breast cancer every year. Screening saves about one life for every 200 women screened because of its early detection of breast cancer. This adds up to about 1,300 lives saved from breast cancer each year in the UK. Positioning is the most challenging but most crucial aspect of obtaining good quality diagnostic mammograms for the radiographer. Mammography is attempted for all eligible clients, but physical limitations sometimes make it impossible to safely position a woman. In such cases, mammograms may be unachievable or only partially image the breast, resulting in non-diagnostic quality scans. In the North Yorkshire Breast Screening service there are currently 119374 eligible women for breast screening. Out of these, 477 women are registered wheelchair users and a further 2985 clients are registered with a physical restriction. Unfortunately, we are currently failing to give equity of access to breast screening to a significant number of our population as demonstrated by the figures above – potentially 2.9% of our local population which is even more significant if extrapolated to the whole of the UK.

To address this health inequality we are designing an AI-enabled robotic systems within breast screening facilities to assist elderly and disabled individuals in achieving proper positioning for screening examinations.