A new AI-powered tool is helping doctors find kidney cancer faster and more accurately.
Researchers from the University of Tartu, working with the company Better Medicine, have created this advanced technology to support radiologists in diagnosing cancer from CT scans.
Kidney cancer is often found using CT scans with contrast agents, which help show detailed images of the kidneys. But sometimes, doctors discover cancer by accident when a scan is done for another reason, like checking for injuries or stomach pain. In either case, it’s important to spot the cancer early.
One big challenge in hospitals today is that there are not enough radiologists to look at all the medical images being taken. As the number of scans goes up every year, doctors are under more pressure. This is where AI tools like the one developed by these researchers can make a real difference.
The tool is called BMVision. It uses machine learning—a type of artificial intelligence that learns from data—to study CT images and help doctors spot both cancerous (malignant) and non-cancerous (benign) growths. It works as a second pair of eyes, helping doctors notice things that might otherwise be missed, and speeding up the whole process.
To test how well BMVision works, researchers at Tartu University Hospital did a study. They asked six radiologists to review 200 CT scans two times—once with the help of BMVision, and once without.
That added up to 2,400 total reviews. The team compared the results to see how AI affected things like how fast the radiologists worked, how accurate they were, and whether they agreed with each other more often when using the AI tool.
The results were impressive. The AI helped doctors finish their work about 30% faster. That means they could find, measure, and report on kidney tumors in less time. But even more important, the tool didn’t replace the doctors—it simply helped them do their jobs better.
Dr. Dmytro Fishman, who helped lead the project and is a co-founder of Better Medicine, said the study proves that AI can really help doctors in their everyday work. He added that it’s exciting to see something built in a lab making a real difference in hospitals.
Dr. Pilvi Ilves, a radiologist at Tartu University Hospital, said that using the AI tool can help catch kidney cancer earlier and improve the overall quality of care. Right now, BMVision is still being used mainly for research at the hospital, but soon it will be added to their daily routine. Eventually, all abdominal CT scans there will be checked with the help of this tool.
BMVision has already earned a CE marking, which means it meets important safety and health standards in Europe. This makes it the first AI product on the market designed to help detect kidney cancer and assess it more accurately.
In the end, this new technology shows that AI can play a key role in medical care—not by taking the place of doctors, but by making their work faster, easier, and more reliable. And for patients, that could mean finding cancer earlier and getting the right treatment sooner.
If you care about kidney health, please read studies about Common statin drug linked to kidney damage and how drinking coffee can affect your kidney health.
For more health information, please read studies about important cause of kidney disease and Cruciferous vegetables may reverse kidney damage in diabetics.
The study is published in Communications Medicine.
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