
Artificial Intelligence can help predict breast cancer risk through mammography results. This is what emerges from a study published in the journal "Radiology" and conducted by Duke University in Durham (United States) in which an AI-based predictive tool called "AsymMirai" was developed and tested.
Mammography for many women is the best way to detect breast cancer early, that is, at a stage of the disease when treatment is most effective.
Getting regular mammograms can significantly lower your risk of dying from breast cancer. However, it is not precisely predicted which women are at risk of developing breast cancer.
The new method
"We have developed an AI method that allows us to predict breast cancer from mammograms one to five years in advance," explains research coordinator Jon Donnelly.
Experts looked at 210,067 mammograms for breast cancer from 81,824 patients, for the time period January 2013 to December 2020 using several models including AsymMirai.
"The tool can be a useful complement to radiologists. It can help radiologists diagnose and predict breast cancer risk. We can, with surprising accuracy, predict whether a woman will get cancer in the next few years. 1-5 years based only on localized differences between left and right breast tissue,” Donnelly points out.
"This could have a public impact; in the not-too-distant future, it could affect how often women get mammograms," he concludes.