Artificial Intelligence Tool Improves Accuracy of Breast Cancer Ultrasound Imaging

A computer program trained to see patterns among thousands of breast ultrasound images can aid physicians in accurately diagnosing breast cancer, a new study shows. When tested separately on 44,755 already completed ultrasound exams, the artificial intelligence (AI) tool improved radiologists' ability to correctly identify the disease by 37 percent and reduced the number of tissue samples, or biopsies, needed to confirm suspect tumors by 27 percent. Led by researchers from the Department of Radiology at NYU Langone Health and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, the team's AI analysis is believed to be the largest of its kind, involving 288,767 separate ultrasound exams taken from 143,203 women treated at NYU Langone hospitals in New York City between 2012 and 2018. The team's report publishes online today (September 24, 2021) in the journal Nature Communications. "Our study demonstrates how artificial intelligence can help radiologists reading breast ultrasound exams to reveal only those that show real signs of breast cancer and to avoid verification by biopsy in cases that turn out to be benign," says study senior investigator Krzysztof Geras, PhD.