Automated Classification of Benign and Malignant Proliferative Breast Lesions

Pathologists must identify precursor lesions as either benign usual ductal hyperplasia (UDH) or malignant ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) for diagnosis and treatment of breast biopsies. Most patients with UDH receive no treatment and have minimal or no increased risk of cancer, while patients with DCIS are more likely to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer1, 2. Treatment to reduce DCIS recurrence and invasive carcinoma has notable risks and side effects, given the extensive methods of lumpectomy with radiation, mastectomy, and tamoxifen hormonal treatment3. Diagnostic oversights can lead to either untreated cancer or unnecessary radiation treatment and chemotherapy, both of which have detrimental consequences. Thus, accurate diagnosis is critical for patients as well as for hospitals to reduce extraneous treatment costs. However, human pathologists may not always be in concordance as there is no strict set of instructions on how to carry out a diagnosis.