Artificial Intelligence Reads Mammograms With 99% Accuracy

A team from the Houston Methodist Research Institute says they have developed artificial intelligence software capable of analyzing mammograms for breast cancer with 99 percent accuracy. The technique involves scanning patient charts and cross-checking them with results from mammogram X-rays and clinical reports. "The imaging characteristics of breast cancer subtypes have been described previously, but without standardization of parameters for data mining," according to the study published in Cancer. But their algorithm allows for a more comprehensive and accurate analysis that helps avoid false positives -- a very common incident. "We figured out you can mine a clinical report for additional information," said lead researcher Stephen Wong. "Most of the clinical reports are not in a structured format, they are in free form text. So if we can run an AI program to extract the medical information and build a risk assessment model we can score the information and reduce unnecessary biopsies."