2023-05-24 10:00:00
What if a computer might help doctors make a diagnosis? This is according to a research team from Peking University, China. In the review American Journal of Roentgenology, these specialists explain that computer-assisted diagnosis can be a valuable tool for radiologists. They have demonstrated this in a study carried out in different medical centers.
Breast ultrasound: a computer to assist radiologists
For their work, they recruited patients scheduled to undergo a biopsy or surgical resection of a breast lesion at eight hospitals between November 2021 and September 2022. The biopsy involves removing a piece of tissue for later analysis, this examination can establish a diagnosis of cancer. As for surgical resection, it aims to remove a tumor or anomaly present in the body, as specified in theInstitut national du cancer.
Before undergoing these various procedures, the participants agreed to undergo a “experimental breast ultrasound additional. To carry them out, the researchers recruited non-expert radiologists: that is to say, they had had no specific training in mammography and breast ultrasounds represented less than 10% of the examinations they performed each year. Two groups were created, one of them was assisted by a computer equipped with an artificial intelligence called “deep learning” able to classify breast lesions.
Computer-assisted examination: improved diagnosis
“Ultimately, the use of computer-aided diagnosis in interpretations by radiologists without breast ultrasound expertise resulted in 6.0% of category 3 assessments being upgraded to category 4A, including 16.7 % were malignant, and downgrading 79.1% of ratings from Category 4A to Category 3, of which 4.6% were malignant,” note the authors. These data correspond to a classification according to severity. In short, the use of computer-assisted diagnosis has made it possible to specify diagnoses and in some cases to avoid breast biopsies. For the authors of this study, this technology might have “an impact”because many “institutions lack expertise in breast imaging”.
Breast ultrasound: a complementary examination in the diagnosis of breast cancer
L’Institut national du cancer explains that breast ultrasound is an intermediate examination: it is generally carried out following a mammogram and can be supplemented by a biopsy. “It is useful to see the liquid or solid nature of the nodules palpated or discovered on the mammogram”, note these specialists. The radiologist can also analyze a previously detected anomaly more precisely. “Not all abnormalities detected by a breast ultrasound are cancerousrecalls the National Cancer Institute. Depending on the anomaly detected and its suspicious appearance, the doctor decides whether or not to carry out other examinations such as a biopsy which will allow him to confirm or not the diagnosis of cancer..”
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