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Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing breast cancer detection. Georgia Spear, MD, division chief of Breast Imaging at Endeavor Health, incorporates computer-aided detection — a form of AI — for breast cancer screening, with mammography and automated breast ultrasound for dense breasts. Spear has seen AI’s crucial role in identifying potential areas for concern that might otherwise have gone unseen.
“A trained eye is imperative,” Spear says. However, she adds, “Reassurance and assistance with computer-aided detection and other forms of AI are game changers.” AI can help radiologists analyze the many images they see for each patient more quickly, as well as better scan poor quality images.
This becomes especially critical for a 3D ultrasound, where a radiologist reviews hundreds of images for each patient. AI helps increase accuracy and efficiency, and it reduces the doctor’s visual processing workload.
About 30% of radiologists reported using AI in 2020, based on a survey from the American College of Radiology. That number has undoubtedly increased as AI tools have grown more and more sophisticated.
Yet, despite its beneficial qualities, AI is only a complementary tool for physicians. “It does not replace the expertise and value that a trained physician brings to the care of a patient,” Spear says. “The AI programs become an important part of cancer diagnosis, but only with the highly trained skillset of a physician, a breast radiologist, for the final interpretation.
Originally published in the Spring/Summer 2024 print issue.
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