Artificial Intelligence Flags Interval Breast Cancers Visible at Screening
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on May 23, 2025.
FRIDAY, May 23, 2025 -- Artificial intelligence (AI) more often flags and accurately localizes interval breast cancers (IBCs) that are visible at screening than true interval or occult cancers, according to a study published online April 18 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Tiffany T. Yu, M.D., from the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues identified IBCs diagnosed <12 months after a negative mammogram from digital mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis screening mammograms acquired from 2010 to 2019 at a U.S. tertiary care academic center. IBCs were classified retrospectively as missed–reading error, minimal signs–actionable, minimal signs–nonactionable, true interval, occult, or missed–technical error. Risk scores of 1 to 10 were assigned to the negative index screening mammograms by a deep-learning AI tool, with scores ≥8 considered flagged.
A total of 148 IBCs were identified in 148 women from 184,935 screening mammograms. Of these, 26, 24, 22, 17, 6, and 5 percent were minimal signs–actionable, occult, minimal signs–nonactionable, missed–reading error, true interval, and missed–technical error, respectively. The researchers found that AI scored 131 mammograms (17 errors excluded). Exams with missed–reading errors, minimal signs–actionable, and minimal signs–nonactionable were most frequently flagged by AI (90, 89, and 72 percent, respectively). Mammographically visible types were more accurately localized by AI than nonvisible types (35 to 68 percent versus 0 to 50 percent, respectively).
"AI may facilitate detection of the mammographically visible IBC types (missed–reading error and minimal signs) at time of screening and possibly reduce the IBC rate to comprise primarily true interval cancers," the authors write.
The study was partially funded by EarlyDiagnostics via a grant provided to one author.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted May 2025
Read this next
Nearly Half With Early-Stage Breast Cancer Extend Endocrine Therapy Beyond Five Years
FRIDAY, June 20, 2025 -- Nearly 40 percent of women with stage I breast cancer and two-thirds with stage II decide to extend endocrine therapy, according to a study published...
Odds of Advanced Cancer, Breast Cancer Death Lower in Screen-Detected Disease
THURSDAY, June 5, 2025 -- For patients aged 40 years or older, screen-detected breast cancer is associated with lower odds of advanced cancer, mastectomy, and breast...
Nodal Irradiation Does Not Reduce Recurrence, Death for ypN0 Breast Cancer
THURSDAY, June 5, 2025 -- For patients with node-positive breast cancer who become pathologically tumor-free with negative axillary nodes (ypN0) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.