Increase font size Decrease font size Reset font size

AI can identify women at risk of breast cancer

2025-01-29
O SLO: Artificial intelligence is able to identify women who have an elevated risk of developing breast cancer several years before it is diagnosed, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Tuesday.

Five researchers from FHI, the University of California and the University of Washington were given aceess to a commercially available AI programme to retroactively analyse the mammographies of 116,495 women whotookpartinaNorwegian detection programme between 2004 and 2018. In total, 1,607 of the women developed breast cancer.

The algorithm was able to predict which women ran a higher risk of developing breast cancer, and even identify which breast was at risk, four to six years before a diagnosis.

`We noted that the breast which developed cancer had an AI score about twice as high as the other breast,` said SolveigHofvind, who heads the detection programme and the AI project. `The study shows that the AI algorithms already available on the market can be used to develop more personalised detection programmes, she said.

AI could be used for early detection of breast cancer,toreducecostsand better target at-risk populations, F HI said.

According to the World HealthOrganisation,670,000 women died of breast cancer in 2022, the most common form of cancer amongwomen in most countries. The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network, which edits a collection of prestigious medical journals.

The Norwegian detection programme also launched a project last year involving 140,000 women to determine whether AI could be as efficient as, or even better than, radiologists to diagnose cancer cases.-AFP