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Martínez-Ramírez JM, Carmona C, Ramírez-Expósito MJ, Martínez-Martos JM. Extracting Knowledge from Machine Learning Models to Diagnose Breast Cancer. Life (Basel) 2025; 15:211. [PMID: 40003620 PMCID: PMC11856414 DOI: 10.3390/life15020211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2024] [Revised: 01/17/2025] [Accepted: 01/29/2025] [Indexed: 02/27/2025] Open
Abstract
This study explored the application of explainable machine learning models to enhance breast cancer diagnosis using serum biomarkers, contrary to many studies that focus on medical images and demographic data. The primary objective was to develop models that are not only accurate but also provide insights into the factors driving predictions, addressing the need for trustworthy AI in healthcare. Several classification models were evaluated, including OneR, JRIP, the FURIA, J48, the ADTree, and the Random Forest, all of which are known for their explainability. The dataset included a variety of biomarkers, such as electrolytes, metal ions, marker proteins, enzymes, lipid profiles, peptide hormones, steroid hormones, and hormone receptors. The Random Forest model achieved the highest accuracy at 99.401%, followed closely by JRIP, the FURIA, and the ADTree at 98.802%. OneR and J48 achieved 98.204% accuracy. Notably, the models identified oxytocin as a key predictive biomarker, with most models featuring it in their rules. Other significant parameters included GnRH, β-endorphin, vasopressin, IRAP, and APB, as well as factors like iron, cholinesterase, the total protein, progesterone, 5-nucleotidase, and the BMI, which are considered clinically relevant to breast cancer pathogenesis. This study discusses the roles of the identified parameters in cancer development, thus underscoring the potential of explainable machine learning models for enhancing early breast cancer diagnosis by focusing on explainability and the use of serum biomarkers.The combination of both can lead to improved early detection and personalized treatments, emphasizing the potential of these methods in clinical settings. The identified markers also provide additional research and therapeutic targets for breast cancer pathogenesis and a deep understanding of their interactions, advancing personalized approaches to breast cancer management.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cristobal Carmona
- Department of Computer Science, University of Jaén, E-23071 Jaén, Spain; (J.M.M.-R.); (C.C.)
- Andalusian Research Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence, DASCI, University of Jaén, E-23071 Jaén, Spain
- Leicester School of Pharmacy, DeMontfort University, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - María Jesús Ramírez-Expósito
- Experimental and Clinical Physiopathology Research Group CVI-1039, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jaén, E-23071 Jaén, Spain;
| | - José Manuel Martínez-Martos
- Experimental and Clinical Physiopathology Research Group CVI-1039, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jaén, E-23071 Jaén, Spain;
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2
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Kumar Saha D, Hossain T, Safran M, Alfarhood S, Mridha MF, Che D. Segmentation for mammography classification utilizing deep convolutional neural network. BMC Med Imaging 2024; 24:334. [PMID: 39696014 DOI: 10.1186/s12880-024-01510-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2024] [Accepted: 11/21/2024] [Indexed: 12/20/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mammography for the diagnosis of early breast cancer (BC) relies heavily on the identification of breast masses. However, in the early stages, it might be challenging to ascertain whether a breast mass is benign or malignant. Consequently, many deep learning (DL)-based computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) approaches for BC classification have been developed. METHODS Recently, the transformer model has emerged as a method for overcoming the constraints of convolutional neural networks (CNN). Thus, our primary goal was to determine how well an improved transformer model could distinguish between benign and malignant breast tissues. In this instance, we drew on the Mendeley data repository's INbreast dataset, which includes benign and malignant breast types. Additionally, the segmentation anything model (SAM) method was used to generate the optimized cutoff for region of interest (ROI) extraction from all mammograms. We implemented a successful architecture modification at the bottom layer of a pyramid transformer (PTr) to identify BC from mammography images. RESULTS The proposed PTr model using a transfer learning (TL) approach with a segmentation technique achieved the best accuracy of 99.96% for binary classifications with an area under the curve (AUC) score of 99.98%, respectively. We also compared the performance of the proposed model with other transformer model vision transformers (ViT) and DL models, MobileNetV3 and EfficientNetB7, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In this study, a modified transformer model is proposed for BC prediction and mammography image classification using segmentation approaches. Data segmentation techniques accurately identify the regions affected by BC. Finally, the proposed transformer model accurately classified benign and malignant breast tissues, which is vital for radiologists to guide future treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dip Kumar Saha
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Stamford University Bangladesh, Siddeswari, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Tuhin Hossain
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Mejdl Safran
- Department of Computer Science, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11543, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Sultan Alfarhood
- Department of Computer Science, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11543, Saudi Arabia
| | - M F Mridha
- Department of Computer Science, American International University-Bangladesh, Kuratoli, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
| | - Dunren Che
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, 78363, Texas, USA
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Talaat FM, Gamel SA, El-Balka RM, Shehata M, ZainEldin H. Grad-CAM Enabled Breast Cancer Classification with a 3D Inception-ResNet V2: Empowering Radiologists with Explainable Insights. Cancers (Basel) 2024; 16:3668. [PMID: 39518105 PMCID: PMC11544836 DOI: 10.3390/cancers16213668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2024] [Revised: 10/25/2024] [Accepted: 10/29/2024] [Indexed: 11/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer (BCa) poses a severe threat to women's health worldwide as it is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer and the primary cause of death for female patients. The biopsy procedure remains the gold standard for accurate and effective diagnosis of BCa. However, its adverse effects, such as invasiveness, bleeding, infection, and reporting time, keep this procedure as a last resort for diagnosis. A mammogram is considered the routine noninvasive imaging-based procedure for diagnosing BCa, mitigating the need for biopsies; however, it might be prone to subjectivity depending on the radiologist's experience. Therefore, we propose a novel, mammogram image-based BCa explainable AI (BCaXAI) model with a deep learning-based framework for precise, noninvasive, objective, and timely manner diagnosis of BCa. The proposed BCaXAI leverages the Inception-ResNet V2 architecture, where the integration of explainable AI components, such as Grad-CAM, provides radiologists with valuable visual insights into the model's decision-making process, fostering trust and confidence in the AI-based system. Based on using the DDSM and CBIS-DDSM mammogram datasets, BCaXAI achieved exceptional performance, surpassing traditional models such as ResNet50 and VGG16. The model demonstrated superior accuracy (98.53%), recall (98.53%), precision (98.40%), F1-score (98.43%), and AUROC (0.9933), highlighting its effectiveness in distinguishing between benign and malignant cases. These promising results could alleviate the diagnostic subjectivity that might arise as a result of the experience-variability between different radiologists, as well as minimize the need for repetitive biopsy procedures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatma M. Talaat
- Faculty of Artificial Intelligence, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33511, Egypt;
- Faculty of Computer Science & Engineering, New Mansoura University, Gamasa 35712, Egypt
| | - Samah A. Gamel
- Electronics and Communication Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Horus University Egypt, Damietta 34518, Egypt;
| | - Rana Mohamed El-Balka
- Computers and Control Systems Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt; (R.M.E.-B.); (H.Z.)
- Electronic Engineering Department Higher, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Manzala 35642, Egypt
| | - Mohamed Shehata
- Computers and Control Systems Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt; (R.M.E.-B.); (H.Z.)
- Department of Bioengineering, Speed School of Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA
| | - Hanaa ZainEldin
- Computers and Control Systems Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt; (R.M.E.-B.); (H.Z.)
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4
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Ahmad J, Akram S, Jaffar A, Ali Z, Bhatti SM, Ahmad A, Rehman SU. Deep learning empowered breast cancer diagnosis: Advancements in detection and classification. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0304757. [PMID: 38990817 PMCID: PMC11239011 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/18/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent advancements in AI, driven by big data technologies, have reshaped various industries, with a strong focus on data-driven approaches. This has resulted in remarkable progress in fields like computer vision, e-commerce, cybersecurity, and healthcare, primarily fueled by the integration of machine learning and deep learning models. Notably, the intersection of oncology and computer science has given rise to Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems, offering vital tools to aid medical professionals in tumor detection, classification, recurrence tracking, and prognosis prediction. Breast cancer, a significant global health concern, is particularly prevalent in Asia due to diverse factors like lifestyle, genetics, environmental exposures, and healthcare accessibility. Early detection through mammography screening is critical, but the accuracy of mammograms can vary due to factors like breast composition and tumor characteristics, leading to potential misdiagnoses. To address this, an innovative CAD system leveraging deep learning and computer vision techniques was introduced. This system enhances breast cancer diagnosis by independently identifying and categorizing breast lesions, segmenting mass lesions, and classifying them based on pathology. Thorough validation using the Curated Breast Imaging Subset of Digital Database for Screening Mammography (CBIS-DDSM) demonstrated the CAD system's exceptional performance, with a 99% success rate in detecting and classifying breast masses. While the accuracy of detection is 98.5%, when segmenting breast masses into separate groups for examination, the method's performance was approximately 95.39%. Upon completing all the analysis, the system's classification phase yielded an overall accuracy of 99.16% for classification. The potential for this integrated framework to outperform current deep learning techniques is proposed, despite potential challenges related to the high number of trainable parameters. Ultimately, this recommended framework offers valuable support to researchers and physicians in breast cancer diagnosis by harnessing cutting-edge AI and image processing technologies, extending recent advances in deep learning to the medical domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jawad Ahmad
- Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan
- Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Sheeraz Akram
- Information Systems Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Arfan Jaffar
- Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan
- Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Zulfiqar Ali
- School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE), University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, United Kingdom
| | - Sohail Masood Bhatti
- Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan
- Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Awais Ahmad
- Information Systems Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Shafiq Ur Rehman
- Information Systems Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Guo Y, Zhang H, Yuan L, Chen W, Zhao H, Yu QQ, Shi W. Machine learning and new insights for breast cancer diagnosis. J Int Med Res 2024; 52:3000605241237867. [PMID: 38663911 PMCID: PMC11047257 DOI: 10.1177/03000605241237867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) is the most prominent form of cancer among females all over the world. The current methods of BC detection include X-ray mammography, ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and breast thermographic techniques. More recently, machine learning (ML) tools have been increasingly employed in diagnostic medicine for its high efficiency in detection and intervention. The subsequent imaging features and mathematical analyses can then be used to generate ML models, which stratify, differentiate and detect benign and malignant breast lesions. Given its marked advantages, radiomics is a frequently used tool in recent research and clinics. Artificial neural networks and deep learning (DL) are novel forms of ML that evaluate data using computer simulation of the human brain. DL directly processes unstructured information, such as images, sounds and language, and performs precise clinical image stratification, medical record analyses and tumour diagnosis. Herein, this review thoroughly summarizes prior investigations on the application of medical images for the detection and intervention of BC using radiomics, namely DL and ML. The aim was to provide guidance to scientists regarding the use of artificial intelligence and ML in research and the clinic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya Guo
- Department of Oncology, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China
| | - Heng Zhang
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Shandong Daizhuang Hospital, Jining, Shandong Province, China
| | - Leilei Yuan
- Department of Oncology, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China
| | - Weidong Chen
- Department of Oncology, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China
| | - Haibo Zhao
- Department of Oncology, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China
| | - Qing-Qing Yu
- Phase I Clinical Research Centre, Jining No.1 People’s Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China
| | - Wenjie Shi
- Molecular and Experimental Surgery, University Clinic for General-, Visceral-, Vascular- and Trans-Plantation Surgery, Medical Faculty University Hospital Magdeburg, Otto-von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
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6
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Jabeen K, Khan MA, Hameed MA, Alqahtani O, Alouane MTH, Masood A. A novel fusion framework of deep bottleneck residual convolutional neural network for breast cancer classification from mammogram images. Front Oncol 2024; 14:1347856. [PMID: 38454931 PMCID: PMC10917916 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1347856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
With over 2.1 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed annually, the incidence and mortality rate of this disease pose severe global health issues for women. Identifying the disease's influence is the only practical way to lessen it immediately. Numerous research works have developed automated methods using different medical imaging to identify BC. Still, the precision of each strategy differs based on the available resources, the issue's nature, and the dataset being used. We proposed a novel deep bottleneck convolutional neural network with a quantum optimization algorithm for breast cancer classification and diagnosis from mammogram images. Two novel deep architectures named three-residual blocks bottleneck and four-residual blocks bottle have been proposed with parallel and single paths. Bayesian Optimization (BO) has been employed to initialize hyperparameter values and train the architectures on the selected dataset. Deep features are extracted from the global average pool layer of both models. After that, a kernel-based canonical correlation analysis and entropy technique is proposed for the extracted deep features fusion. The fused feature set is further refined using an optimization technique named quantum generalized normal distribution optimization. The selected features are finally classified using several neural network classifiers, such as bi-layered and wide-neural networks. The experimental process was conducted on a publicly available mammogram imaging dataset named INbreast, and a maximum accuracy of 96.5% was obtained. Moreover, for the proposed method, the sensitivity rate is 96.45, the precision rate is 96.5, the F1 score value is 96.64, the MCC value is 92.97%, and the Kappa value is 92.97%, respectively. The proposed architectures are further utilized for the diagnosis process of infected regions. In addition, a detailed comparison has been conducted with a few recent techniques showing the proposed framework's higher accuracy and precision rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiran Jabeen
- Department of Computer Science, HITEC University, Taxila, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Attique Khan
- Department of Computer Science, HITEC University, Taxila, Pakistan
- Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Mohamed Abdel Hameed
- Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computers and Information, Luxor University, Luxor, Egypt
| | - Omar Alqahtani
- College of Computer Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Anum Masood
- Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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7
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Li J, Jiang P, An Q, Wang GG, Kong HF. Medical image identification methods: A review. Comput Biol Med 2024; 169:107777. [PMID: 38104516 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2023.107777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
The identification of medical images is an essential task in computer-aided diagnosis, medical image retrieval and mining. Medical image data mainly include electronic health record data and gene information data, etc. Although intelligent imaging provided a good scheme for medical image analysis over traditional methods that rely on the handcrafted features, it remains challenging due to the diversity of imaging modalities and clinical pathologies. Many medical image identification methods provide a good scheme for medical image analysis. The concepts pertinent of methods, such as the machine learning, deep learning, convolutional neural networks, transfer learning, and other image processing technologies for medical image are analyzed and summarized in this paper. We reviewed these recent studies to provide a comprehensive overview of applying these methods in various medical image analysis tasks, such as object detection, image classification, image registration, segmentation, and other tasks. Especially, we emphasized the latest progress and contributions of different methods in medical image analysis, which are summarized base on different application scenarios, including classification, segmentation, detection, and image registration. In addition, the applications of different methods are summarized in different application area, such as pulmonary, brain, digital pathology, brain, skin, lung, renal, breast, neuromyelitis, vertebrae, and musculoskeletal, etc. Critical discussion of open challenges and directions for future research are finally summarized. Especially, excellent algorithms in computer vision, natural language processing, and unmanned driving will be applied to medical image recognition in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Li
- School of Information Engineering, Wuhan Business University, Wuhan, 430056, China; School of Artificial Intelligence, Wuchang University of Technology, Wuhan, 430223, China; Key Laboratory of Symbolic Computation and Knowledge Engineering of Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China
| | - Pan Jiang
- School of Information Engineering, Wuhan Business University, Wuhan, 430056, China
| | - Qing An
- School of Artificial Intelligence, Wuchang University of Technology, Wuhan, 430223, China
| | - Gai-Ge Wang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China.
| | - Hua-Feng Kong
- School of Information Engineering, Wuhan Business University, Wuhan, 430056, China.
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Shi Y, Olsson LT, Hoadley KA, Calhoun BC, Marron JS, Geradts J, Niethammer M, Troester MA. Predicting early breast cancer recurrence from histopathological images in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. NPJ Breast Cancer 2023; 9:92. [PMID: 37952058 PMCID: PMC10640636 DOI: 10.1038/s41523-023-00597-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Approaches for rapidly identifying patients at high risk of early breast cancer recurrence are needed. Image-based methods for prescreening hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained tumor slides could offer temporal and financial efficiency. We evaluated a data set of 704 1-mm tumor core H&E images (2-4 cores per case), corresponding to 202 participants (101 who recurred; 101 non-recurrent matched on age and follow-up time) from breast cancers diagnosed between 2008-2012 in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. We leveraged deep learning to extract image information and trained a model to identify recurrence. Cross-validation accuracy for predicting recurrence was 62.4% [95% CI: 55.7, 69.1], similar to grade (65.8% [95% CI: 59.3, 72.3]) and ER status (66.3% [95% CI: 59.8, 72.8]). Interestingly, 70% (19/27) of early-recurrent low-intermediate grade tumors were identified by our image model. Relative to existing markers, image-based analyses provide complementary information for predicting early recurrence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifeng Shi
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Linnea T Olsson
- Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Katherine A Hoadley
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Benjamin C Calhoun
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - J S Marron
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Statistics and Operations Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Joseph Geradts
- Department of Pathology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
| | - Marc Niethammer
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Melissa A Troester
- Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
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Pesapane F, Trentin C, Ferrari F, Signorelli G, Tantrige P, Montesano M, Cicala C, Virgoli R, D'Acquisto S, Nicosia L, Origgi D, Cassano E. Deep learning performance for detection and classification of microcalcifications on mammography. Eur Radiol Exp 2023; 7:69. [PMID: 37934382 PMCID: PMC10630180 DOI: 10.1186/s41747-023-00384-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Breast cancer screening through mammography is crucial for early detection, yet the demand for mammography services surpasses the capacity of radiologists. Artificial intelligence (AI) can assist in evaluating microcalcifications on mammography. We developed and tested an AI model for localizing and characterizing microcalcifications. METHODS Three expert radiologists annotated a dataset of mammograms using histology-based ground truth. The dataset was partitioned for training, validation, and testing. Three neural networks (AlexNet, ResNet18, and ResNet34) were trained and evaluated using specific metrics including receiver operating characteristics area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. The reported metrics were computed on the test set (10% of the whole dataset). RESULTS The dataset included 1,000 patients aged 21-73 years and 1,986 mammograms (180 density A, 220 density B, 380 density C, and 220 density D), with 389 malignant and 611 benign groups of microcalcifications. AlexNet achieved the best performance with 0.98 sensitivity, 0.89 specificity of, and 0.98 AUC for microcalcifications detection and 0.85 sensitivity, 0.89 specificity, and 0.94 AUC of for microcalcifications classification. For microcalcifications detection, ResNet18 and ResNet34 achieved 0.96 and 0.97 sensitivity, 0.91 and 0.90 specificity and 0.98 and 0.98 AUC, retrospectively. For microcalcifications classification, ResNet18 and ResNet34 exhibited 0.75 and 0.84 sensitivity, 0.85 and 0.84 specificity, and 0.88 and 0.92 AUC, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The developed AI models accurately detect and characterize microcalcifications on mammography. RELEVANCE STATEMENT AI-based systems have the potential to assist radiologists in interpreting microcalcifications on mammograms. The study highlights the importance of developing reliable deep learning models possibly applied to breast cancer screening. KEY POINTS • A novel AI tool was developed and tested to aid radiologists in the interpretation of mammography by accurately detecting and characterizing microcalcifications. • Three neural networks (AlexNet, ResNet18, and ResNet34) were trained, validated, and tested using an annotated dataset of 1,000 patients and 1,986 mammograms. • The AI tool demonstrated high accuracy in detecting/localizing and characterizing microcalcifications on mammography, highlighting the potential of AI-based systems to assist radiologists in the interpretation of mammograms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filippo Pesapane
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
| | - Chiara Trentin
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Federica Ferrari
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Giulia Signorelli
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Priyan Tantrige
- Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Marta Montesano
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Luca Nicosia
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Daniela Origgi
- Medical Physics Unit, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Enrico Cassano
- Breast Imaging Division, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
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