Artificial intelligence improves breast cancer detection rate by 20 percent, Politico reports

The detection rate of breast cancer can go up 20 percent when AI is used, according to a story this week on the Politico website.

Ashleigh Furlong's article says the results from a study in Sweden "show the potential of using artificial intelligence in mammography."

The study, the first "randomized controlled trial" to look at using AI in breast cancer screening, showed that interim results have indicated "that using AI-supported analysis of mammograms alongside either of two radiologists was as good as using two radiologists without AI and led to 20 percent more cancers being detected," the story contends.

A significant reduction in workload for radiologists reportedly occurred, Furlong's piece continues, "with the doctors having to spend 44 percent less time reading mammograms."

The still-ongoing trial looked at more than 80,000 women.

Kristina Lang

Despite the positive findings, the story says, lead author Kristina Lang maintains that the results "are not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready

to be implemented in mammography screening" outside clinical trials yet because additional screenings are necessary. 

The story also quotes Stephen Duffy, professor of cancer screening at Queen Mary University of London, as saying that there could be concern that using AI might over-detect harmless lesions.

More information about global research is available in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at caregivers.

4 screenings called unnecessary; 2 others advised

Cancer screenings after 70 can do more harm than good, AARP magazine piece indicates

If you've hit 70 — when, according to my primary doc, "you've already won the game" — the need for some cancer screenings may vanish.

In fact, at least four of them might do more harm than good, indicates an article by Candy Sagon in a recent double edition of "AARP: The Magazine."

The unnecessary tests, the piece says, are colonoscopy, mammography, PSA and Pap smear.

In their place are recommended two other tests: bone density scan and abdominal aorta aneurysm screening.

The AARP magazine article charges that "a growing number of health experts [worry that] the overtesting of those who are in their 70s, 80s and even older…could lead to invasive procedures or treatments that leave patients worse off than before, especially among those with serious health problems such as heart disease."

Those fears may have been underscored by a 2014 study published in "JAMA Internal Medicine" that found — after looking at more than 27,00 adults age 65-plus — "too many physicians automatically recommend cancer screening tests for older patients whose precarious health puts them at high risk of dying within a decade."

Dr. Harlan Krumholz

The AARP article quotes Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a Yale cardiologist and researcher known to be an outspoken critic of overtesting, as saying, "On average, those over 75 derive fewer benefits than younger people do."

Women, the piece suggests, should be getting routine bone density scans "beginning at 65 (or earlier, depending on their risk factors)," while men 70 and older need that particular test "to check for osteoporosis."

Regarding the abdominal screening, the article says "men 65 to 75 who have been smoking anytime during their lifetimes should have a onetime ultrasound to screen for an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)" — though the story hedges about whether the screening would benefit women who'd smoked.

As for the colonoscopies, it says a new Harvard study of "more than 1.3 million Medicare patients ages 70 to 79" found the risk of complications to be larger than the cancer risk. Obviously, however, "if you've had a polyp removed or have a family history of colon cancer, you risk is higher, and you should probably be screened. If not, you may be able to finally skip all that lovely laxative prep."

The AARP article cites the opinion of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force when it comes to the mammograms. The USPSTF purportedly found "insufficient evidence" to conclude that mammography past 74 is necessary. It's likely, the agency indicated, that benefits of the screenings at that advanced age are limited.

Not a single medical group apparently recommends PSA screenings for prostate cancer beyond age 75 — even though 41 percent of men in that category still have the test (most often at the urging of their doctors).

If women have, after age 65, had no cancer or precancerous lesions, and have had three negative smears to check for cervical cancer in the previous 10 years, there's no need for one more smear. Unfortunately, the AARP story says at least one study indicates, "most women have become so accustomed to having an annual Pap smear that they have them even after undergoing a hysterectomy."

The benefits and burdens of screenings in general are addressed in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

No need found for an added diagnostic tool

In diagnosing male breast cancer, ultrasound isn't better than mammography, study says

Ultrasound imaging apparently doesn't provide any more information than mammography when it comes to men's breast cancer.

A new study's conclusion, according to an article on the Breastcancer.org website, is "that mammography should continue to be the main diagnostic tool for detecting breast cancer in men with symptoms."

It originally had been thought ultrasound might offer additional benefits.

The study, whose findings were reported at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, had looked at the records of 360 men above the age of 25 who'd had symptoms that included "feeling a lump, pain, and nipple discharge."

Dr. Eric Blaschke

Dr. Eric Blaschke, one of the study's authors, was quoted as saying, "We didn't find that use of ultrasound in male breast cancer was useful in detecting new cancers."

Some 2,470 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, the story noted. "For men, the lifetime risk," according to the website, "is about 1 in 1,000."

Risk factors for men, the site indicates, include growing older (the average age of those diagnosed is about 68), having high estrogen levels, having Klinefelter syndrome (which means having more than one X chromosome), having a strong family history of breast cancer or genetic mutations, and having been treated with radiation to the chest. 

Details about breast cancer, for women and men, can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.