An AI from MIT able to predict breast cancer with 5 years in advance

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced in early May that it has developed artificial intelligence that can predict breast cancer five years in advance. A novelty that would prevent the disease rather than subject unnecessary stress and painful treatments to patients.

An AI that has a proven track record

This AI has been tested at Massachusetts General Hospital for more than 60,000 patients, and with more than 90,000 mammograms performed. The AI ​​was created to identify the development of malignant tumors in breast tissue, where human expertise cannot detect them. The professor Regina Barzilay, herself a former patient and program manager at MIT hope these systems will allow doctors to "  personalize the screening according to risk a woman has of developing cancer, rather than an approach unique for everyone  ".

It is based on the results of studies carried out by MIT, which revealed that 31% of the 60,000 subjects concerned had been diagnosed with cancer, compared to 18% with traditional methods.

Screening finally generalized

Second important announcement of MIT: AI will be able to detect breast cancer in a patient, regardless of skin color. Black women have an additional 42% risk of dying from this disease, because of the shortcomings of previous generations of machines used so far, but also because of the medical methods used, which were based more on the patient's antecedents. and his family only on his actual physical condition. 

Professor Constance Lehman, who teaches at Harvard, regrets the lack of support from the medical community to provide a screening strategy related to the risk rather than age " This is because we did not have the functional tools to assess the risk in women. 
This new artificial intelligence allows a more efficient screening, but above all more equitable for the patients. However, the question of the frequency of screening remains unresolved since the American Cancer Society wants to set up an annual screening of 45 years, where the US Preventive Task Force advises a review every two years from 50 years.