Early Detection of Breast Cancer in MRI Using AI

To develop and evaluate an AI algorithm that detects breast cancer in MRI scans up to one year before radiologists typically identify it, potentially enhancing early detection in high-risk women.

A convolutional neural network (CNN) AI model, pre-trained on breast MRI data, was fine-tuned using a retrospective dataset of 3029 MRI scans from 910 patients. These contained 115 cancers that were diagnosed within one year of a negative MRI. The model aimed to identify these cancers, with the goal of predicting cancer development up to one year in advance. The network was fine-tuned and tested with 10-fold cross-validation. Mean age of patients was 52 years (range, 18-88 years), with average follow-up of 4.3 years (range 1-12 years).

The AI detected cancers one year earlier with an area under the ROC curve of 0.72 (0.67-0.76). Retrospective analysis by a radiologist of the top 10% highest risk MRIs as ranked by the AI could have increased early detection by up to 30%. (35/115, CI:22.2-39.7%, 30% sensitivity). A radiologist identified a visual correlate to biopsy-proven cancers in 83 of prior-year MRIs (83/115, CI: 62.1-79.4%). The AI algorithm identified the anatomic region where cancer would be detected in 66 cases (66/115, CI:47.8-66.5%); with both agreeing in 54 cases (54/115, CI:%37.5-56.4%).

This novel AI-aided re-evaluation of "benign" breasts shows promise for improving early breast cancer detection with MRI. As datasets grow and image quality improves, this approach is expected to become even more impactful.