Computer check helps detect 20 percent more cancers

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Using computers to double-check mammograms can increase the detection of cancers by 20 percent, according to a study that supports early predictions for the new technology.

The findings based on mammograms given to nearly 13,000 women suggest the technology can help radiologists find breast cancers earlier while improving their accuracy. Radiologists miss about one in five breast cancers.

"The reason is because the signs can be so extremely subtle," said Dr. Timothy W. Freer, who presented his findings Tuesday at the Radiology Society of North America's annual meeting. "Computer-assisted detection helps us recognize those signs, such as minute calcium deposits, or very subtle masses or changes in architecture."

The $200,000 ImageChecker system used in the study was approved by the Food and Drug Administration two years ago based on preliminary research showing success rates similar to Freer's. It is the only such technology with that approval.

The system works with the regular X-ray image taken in a mammogram. The film is run through a computer processor that creates a digital image. The computer, "trained to recognize certain subtle patterns," scans the image and marks suspicious-looking areas, Freer said.

"That invites us to take a closer look," he said.

In the study of 12,860 women screened at the Women's Diagnostic & Breast Health Center in Plano, Texas, 49 unsuspected cancers were detected, including eight picked up by ImageChecker that the radiologist had missed. All eight were in very early stages, when they are most easily treated.

"Computers don't get tired like people do," said Dr. Stephen Feig, professor of radiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

"Still, it's going to be up to a radiologist to decide whether something found by a computer needs to be biopsied," said Feig, who was not involved in the research.

The number of women asked to return to the radiologist for more tests and the biopsy rates also increased by 20 percent in Freer's study. Though some of those were false alarms, the increases were proportional to the increases in cancer detection and were thus considered acceptable, said Freer, director of the Plano center.

More research is needed before such computer-assisted methods can be recommended as a routine screening tool, Feig said.

Only about 150 units are used worldwide, Freer said. But even if other studies find similar results, cost likely will impede widespread use of computer-assisted detection.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Radiology Society of North America
Women's Diagnostic & Breast Health Center
National Cancer Institute
American Cancer Society

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