Melanin & Pink Ribbons

On July 8, 2023, the media giant CNN reported that artificial intelligence commonly known as A.I. has now made its way into the breast cancer landscape. Right now, there are studies being conducted where A.I. is being used to read mammograms. I don’t know about you, but I find that astounding with a very cautious eye all at the same time. Any use of technology that can advance the detection of breast cancer is a good tool however, I don’t want it to replace human oversight. I remember the days when we went shopping and the cashier was a human being, now I see fewer human cashiers and more self-service checkouts. I’m not sure that’s advancement because of the possible loss of jobs to people and how things must come to a standstill if there is a power outage or Wi-Fi malfunction, but I digress.

Returning to the topic, in Sweden researchers looked at 80,00 mammograms of women and they were read by human radiologists first then a second look was done by the A.I. The results were the second look by A.I. found 20% undetected instances of breast cancer from the mammograms. At first glance it seems this addition may be a helpful addition to reading scans but much more research and study must occur. In the meantime, let’s remember to schedule our mammogram and perform our Breast Self Exams monthly