A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in collaboration with researchers at York and Leeds University in the United Kingdom and the Dr. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas shows that radiologists can diagnose breast cancer in the blink of an eye in a fraction of a second. they give.
In an article published Aug. 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers showed mammograms to radiologists for a fraction of a second and found that they could detect abnormal mammograms above the odds. They tested the skill on a number of other specialists to see what signs radiologists were warning of an abnormal problem, and hoped that this insight could be used to improve breast cancer screening and early detection.
“Radiologists can make a few possible diagnoses at a glance at a mammogram,” says Jeremy Wolfe, Ph.D., lead author of the study and director of the Visua Attentio Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). We found that these possible diagnoses are based on the real things in those images. It is truly amazing that in the blink of an eye, a specialist can detect an abnormality in a mammogram. “Not only that, they are able to detect abnormal lesions in another breast that does not have lesions.”
In the clinic, radiologists carefully examine mammograms and may use an automated computer system to help screen images. Although they may not be able to fully evaluate an image at the clinic in a fraction of a second, the ability of specialists to quickly extract an image suggests that there may be detectable signs of breast cancer that radiologists can detect immediately. .
In a previous study, Wolf and colleagues found that radiologists could detect abnormal mammograms in a fraction of a second, but non-specialists could not. In this study, factors such as the symmetry of breast tissue, breast firmness, image size, resolution, or other factors are among the characteristics that play a role in the success rate of the radiologist. They found that this did not depend on the symmetry of the breasts or the firmness of the breasts, but the finer details about the composition of the breast tissue helped the radiologist to make a more accurate diagnosis.
Interestingly, the team found that radiologists could develop cancer even when the image was not taken directly from an abnormal breast tissue, or when those images were taken from a breast in front of a woman with breast cancer. Recognize the breast. “These results suggest that there may be points in a seemingly healthy breast that look abnormal and are recognizable,” says Wolfe. “In addition, this evidence suggests that radiologists can detect early signs of breast abnormality that are not known to us.” Defining signals diagnosed by experienced radiologists can help researchers modify computer-aided diagnostic systems (CADs). It is useful in medical screening as well as enhancing diagnostic power in specialist training. The team also wanted to see if other imaging professionals in medicine, such as dermatologists and pathologists, could use similar signals.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital is a 793-bed non-governmental educational center affiliated with Harvard Medical University. BWH receives more than 4.2 million patient visits and nearly 46,000 hospitalizations annually and is the largest birth center in Massachusetts with nearly 16,000 employees. BWH has been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the second largest research resource among independent hospitals in the last 25 years. The BWH is also a major center for population epidemiological studies, including nursing and medical studies and women’s health. For more information, visit the BWH online news page
Source: Healing Online
