MELBOURNE, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) could soon help predict women's risk of developing breast cancer over the next four years, an Australian study has revealed.
The AI-based tool was developed using mammograms from nearly 400,000 women and then tested on data from almost 96,000 women from Australia, according to a summary of the study on the Australian Science Media Center website on Wednesday.
The study, published in The Lancet Digital Health, found that the AI-based risk score, called BRAIx, estimated breast cancer risk more accurately than the factors doctors have traditionally relied on, such as breast density and family history.
Among women ranked in the top 2 percent of risk by BRAIx, nearly one in 10 were diagnosed with breast cancer within four years despite being given the all-clear, a rate higher than that seen in some genetic risk groups, the study said.
The findings showed how AI-based risk scores could personalize breast screening by identifying high-risk women for closer monitoring and low-risk ones for less frequent checks, potentially saving lives without added costs. ■