Is your mammogram accurate enough? What to know about AI and breast cancer scans

When reading women’s routine mammograms, radiologists are increasingly augmenting what they're observing with artificial intelligence to better interpret the scan.

When a radiologist reviewed Deirdre Hall’s mammogram images last summer, everything seemed fine. There were no shadows or lumps or irregular patches that could signal cancer.

The doctor gave it a second look for one reason: artificial intelligence software had drawn a circle around an area in the upper part of her left breast that it found suspicious.

Because the AI software had put up that red flag, Hall, 55, got an order for an ultrasound that led to a biopsy. There were four cancerous tumors in the spot AI had identified.

“This would have been completely missed without the AI,” said Dr. Sean Raj, chief medical officer and chief innovation officer at SimonMed Imaging in Tempe, Arizona, where Hall had her mammogram.

Not only was Hall’s breast tissue dense, but the layers of tissue crisscrossed over each other in a particularly complicated pattern.