Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise

Objective: To investigate integrating an artificial intelligence (AI) system into diagnostic breast ultrasound (US) for improved performance. Materials and Methods: Seventy suspicious breast mass lesions (53 malignant and 17 benign) from seventy women who underwent diagnostic breast US complemented...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Filiz Çelebi, Onur Tuncer, Müge Oral, Tomris Duymaz, Tolga Orhan, Gökhan Ertaş
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Galenos Publishing House 2025-01-01
Series:European Journal of Breast Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.eurjbreasthealth.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-in-diagnostic-breast-ultrasound-a-comparative-analysis-of-decision-support-among-radiologists-with-various-levels-of-expertise/doi/ejbh.galenos.2024.2024-9-7
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841556283364212736
author Filiz Çelebi
Onur Tuncer
Müge Oral
Tomris Duymaz
Tolga Orhan
Gökhan Ertaş
author_facet Filiz Çelebi
Onur Tuncer
Müge Oral
Tomris Duymaz
Tolga Orhan
Gökhan Ertaş
author_sort Filiz Çelebi
collection DOAJ
description Objective: To investigate integrating an artificial intelligence (AI) system into diagnostic breast ultrasound (US) for improved performance. Materials and Methods: Seventy suspicious breast mass lesions (53 malignant and 17 benign) from seventy women who underwent diagnostic breast US complemented with shear wave elastography, US-guided core needle biopsy and verified histopathology were enrolled. Two radiologists, one with 15 years of experience and the other with one year of experience, evaluated the images for breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) scoring. The less-experienced radiologist re-evaluated the images with the guidance of a commercial AI system and the maximum elasticity from shear wave elastography. The BI-RADS scorings were processed to determine diagnostic performance and malignancy detections. Results: The experienced reader demonstrated superior performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.888 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.793–0.983], indicating high diagnostic accuracy. In contrast, the Koios decision support (DS) system achieved an AUC of 0.693 (95% CI: 0.562–0.824). The less-experienced reader, guided by both Koios and elasticity, showed an AUC of 0.679 (95% CI: 0.534–0.823), while Koios alone resulted in an AUC of 0.655 (95% CI: 0.512–0.799). Without any guidance, the less-experienced reader exhibited the lowest performance, with an AUC of 0.512 (95% CI: 0.352–0.672). The experienced reader had a sensitivity of 98.1%, specificity of 58.8%, positive predictive value of 88.1%, negative predictive value of 90.9%, and overall accuracy of 88.6%. The Koios DS showed a sensitivity of 92.5%, specificity of 35.3%, and an accuracy of 78.6%. The less-experienced reader, when guided by both Koios and elasticity, achieved a sensitivity of 92.5%, specificity of 23.5%, and an accuracy of 75.7%. When guided by Koios alone, the less-experienced reader had a sensitivity of 90.6%, specificity of 17.6%, and an accuracy of 72.9%. Lastly, the less-experienced reader without any guidance showed a sensitivity of 84.9%, specificity of 17.6%, and an accuracy of 68.6%. Conclusion: Diagnostic evaluation of the suspicious masses on breast US images largely depends on experience, with experienced readers showing good performances. AI-based guidance can help improve lower performances, and using the elasticity metric may further improve the performances of less experienced readers. This type of guidance may reduce unnecessary biopsies by increasing the detection rate for malignant lesions and deliver significant benefits for routine clinical practice in underserved areas where experienced readers may not be available.
format Article
id doaj-art-76ead2431a314b15968ad6748369c0c3
institution Kabale University
issn 2587-0831
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Galenos Publishing House
record_format Article
series European Journal of Breast Health
spelling doaj-art-76ead2431a314b15968ad6748369c0c32025-01-07T10:47:53ZengGalenos Publishing HouseEuropean Journal of Breast Health2587-08312025-01-01211333910.4274/ejbh.galenos.2024.2024-9-7Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of ExpertiseFiliz Çelebi0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4020-4019Onur Tuncer1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3345-9208Müge Oral2https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6024-4314Tomris Duymaz3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0917-2098Tolga Orhan4https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3443-6846Gökhan Ertaş5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3331-9152Department of Radiology, Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, TurkeyDepartment of Radiology, Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, TurkeyDepartment of Radiology, Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, TurkeyDepartment of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, İstanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Health Sciences, İstanbul, TurkeyDepartment of Radiology, Yeditepe University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, TurkeyDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Yeditepe University Faculty of Engineering, İstanbul, TurkeyObjective: To investigate integrating an artificial intelligence (AI) system into diagnostic breast ultrasound (US) for improved performance. Materials and Methods: Seventy suspicious breast mass lesions (53 malignant and 17 benign) from seventy women who underwent diagnostic breast US complemented with shear wave elastography, US-guided core needle biopsy and verified histopathology were enrolled. Two radiologists, one with 15 years of experience and the other with one year of experience, evaluated the images for breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) scoring. The less-experienced radiologist re-evaluated the images with the guidance of a commercial AI system and the maximum elasticity from shear wave elastography. The BI-RADS scorings were processed to determine diagnostic performance and malignancy detections. Results: The experienced reader demonstrated superior performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.888 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.793–0.983], indicating high diagnostic accuracy. In contrast, the Koios decision support (DS) system achieved an AUC of 0.693 (95% CI: 0.562–0.824). The less-experienced reader, guided by both Koios and elasticity, showed an AUC of 0.679 (95% CI: 0.534–0.823), while Koios alone resulted in an AUC of 0.655 (95% CI: 0.512–0.799). Without any guidance, the less-experienced reader exhibited the lowest performance, with an AUC of 0.512 (95% CI: 0.352–0.672). The experienced reader had a sensitivity of 98.1%, specificity of 58.8%, positive predictive value of 88.1%, negative predictive value of 90.9%, and overall accuracy of 88.6%. The Koios DS showed a sensitivity of 92.5%, specificity of 35.3%, and an accuracy of 78.6%. The less-experienced reader, when guided by both Koios and elasticity, achieved a sensitivity of 92.5%, specificity of 23.5%, and an accuracy of 75.7%. When guided by Koios alone, the less-experienced reader had a sensitivity of 90.6%, specificity of 17.6%, and an accuracy of 72.9%. Lastly, the less-experienced reader without any guidance showed a sensitivity of 84.9%, specificity of 17.6%, and an accuracy of 68.6%. Conclusion: Diagnostic evaluation of the suspicious masses on breast US images largely depends on experience, with experienced readers showing good performances. AI-based guidance can help improve lower performances, and using the elasticity metric may further improve the performances of less experienced readers. This type of guidance may reduce unnecessary biopsies by increasing the detection rate for malignant lesions and deliver significant benefits for routine clinical practice in underserved areas where experienced readers may not be available.https://www.eurjbreasthealth.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-in-diagnostic-breast-ultrasound-a-comparative-analysis-of-decision-support-among-radiologists-with-various-levels-of-expertise/doi/ejbh.galenos.2024.2024-9-7breast cancerbreast ultrasoundelastographyartificial intelligence
spellingShingle Filiz Çelebi
Onur Tuncer
Müge Oral
Tomris Duymaz
Tolga Orhan
Gökhan Ertaş
Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise
European Journal of Breast Health
breast cancer
breast ultrasound
elastography
artificial intelligence
title Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise
title_full Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise
title_fullStr Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise
title_full_unstemmed Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise
title_short Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound: A Comparative Analysis of Decision Support Among Radiologists With Various Levels of Expertise
title_sort artificial intelligence in diagnostic breast ultrasound a comparative analysis of decision support among radiologists with various levels of expertise
topic breast cancer
breast ultrasound
elastography
artificial intelligence
url https://www.eurjbreasthealth.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-in-diagnostic-breast-ultrasound-a-comparative-analysis-of-decision-support-among-radiologists-with-various-levels-of-expertise/doi/ejbh.galenos.2024.2024-9-7
work_keys_str_mv AT filizcelebi artificialintelligenceindiagnosticbreastultrasoundacomparativeanalysisofdecisionsupportamongradiologistswithvariouslevelsofexpertise
AT onurtuncer artificialintelligenceindiagnosticbreastultrasoundacomparativeanalysisofdecisionsupportamongradiologistswithvariouslevelsofexpertise
AT mugeoral artificialintelligenceindiagnosticbreastultrasoundacomparativeanalysisofdecisionsupportamongradiologistswithvariouslevelsofexpertise
AT tomrisduymaz artificialintelligenceindiagnosticbreastultrasoundacomparativeanalysisofdecisionsupportamongradiologistswithvariouslevelsofexpertise
AT tolgaorhan artificialintelligenceindiagnosticbreastultrasoundacomparativeanalysisofdecisionsupportamongradiologistswithvariouslevelsofexpertise
AT gokhanertas artificialintelligenceindiagnosticbreastultrasoundacomparativeanalysisofdecisionsupportamongradiologistswithvariouslevelsofexpertise