Examining the effectiveness of a deep learning-based computer-aided breast cancer detection system for breast ultrasound

PurposeThis study aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of a deep learning-based computer-aided detection (CADe) system for breast ultrasound. MethodsThe set of 88 training images was expanded to 14,000 positive images and 50,000 negative images. The CADe system was trained to detect lesions in real- time using deep learning with an improved model of YOLOv3-tiny. Eighteen readers evaluated 52 test image sets with and without CADe. Jackknife alternative free-response receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to estimate the effectiveness of this system in improving lesion detection. ResultThe area under the curve (AUC) for image sets was 0.7726 with CADe and 0.6304 without CADe, with a 0.1422 difference, indicating that with CADe was significantly higher than that without CADe (p < 0.0001). The sensitivity per case was higher with CADe (95.4%) than without CADe (83.7%). The specificity of suspected breast cancer cases with CADe (86.6%) was higher than that without CADe (65.7%). The number of false positives per case (FPC) was lower with CADe (0.22) than without CADe (0.43). ConclusionThe use of a deep learning-based CADe system for breast ultrasound by readers significantly improved their reading ability. This system is expected to contribute to highly accurate breast cancer screening and diagnosis.