Decision support systems for the prediction of lymph node involvement in early breast cancer.

Journal: Journal of B.U.ON. : official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology
Published Date:

Abstract

The prediction of lymph node involvement represents an important task which could reduce unnecessary surgery and improve the definition of oncological therapies. An artificial intelligence model able to predict it in pre-operative phase requires the interface among multiple data structures. The trade-off among time consuming, expensive and invasive methodologies is emerging in experimental setups exploited for the analysis of sentinel lymph nodes, where machine learning algorithms represent a key ingredient in recorded data elaboration. The accuracy required for clinical applications is obtainable matching different kind of data. Statistical associations of prognostic factors with symptoms and predictive models implemented also through on-line softwares represent useful diagnostic support tools which translate into patients quality of life improvement and costs reduction.

Authors

  • Raffaella Massafra
    Laboratorio di Biostatistica e Bioinformatica, Fisica Sanitaria, I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", Bari, Italy.
  • Domenico Pomarico
  • Daniele La Forgia
    I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", viale O. Flacco 65, Bari, Italy.
  • Samantha Bove
    Laboratorio di Biostatistica e Bioinformatica, Fisica Sanitaria, I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", Bari, Italy.
  • Vittorio Didonna
    I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", viale O. Flacco 65, Bari, Italy.
  • Agnese Latorre
  • Anna Orsola Russo
  • Pasquale Tamborral Vito Lorusso
  • Annarita Fanizzi
    Laboratorio di Biostatistica e Bioinformatica, Fisica Sanitaria, I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", Bari, Italy.