Melanie Cole, MS (Host): Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital has a new enhanced breast cancer detection system that uses artificial intelligence to make mammograms better. Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole, and joining me today is Dr. Anjali Date. She's the Medical Director of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital's, Sheila R. Veloz's Breast Center.

Dr. Date, thank you so much for joining us again. You're always such a great wealth of knowledge for women in the breast world, so this is awesome that we're talking about this. I understand this new mammogram system called Enhanced Breast Cancer Detection or EBCD, what is that and how does it work? It sounds really cool.

Anjali Date, MD: Hi Melanie. Thanks for having me. Yeah, this is really exciting in the breast world. Basically we are using AI software to help us analyze our mammograms and have that computer program take a second look at the images and make sure that we are identifying the earliest forms of breast cancer.

Host: So tell us a little bit about how this works. I mean, we know we go in for our mammogram, gets read by the radiologist. Will the experience be different? How does it change a woman's experience and is it something that shows up like in our medical records that we see this added report? How does this all work?

Anjali Date, MD: Yeah, so when a patient comes into our breast center, we are now offering the option of performing the AI interpretation and using the software. It's completely elective, so it's up to the patient. At this point, it's going to be an added charge to the patient. The goal is hopefully to have insurance start covering it.

And if the patient says yes, you know, we want to go ahead and do that, then we'll proceed with the mammogram. The mammogram machine is basically the same, but the unit itself just has that added technology. And so we'll take our images just like you would take your normal mammogram images. And then the computer will evaluate those images and then render a sort of interpretation.

It'll flag maybe some abnormalities that the computer program has detected, and then the radiologist will sit down and read your mammogram just like we read every mammogram. Except at the end, if there are a couple of areas that the program has sort of flagged, we'll get to take a second look at that and say, oh, hey, you know, the program looked at that.

The program thought that that was abnormal. And then we'll decide, is that a true abnormality or is that something that we'll let go? And you know, a lot of times because of the high precision and the accuracy that this program offers us, those abnormalities turn out to be real findings. And so we are able to look at that and then take a better interpretation and better understanding of what our patient's mammogram looks like.

Host: That's really cool and reassuring. So why isn't insurance covering it yet? Do you have an idea?

Anjali Date, MD: I think it's just a new technology. And so it's FDA approved, which is great, but that's just the first step. And so, 10 years ago when, 3D mammograms were just coming out, insurance wasn't covering that as well. And that was also started out to be an added charge, but eventually insurance companies, Medicare and the government, they all start to pay attention, to the added benefit. And once there's a discrepancy between having it and not having it, I think that's when insurance companies will understand that this is really important.

Host: So I think that women question then, and maybe you tell us if they do or if they don't, is a mammogram then sufficient. Now, you and I have talked before about ABUS, the automated whole breast ultrasound and how dense breast tissue, certain patient populations qualify for that additional test. And there are some other things, ultrasound, MRI, but is the mammogram sufficient to find these things. And I mean obviously it is, it's been the gold standard for so long. So how is this adding to it and what do you think of this technology?

Anjali Date, MD: Yes. I think it's so important for everyone to understand that mammogram is still our workhorse for detecting the earliest forms of breast cancer. It gives us a really good understanding of your breast tissue as a whole. It can identify really small findings. It's still the only modality to identify calcifications, which are usually associated with DCIS or ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a stage zero cancer, the earliest abnormal cells that we can detect.

So that's why all the other modalities are great in addition. Particularly if you're at high-risk or if you have dense breast tissue. We like to use those other modalities in conjunction with our mammogram, but the mammogram still, that's our gold standard for a reason. And so now that we have this improved detection with our AI software, we're just really fine tuning our skills in terms of interpreting and reading our mammograms.

So the great part is not only are we starting to identify things that are really small, really tiny and very early, but we're also having reassurance in the images that we're reading as negative. So, if our AI software looks through the mammogram and doesn't flag anything, then that's that added level of confidence that there's truly nothing going on.

So what that's doing is decreasing our callbacks, decreasing our abnormal mammograms in patients who don't have anything wrong with them. So it's sort of twofold. We're not only helping improve cancer detection, but we're also sort of easing patient anxieties by decreasing the number of women that are coming back for additional imaging.

Host: I love that you pointed that out because coming back in for that diagnostic mammogram is always terrifying for women. Or getting that letter, you know, getting an alert that it was, indeterminate or something. So, it can reduce those unnecessary possible biopsies, diagnostic mammograms. I think it's great. But what do you say to women who feel uncomfortable about AI in general, because you know, we're moving, the medical field is moving quickly and those kind of advancements are just going to happen.

Anjali Date, MD: Yes. And I think what's really important for all of us to understand is that this is just a tool. This is not replacing the radiologist. This isn't replacing our technologists who perform the exams. We are all humans that still need to be responsible for screening for breast cancer. And this is just another tool that can help us, help women.

Host: I think that's such an important message. So what would you like women to know about this EBCD and asking about it when they, when they're visiting their gynecologist and they are told, oh, it's mammogram time, you know, and they're making their schedule, what do you want them to know about mentioning this, bringing it up with their doctor and discussing it.

Anjali Date, MD: Yeah, I think it's so important for women to advocate for themselves and to know what latest technology is available to them. So when you know this, you can then bring it up to your doctor and say, I've heard about EBCD, I've heard about AI enhanced mammogram technology. I would really like to go to a facility that offers that.

 And in Santa Clarita, luckily, we're right next door, so when you walk into your mammogram appointment here, you can always ask our front office, to make sure that they schedule you for that mammogram in particular. When women walk into our center, we're also offering that to everyone walking in just so that they are aware that this is a new technology that we have available to them. So really important to advocate for yourself.

Host: Really great information. Do you have any final thoughts that you'd like to leave us with about mammograms, about advocating for ourselves, about talking to your doctor and about enhanced artificial intelligence to make mammograms better?

Anjali Date, MD: Yeah, I think it's a really exciting time in the breast cancer world. Slowly and surely, hopefully we're leading to a point where, we're no longer needed and we can find different non-invasive ways to detect breast cancer at its earliest forms with improved technology. We can treat breast cancer at its earliest forms with less toxic, less invasive and aggressive procedures.

And that's where we're leading. And this is just sort of the first step towards that. We really want to take care of our patients.

Host: Yeah, that is great information, a very exciting time in your field, Dr. Date, and I always appreciate you joining us and really sharing your incredible expertise because people don't always get to ask you all these questions, and here you are on a podcast telling everybody about this enhanced breast cancer detection system.

So thank you again for joining us. I hope you'll come on back many times and give us lots of great information. You're a really great guest. Thank you so much again.

Anjali Date, MD: Thanks for having me.

Host: And to learn more or to schedule your annual mammogram, please visit sheilaveloz.com. You can also visit the free Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital online health information library@library.henrymayo.com.

That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Please always remember to subscribe, rate, and review It's Your Health Radio on Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeart, and Pandora. And for more health tips and updates, follow us on your social channels. I'm Melanie Cole.

Thanks so much for joining us today.