2010/08/16 by Cristina Forastero, Luis I. Zamora, D. Guirado +1 · 20 citations
Medicine · Computer Science · Mathematics · #Global Cancer Incidence and Screening #Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection #AI in cancer detection #Monte Carlo method #Mammography #Breast cancer #Sensitivity (control systems) #Population #Statistics #Breast cancer screening #Computer science #Probability distribution #Statistical model #Medical physics #Cancer #Medicine #Mathematics #Internal medicine #Environmental health
paper · doi:10.1088/0031-9155/55/17/021
published in Physics in Medicine and Biology 55(17), 5213-5229 (IOP Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2010/08/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
A Monte Carlo tool which permits the simulation of screening mammography programmes is developed. Various statistical distributions describing different parameters involved in the problem are used: the characteristics of the population under study, a tumour growth model and a model for tumour detection based on parameters such as sensitivity and specificity which depends on the woman's age. We reproduce results of different actual programmes. The model enables us to find out the configuration (the age of the women who attend the screening trials and screening frequency) which produces maximum benefits with minimum risks. In addition, the model has permitted us to validate some of the assumed hypothesis, such as the probability distribution of the tumour detection as a function of the tumour size, the frequency of the histological types and the transition probability between different histological types.