The Role of AI in Breast Cancer Lymph Node Classification: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Breast cancer is a significant health issue affecting women worldwide, and accurately detecting lymph node metastasis is critical in determining treatment and prognosis. While traditional diagnostic methods have limitations and complications, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) offer promising solutions for improving and supplementing diagnostic procedures. Current research has explored state-of-the-art DL models for breast cancer lymph node classification from radiological images, achieving high performances (AUC: 0.71–0.99). AI models trained on clinicopathological features also show promise in predicting metastasis status (AUC: 0.74–0.77), whereas multimodal (radiomics + clinicopathological features) models combine the best from both approaches and also achieve good results (AUC: 0.82–0.94). Once properly validated, such models could greatly improve cancer care, especially in areas with limited medical resources. This comprehensive review aims to compile knowledge about state-of-the-art AI models used for breast cancer lymph node metastasis detection, discusses proper validation techniques and potential pitfalls and limitations, and presents future directions and best practices to achieve high usability in real-world clinical settings.