Why use neural networks? The reasons commonly cited in the literature
for using artificial neural networks for any problem are many and vari
ed. They learn from experience. They work where other algorithms fail.
They generalize from the training examples to perform well on indepen
dent test data. They reduce the number of false alarms without increas
ing significantly the number of false negatives. They are fast and are
easier to use than conventional statistical techniques, especially wh
en multiple prognostic factors are needed for a given problem. These f
actors have been overly promoted for the neural techniques. The common
theme of this paper is that artificial neural networks have proven to
be an interesting and useful alternate processing strategy. Artificia
l neural techniques, however, are not magical solutions with mystical
abilities that work without good engineering. With good understanding
of their capabilities and limitations they can be applied productively
to problems in early detection and diagnosis of cancer. The specific
cancer applications which will be used to demonstrate current work in
artificial neural networks for cancer detection and diagnosis are brea
st cancer, liver cancer and lung cancer.