Abstract
Breast cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related death for women worldwide, and enhancing patient outcomes still depends on early detection. The most common imaging technique for diagnosing and screening for breast cancer is mammography, which has a high potential for early lesion detection. With an emphasis on the incorporation of deep learning (DL) techniques, this review examines the changing role of mammography in early breast cancer detection. We examine recent advancements in DL-based approaches for mammogram analysis, including tasks such as classification, segmentation, and lesion detection. Additionally, we assess the limitations of traditional mammographic methods and highlight how DL can enhance diagnostic accuracy, reduce false positives and negatives, and support clinical decision-making. The review emphasizes the potential of DL to assist radiologists in clinical decision-making, as well as increases in diagnostic accuracy and decreases in false positives and negatives. We also discuss issues like interpretability, generalization across populations, and data scarcity. This review summarizes the available data to highlight the revolutionary potential of DL-enhanced mammography in breast cancer screening and to suggest future research avenues for more reliable, transparent, and clinically useful AI-driven solutions.