Computerized detection of masses from digitized mammograms: comparison of single-image segmentation and bilateral-image subtraction.
OBJECTIVE
Two methods--single-image segmentation and bilateral-image subtraction--have been used commonly as the first stage in computer-aided detection (CAD) schemes to detect masses on digitized mammograms. In the current study, we investigated and compared the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods in achieving a high sensitivity for mass detection.


METHODS
Two CAD schemes were tested. One used Gaussian filtering based on single-image segmentation, and the other used bilateral-image subtraction based on left-right image pairs to identify suspicious mass regions. A clinical database that contained 152 verified mass cases was used to compare the two approaches.


RESULTS
The single-image segmentation method yielded 100% sensitivity and had a somewhat higher number of initial suspicious regions. The bilateral-image subtraction method missed several true-positive regions at the initial phase. Each approach achieved more than 90% sensitivity at a false-positive rate of approximately 0.8 per image.


CONCLUSIONS
Optimal initial image segmentation schemes may depend on the complete detection and classification method used. Single-image segmentation methods may perform comparably with bilateral-image segmentation schemes, and these techniques appear to be more versatile and easily adaptable to future clinical CAD applications.
Zheng
B
B
Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261-0001, USA.
Chang
Y H
YH
Gur
D
D
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique