Computerized characterization of prostate cancer by fractal analysis in MR images.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the potential of computerized characterization of prostate MR images by extracting the fractal features of texture and intensity distributions as indices in the differential diagnosis of prostate cancer.


METHODS
MR T2-weighted images (T2WI) of 55 patients with pathologic results detected by ultrasound guided biopsy were collected and then divided in two groups, 27 with prostate cancer (PCa) and 28 with no histological abnormality. Texture fractal dimension (TFD) and histogram fractal dimension (HFD) were calculated to analyze complexity features of regions of Interest (ROIs) selected from the peripheral zone. Two-sample t-tests were performed to evaluate group differences for both parameters. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to estimate the performance of TFD and HFD for discriminating PCa.


RESULTS
Significant differences were found in both TFD and HFD between the two patient groups. The areas under the ROC curves of TFD and HFD were 0.691 and 0.966, respectively, in distinguishing prostatic carcinoma from normal peripheral zone. As characterized by the fractal indices, cancerous prostatic tissue exhibited smoother texture and lower variation in intensity distribution than normal prostatic tissue.


CONCLUSIONS
The study suggests that TFD and HFD depict the changes in texture and intensity distribution associated with prostate cancer on T2WI. Both TFD and HFD provide promising quantitative indices for cancer identification. HFD performs better than TFD offering a more robust MR-based indicator in the diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma.
Lv
Dongjiao
D
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China, People's Republic of China.
Guo
Xuemei
X
Wang
Xiaoying
X
Zhang
Jue
J
Fang
Jing
J
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity