title: Pectoral muscle detection in mammograms based on the shortest path with endpoints learnt by SVMs.
abstract: Automatic pectoral muscle removal on medio-lateral oblique view of mammogram is an essential step for many mammographic processing algorithms. However, the wide variability in the position of the muscle contour, together with the similarity between in muscle and breast tissues makes the detection a difficult task. In this paper, we propose a two step procedure to detect the muscle contour. In a first step, the endpoints of the contour are predicted with a pair of support vector regression models; one model is trained to predict the intersection point of the contour with the top row while the other is designed for the prediction of the endpoint of the contour on the left column. Next, the muscle contour is computed as the shortest path between the two endpoints. A comprehensive comparison with manually-drawn contours reveals the strength of the proposed method.
authors.affiliation: INESC Porto, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal. inesdomingues@gmail.com
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Domingues
authors.forename: Jaime S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Passarinho
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santa Comba
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.forename: Maria J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique