title: A fully automatic algorithm for segmentation of the breasts in DCE-MR images.
abstract: Automatic segmentation of the breast and axillary region is an important preprocessing step for automatic lesion detection in breast MR and dynamic contrast-enhanced-MR studies. In this paper, we present a fully automatic procedure based on the detection of the upper border of the pectoral muscle. Compared with previous methods based on thresholding, this method is more robust to noise and field inhomogeneities. The method was quantitatively evaluated on 31 cases acquired from two centers by comparing the results with a manual segmentation. Results indicate good overall agreement within the reference segmentation (overlap=0.79 ± 0.09, recall=0.95 ± 0.02, precision=0.82 ± 0.1).
authors.affiliation: Politecnico of Turin, Electronics Department, Italy. valentina.giannini@polito.it
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Giannini
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vignati
authors.forename: Lia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morra
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Persano
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brizzi
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carbonaro
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bert
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sardanelli
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Regge
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001940:Breast / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media