title: An automatic detection method for carotid artery calcifications using top-hat filter on dental panoramic radiographs.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to develop an automated carotid artery calcification (CAC) detection scheme on dental panoramic radiographs (DPRs). The CAC is one of the indices for predicting the risk of arteriosclerosis. First, regions of interest (ROIs) that include CACs were determined on the basis of inflection points of the mandibular contour. Initial CAC candidates were detected by using a grayscale top-hat filter and simple grayscale thresholding technique. Finally, a rule-based approach and support vector machine to reduce the number of false positive (FP) findings were applied using features such as area, location, and circularity. Thirty-four DPRs were used to evaluate the proposed scheme. The sensitivity for the detection of CACs was 93.6% with 4.4 FPs per image. Experimental results showed that our computer-aided detection scheme may be useful to detect CACs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intelligent Image Information, Division of Regeneration and Advanced Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, Gifu 501-1194, Japan. gashira@fjt.info.gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sawagashira
authors.forename: Tatsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Akitoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsumata
authors.forename: Chisako
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Xiangrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.forename: Kiyoji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katagi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujita
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D006928:Hyoid Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012372:ROC Curve; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014965:X-Rays