title: Computer-based automated estimation of breast vascularity and correlation with breast cancer in DCE-MRI images.
abstract: Dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) with gadolinium constitutes one of the most promising protocols for boosting up the sensitivity in breast cancer detection. The aim of this study was twofold: first to design an image processing methodology to estimate the vascularity of the breast region in DCE-MRI images and second to investigate whether the differences in the composition/texture and vascularity of normal, benign and malignant breasts may serve as potential indicators regarding the presence of the disease. Clinical material comprised thirty nine cases examined on a 3.0-T MRI system (SIGNA HDx; GE Healthcare). Vessel segmentation was performed using a custom made modification of the Seeded Region Growing algorithm that was designed in order to identify pixels belonging to the breast vascular network. Two families of features were extracted: first, morphological and textural features from segmented images in order to quantify the extent and the properties of the vascular network; second, textural features from the whole breast region in order to investigate whether the nature of the disease causes statistically important changes in the texture of affected breasts. Results have indicated that: (a) the texture of vessels presents statistically significant differences (p<0.001) between normal, benign and malignant cases, (b) the texture of the whole breast region for malignant and non-malignant breasts, produced statistically significant differences (p<0.001), (c) the relative ratios of the texture between the two breasts may be used for the discrimination of non-malignant from malignant patients, and (d) an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.908 (AUC) was found when features were combined in a logistic regression prediction rule according to ROC analysis.
authors: Medical Image and Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, Egaleo, Athens, 12210, Greece.
authors: Spiros A
authors: SA
authors: Kostopoulos
authors: Department of Radiology, Medical School of Thessaly, University Hospital of Larissa, Biopolis, Larissa, 41110, Greece.
authors: Katerina G
authors: KG
authors: Vassiou
authors: Department of Medical Radiologic Technology, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, Egaleo, Athens, 12210, Greece.
authors: Eleftherios N
authors: EN
authors: Lavdas
authors: Medical Image and Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, Egaleo, Athens, 12210, Greece.
authors: Dionisis A
authors: DA
authors: Cavouras
authors: Medical Image and Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, Egaleo, Athens, 12210, Greece.
authors: Ioannis K
authors: IK
authors: Kalatzis
authors: Medical Image and Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, Egaleo, Athens, 12210, Greece.
authors: Pantelis A
authors: PA
authors: Asvestas
authors: Department of Anatomy, School of Health Sciences, University of Larissa, Biopolis, Larissa, 41110, Greece.
authors: Dimitrios L
authors: DL
authors: Arvanitis
authors: Department of Radiology, Medical School of Thessaly, University Hospital of Larissa, Biopolis, Larissa, 41110, Greece.
authors: Ioannis V
authors: IV
authors: Fezoulidis
authors: Medical Image and Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, Egaleo, Athens, 12210, Greece. Electronic address: dimglo@teiath.gr.
authors: Dimitris T
authors: DT
authors: Glotsos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001940:Breast / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D005682:Gadolinium
keywords: Breast cancer; DCE-MRI; Medical image processing; Texture analysis