Abstract
99mTc-sestamibi scintmammograms provide a powerful non-invasive means for detecting breast cancer at early stages. This paper describes an automatic method for detecting breast tumors in such mammograms. The proposed method not only detects tumors but also classifies non-tumor images as "normal" or "diffuse increased uptake" mammograms. The detection method makes use of Kohonen's "novelty filter". In this technique an orthogonal vector basis is created from a normal set of images. Test images presented to the detection method are described as a linear combination of the images in the vector basis. Assuming that the image basis is representative of normal patterns, then it can be expected that there should be no major differences between a normal test image and its corresponding linear combination image. However, if the test image presents an abnormal pattern, then it is expected that the "abnormalities" will show as the difference between the original test image and the image built from the vector basis. In other words, the existing abnormality cannot be explained by the set of normal images and comes up as a "novelty." An important part of the proposed method are the steps taken for standardizing images before they can be used as part of the vector basis. Standardization is the keystone to the success of the proposed method, as the novelty filter is very sensitive to changes in shape and alignment.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Baillet G. Y., Mena I. G., Kuperus J. H., Robertson J. M., French W. J. Simultaneous technetium-99m MIBI angiography and myocardial perfusion imaging. J Nucl Med. 1989 Jan;30(1):38–44. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Balon H. R., Fink-BennetT D., Stoffer S. S. Technetium-99m-sestamibi uptake by recurrent Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid. J Nucl Med. 1992 Jul;33(7):1393–1395. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Caner B., Kitapçl M., Unlü M., Erbengi G., Calikoğlu T., Gö T., Bekdik C. Technetium-99m-MIBI uptake in benign and malignant bone lesions: a comparative study with technetium-99m-MDP. J Nucl Med. 1992 Mar;33(3):319–324. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Coakley A. J., Kettle A. G., Wells C. P., O'Doherty M. J., Collins R. E. 99Tcm sestamibi--a new agent for parathyroid imaging. Nucl Med Commun. 1989 Nov;10(11):791–794. doi: 10.1097/00006231-198911000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kopans D. B. The positive predictive value of mammography. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1992 Mar;158(3):521–526. doi: 10.2214/ajr.158.3.1310825. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Martin J. E., Moskowitz M., Milbrath J. R. Breast cancer missed by mammography. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1979 May;132(5):737–739. doi: 10.2214/ajr.132.5.737. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Narahara K. A., Villanueva-Meyer J., Thompson C. J., Brizendine M., Mena I. Comparison of thallium-201 and technetium-99m hexakis 2-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile single-photon emission computed tomography for estimating the extent of myocardial ischemia and infarction in coronary artery disease. Am J Cardiol. 1990 Dec 15;66(20):1438–1444. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(90)90530-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Raff U., Newman F. D. Automated lesion detection and lesion quantitation in MR images using autoassociative memory. Med Phys. 1992 Jan-Feb;19(1):71–77. doi: 10.1118/1.596853. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]