Method for mass candidate detection and segmentation in digital mammograms
US8503742B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 6, 2009 |
| Grant date | Aug 6, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 10, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06V2201/032
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A basic component of Computer-Aided Detection systems for digital mammography comprises generating candidate mass locations suitable for further analysis. A component is described that relies on filtering either the background image or the complementary foreground mammographic detail by a purely signal processing method on the one hand or a processing method based on a physical model on the other hand. The different steps of the signal processing approach consist of band-pass filtering the image by one or more band pass filters, multidimensional clustering, iso-contouring of the distance to centroid of the one or more filtered values, and finally candidate generation and segmentation by contour processing. The physics-based approach also filters the image to retrieve a fat-corrected image to model the background of the breast, and the resulting image is subjected to a blob detection filter to model the intensity bumps on the foreground component of the breast that are associated with mass candidates.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.