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A method for detecting microcalcifications in digital mammograms.

B C Wallet·J L Solka·C E Priebe
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Abstract

Microcalcification clusters are often an important indicator for the detection of malignancy in mammograms. In many cases, microcalcifications are the only indication of a malignancy. However, the detection of microcalcifications can be a difficult process. They are small and can be embedded in dense tissue. This paper presents a method for automatically detecting microcalcifications. We utilize a high-boost filter to suppress background clutter enabling segmentation even in very dense breast tissue. We then use a threshholding and region growing technique to extract candidate microcalcifications. Likely microcalcifications are then identified by a linear classifier. We apply this method to images selected from the LLNL/UCSF Digital Mammogram Library, and produce a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to detail the trade-off between probability of detection and false alarms. Finally, we exam the ability to properly select a threshold to achieve a desired probability of detection based upon a training set. This is a US government work. There are no restrictions on its use.

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Breast NeoplasmsCalcinosisFemaleHumansMammographyROC CurveRadiographic Image EnhancementJournal Article

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BibTeXRIS

B C Wallet, J L Solka, C E Priebe. 1997. A method for detecting microcalcifications in digital mammograms.. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03168677

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