Symmetry-based detection and diagnosis of DCIS in breast MRI

Abstract

Detecting early stage breast cancers like Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) is important, as it supports effective and minimally invasive treatments. Although Computer Aided Detection/Diagnosis (CADe/ CADx) systems have been successfully employed for highly malignant carcinomas, their performance on DCIS is inadequate. In this context, we propose a novel approach combining symmetry, kinetics and morphology that achieves superior performance. We base our work on contrast enhanced data of 18 pure DCIS cases with hand annotated lesions and 9 purely normal cases. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the system stood at 89% each. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.