Mammographic Image Analysis TL - 14

Abstract

The techniques developed so far in this monograph reflect current diagnostic and screening practice in mammography in the sense that they are based predominantly on x-ray images. In this chapter we change tack to discuss mammography based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). We begin by discussing the need for breast imaging techniques to complement x- ray, and we summarise some of the evidence in support of the diagnostic effectiveness of MRI. Then, beginning in Section 14.2, we describe the work we have carried out in our Laboratory in collaboration with our colleague Paul Hayton, in association with Niall Moore, Pieter Pretorius, and Lionel Tarassenko. The image processing system xmri that has been developed from this work has been installed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and was the subject of a recent clinical trial[204]. We stress that breast MR is a rapidly developing field with considerable potential. The results described here should be regarded as indicative but preliminary.