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ICGST

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GVIP
Segmentation of the Breast Region in Mammograms using a Rule-Based Fuzzy Reasoning Algorithm
 
M. Wirth, D. Nikitenko, J. Lyon
Dept. Computing & Information Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada  N1G2W1
 
 
Abstract :
The principal feature within the breast region is the breast contour. Extraction of the breast region and delineation of the breast contour is an essential  pre-processing step in the process of computer aided detection. Primarily it allows the search for abnormalities to be limited to the region of the breast without undue influence from the background of the mammogram. In this paper we explore a new algorithm for breast region segmentation using fuzzy reasoning. The algorithm uses morphological pre-processing to suppress artifacts and accentuate the breast region, followed by a fuzzy rule-based algorithm to classify the breast tissue region. To demonstrate the capability of our segmentation algorithm it is extensively tested on mammograms from two databases using ground truth images and quantitative metrics to evaluate its performance characteristics. The experimental results indicate that the breast regions extracted accurately characterize the corresponding ground truth images. The algorithm is fully autonomous, and is able to preserve both the skin and nipple (if in profile), a task very few existing mammogram segmentation algorithms can claim.
 

Biography:

Dr. Michael Wirth has a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from RMIT University in Australia. He is presently a tenured assistant professor in the Department of Computing and Information Science at the University of Guelph where his research group is investigating algorithms for the enhancement, and segmentation of medical and biological images using techniques such as morphological analysis and fuzzy algorithms. His research interests include performance evaluation, software testing, forensic and biological image processing.

Keywords: Fuzzy rules, mammogram segmentation, breast region,  fuzzy segmentation.

BibTex:

@ARTICLE{P1150449001,

AUTHOR = {M. Wirth and  D. Nikitenko and  J. Lyon},

TITLE = {Segmentation of the Breast Region in Mammograms using a Rule-Based Fuzzy Reasoning Algorithm},

JOURNAL = {ICGST International Journal on Graphics, Vision and Image Processing},

YEAR = {2005},

MONTH={Jan.},

VOLUME = {05},

ISSUE={2},

PAGES={45--54}

}

( Full Paper 3 MB)