A review of automatic mass detection and segmentation in mammographic images

Oliver, Arnau; Freixenet, Jordi; Martí, Joan; Pérez, Elsa; Pont, Josep; Denton, Erika R.E.; Zwiggelaar, Reyer

doi:10.1016/j.media.2009.12.005

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Volume 14, Issue 2 , Pages 87-110, April 2010

A review of automatic mass detection and segmentation in mammographic images

Arnau Oliver
- Dept. of Computer Architecture and Technology, University of Girona Ed. P-IV, Campus de Montilivi 17071, Girona, Spain
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 972 418878; fax: +34 972 418259.
Jordi Freixenet
- Dept. of Computer Architecture and Technology, University of Girona Ed. P-IV, Campus de Montilivi 17071, Girona, Spain
Joan Martí
- Dept. of Computer Architecture and Technology, University of Girona Ed. P-IV, Campus de Montilivi 17071, Girona, Spain
Elsa Pérez
- Dept. of Radiology, University Hospital Josep Trueta, Avda de França, s/n 17007, Girona, Spain
Josep Pont
- Dept. of Radiology, University Hospital Josep Trueta, Avda de França, s/n 17007, Girona, Spain
Erika R.E. Denton
- Dept. of Breast Imaging, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich NR4 7UY, UK
Reyer Zwiggelaar
- Dept. of Computer Science, University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, UK

Received 30 June 2009; received in revised form 15 December 2009; accepted 18 December 2009. published online 28 December 2009.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review existing approaches to the automatic detection and segmentation of masses in mammographic images, highlighting the key-points and main differences between the used strategies. The key objective is to point out the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches. In contrast with other reviews which only describe and compare different approaches qualitatively, this review also provides a quantitative comparison. The performance of seven mass detection methods is compared using two different mammographic databases: a public digitised database and a local full-field digital database. The results are given in terms of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and Free-response Receiver Operating Characteristic (FROC) analysis.

Keywords: Digital mammography, Computer-Aided Diagnosis systems, Breast mass detection, Automatic segmentation, FROC analysis