Computer-aided detection of subtle signs of early breast cancer

Abstract

Architectural distortion is a subtle sign of early breast cancer that could be missed in screening mammography. Furthermore, screening mammograms obtained prior to the detection of cancer could contain subtle signs of early stages of breast cancer, in particular, architectural distortion. This talk presents an overview of several techniques of digital image processing and pattern analysis for the detection of architectural distortion in mammograms. The results indicate that techniques of computer-aided detection can help in the diagnosis of breast cancer at earlier stages than possible by visual interpretation of mammograms.