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Automatic segmentation and skinline detection in digital mammograms

  • US 5,825,910 A
  • Filed: 10/02/1996
  • Issued: 10/20/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of producing a computer-enhanced mammogram comprising:

  • irradiating a breast of a subject being examined with X-ray radiation in a predetermined viewing direction;

    receiving the X-ray radiation exiting the breast and its external surround from said viewing direction within a two-dimensional field;

    producing digital signals as a function of the X-ray radiation received, which digital signals correspond to an input two-dimensional array of digital pixels;

    in response to said signals, storing said input two-dimensional array of digital pixels in a digital memory means accessible to a computer;

    with said computer, processing the stored two-dimensional array of digital pixels to produce an output two-dimensional array of digital pixels in which one or more features of said input array is marked or enhanced, including detecting which pixels in said input array correspond to a skinline that forms a boundary between the breast and its external surround, and setting the values of pixels in the output array corresponding to the detected skinline to values that mark the detected skinline; and

    displaying the output array of digital pixels as an image on a display means;

    wherein the skinline of said breast as viewed from said viewing direction is dividable to include at least first and second contour sections and said detecting said skinline includes a step of performing a coarse segmentation between the breast and its external surround as a function of a spatial derivative computed only in a predetermined derivative direction at pixels at least in the vicinity of the skinline, said predetermined derivative direction being a first fixed direction in the vicinity of the skinline in the first contour section, and a second fixed direction, different from said first direction, in the vicinity of the skinline in the second contour section, at least one of said first and second fixed directions making a substantial angle with respect to a normal to a chest wall of the subject.

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