Realism of mammography tissue patches simulated using perlin noise: A forced choice reading study

Magnus Dustler, Predrag Bakic, Debra M. Ikeda, Kristina Lång, Reyer Zwiggelaar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPaper in conference proceedingpeer-review

Abstract

Software breast phantoms are central to the optimization of breast imaging, where in many cases the use of real images would be inefficient - or impossible. Establishing the realism of such phantoms is critical. For this study, patches of simulated breast tissue with different composition - fatty, scattered, heterogenous and dense tissue - were generated using a method based on Perlin noise. The composition of the patches is controlled by numerical parameters derived from input by radiologists and medical physicists with experience of breast imaging. Separate Perlin noise-based methods were used to simulate skin pores, high-frequency noise (representing quantum and electronic noise) and ligaments and vascular structures. In a forced choice reading study, the realism of the simulated tissue patches compared to patches from real mammograms was determined. Patches of 200-500 pixels were extracted from radiolucent, linear, nodular or homogenous (10 per category) mammograms randomly selected from a previously acquired dataset. Eighteen simulated patches in the same size range were added. Four readers, two radiologists and two medical physicists were shown the images in random order and asked to rate them as real or simulated. All readers accepted a substantial fraction of simulated images as real, ranging from 22% to 72%. Only two readers showed a significant difference in the number of images rated real in the real and simulated groups, 22% vs 73% (P=.0003) and 33% vs 63% (P=.04), respectively. These results suggest that the method employed can create images that are almost indistinguishable from patches of real mammograms.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMedical Imaging 2021
Subtitle of host publicationPhysics of Medical Imaging
EditorsHilde Bosmans, Wei Zhao, Lifeng Yu
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510640191
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
EventMedical Imaging 2021: Physics of Medical Imaging - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 2021 Feb 152021 Feb 19

Publication series

NameProgress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE
Volume11595
ISSN (Print)1605-7422

Conference

ConferenceMedical Imaging 2021: Physics of Medical Imaging
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period2021/02/152021/02/19

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dr. Wenda He for providing the mammography data set used in the study. The study was supported by grants from Allmänna Sjukhusets i Malmö Stiftelse för bekämpande av cancer and Stiftelsen för Cancerforskning vid and the Cancer Research Foundation at the Department of Oncology, Malmö University Hospital (MD) and the Marie Sklodowska Curie fellowship (PB).

Publisher Copyright:
© COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Radiology and Medical Imaging

Free keywords

  • Breast imaging
  • Mammography
  • Perlin noise
  • Reading study
  • Tissue simulation

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