Thickness correction of mammographic images by means of a global parameter model of the compressed breast.

Abstract

Peripheral enhancement and tilt correction of unprocessed digital mammograms was achieved with a new reversible algorithm. This method has two major advantages for image visualization. First, the display dynamic range can be relatively small, and second, adjustment of the overall luminance to inspect details is not required in most cases. The correction is useful for preprocessing in computer-aided detection/diagnosis algorithms. The method is based on knowledge of the three-dimensional compressed breast shape to equalize thickness by adding virtual tissue, which results in intensity equalization for the mammographic image. Previously described methods implicitly estimate the contribution of thickness variations to image intensity, usually by nonparametric methods. The proposed method employs a global parametic breast shape model, which is advantageous for visualization and CAD.