Diagnosis of breast cancer by MRI: a 3D computer visualization and analysis system

The conventional diagnosis of breast cancer by a combination of mammography and physical examination has limited efficacy. Only 20 - 30% of the suspicious breast lesions biopsied are actually malignant. Breast MRI (BMRI), using intravenous contrast injection to detect and characterize breast lesions, has shown promise in several studies. We are developing a 3D image visualization and analysis system to assist radiologists to detect breast cancer in BMRI. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI has emerged to become an effective procedure in BMRI for the diagnosis and management of breast carcinoma. A 3D image visualization and analysis system that allows a radiologist to rapidly search through BMRI images and visualize three- dimensional volume of a whole breast has been developed. Three dimensional breast images were constructed from 2D slices. The system can register and subtract a pre-contrast image from each of the time sequenced post-contrast images. The dynamic time sequences of the breast before and after the contrast administration can be visualized. Suspicious lesions can be detected based on the dynamic time-sequence changes in images. The system also allows interactive manipulation of images for viewing from different angles and examination of 2D projections at specific locations. The developed 3D image visualization and analysis system provided radiologists an efficient way to analyze MR breast images. Our automated detection scheme has the potential to accurately detect suspicious lesions and can be an effective tool to facilitate the clinical application of MRI for breast imaging.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.