Method for assessing breast density

摘要

Breast density is a significant breast cancer risk factor measured from mammograms. Evidence suggests that the spatial variation in mammograms may also be associated with risk. The variation in calibrated mammograms as a breast cancer risk factor was investigated and its relationship with other measures of breast density was explored using full field digital mammography (FFDM) as described herein. A matched case-control analysis was used to assess a spatial variation breast density measure in calibrated FFDM images, normalized for the image acquisition technique variation. The findings indicate the variation measure is a viable automated method for assessing breast density. Insights gained by this work may be used to develop a standard for measuring breast density.

主权项

1. A method of assessing breast density for breast cancer risk applications, comprising:
receiving digital image data including a plurality of pixels; calibrating the digital image data; measuring a variation of pixel values of the calibrated digital image data, wherein measuring a variation of pixel values of the calibrated digital image data further comprises at least one of calculating an l2 norm or order derived therefrom or calculating an l1 norm or order derived therefrom; and associating the variation of pixel values with a measure of risk for breast cancer, wherein the variation of pixel values correlates with at least one of a relative risk for breast cancer, an odds ratio for breast cancer, or an absolute risk prediction for breast cancer.