Title
Accurate Construction Of 3-D Numerical Breast Models With Anatomical Information Through Mri Scans
Abstract
The realistic numerical breast model is an important tool for verifying algorithms, improving design concepts, and exploring new technologies related to microwave breast cancer detection. Recently, several numerical breast models have been developed. However, these models do not include the real breast boundary and the chest region, which causes the electromagnetic wave propagation in the breast models to deviate from the actual situation. The proposed breast models in this paper overcome the significant deficiencies of the recent breast models in terms of structure completeness and authenticity. The model construction based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans is a multistep approach. Firstly, intensity inhomogeneity in MRI images is corrected by an improved nonparametric nonuniform intensity normalization (N4) algorithm. Then, a dual threshold and morphological transformation (DTMT) method is developed to segment the real breast region. Subsequently, a modified maximum inter-class variance (MICV) method is employed to automatically divide the breast region into the fat and the fibroglandular clusters with desired complexity. Finally, the dielectric properties of breast tissues are calculated by a piecewise weighted mapping method. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by constructing four breast models with varying tissue density, shape, and size. The constructed models in this study are significant to achieve reliable and precise effects for microwave breast cancer detection due to the accurate expression of the breast anatomical information and electromagnetic characteristics.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1016/j.compbiomed.2020.104205
COMPUTERS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Keywords
DocType
Volume
3-D numerical breast models, Microwave breast cancer detection, Breast segmentation, Tissue segmentation, Dielectric properties
Journal
130
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
0010-4825
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Min Lu100.34
Xia Xiao252.66
Hang Song373.40
Guancong Liu401.01
Hong Lu500.34
Takamaro Kikkawa66914.32