A Novel Cascade Classifier for Automatic Microcalcification Detection

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 2;10(12):e0143725. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143725. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel cascaded classification framework for automatic detection of individual and clusters of microcalcifications (μC). Our framework comprises three classification stages: i) a random forest (RF) classifier for simple features capturing the second order local structure of individual μCs, where non-μC pixels in the target mammogram are efficiently eliminated; ii) a more complex discriminative restricted Boltzmann machine (DRBM) classifier for μC candidates determined in the RF stage, which automatically learns the detailed morphology of μC appearances for improved discriminative power; and iii) a detector to detect clusters of μCs from the individual μC detection results, using two different criteria. From the two-stage RF-DRBM classifier, we are able to distinguish μCs using explicitly computed features, as well as learn implicit features that are able to further discriminate between confusing cases. Experimental evaluation is conducted on the original Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) and mini-MIAS databases, as well as our own Seoul National University Bundang Hospital digital mammographic database. It is shown that the proposed method outperforms comparable methods in terms of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and precision-recall curves for detection of individual μCs and free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) curve for detection of clustered μCs.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Calcinosis / classification
  • Calcinosis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Databases, Factual
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Machine Learning
  • Mammography / methods*
  • Mammography / statistics & numerical data
  • Radiographic Image Enhancement / methods
  • Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Seoul

Associated data

  • Dryad/10.5061/dryad.JM6K3

Grants and funding

SL has been funded by the Soonchunhyang university (http://home.sch.ac.kr/english/index.jsp) research fund. IDY was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF, http://www.nrf.re.kr/nrf_eng_cms/), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2013R1A1A2A10004550, 2015R1A5A7036384). HYJ was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund of 2015. SMK was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korean government (MEST, http://english.msip.go.kr/english/main/main.do) (grant code: 2012R1A1A3008621). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.