Multiresolution Wavelet Approach for Separating the Breast Region from the Background in High Resolution Digital Mammography

Abstract

There are many computer aided diagnosis (CAD) techniques applied to the analysis of digitized mammograms. A general overview of these methods can be found in Refs. 1 and 2. Often the CAD methods are used to detect and highlight abnormalities for aiding in the diagnosis performed via computer reading. In some instances, overall image enhancement without specific abnormality detection may be the desired CAD goal. In any event, CAD methods as well as efficient image storage and transfer require an initial stage of processing that can locate and mark the breast region [3], remove the off-breast noise field, eliminate patient markings that are often of very high intensity, and remove other artifacts that may found off the breast region of the image.