Simulated Mammography Using Synthetic 3D Breasts

Abstract

How can we describe the form of an object as complex as the human breast? When we examine the anatomy of the breast it appears to consist of a highly irregular and chaotic arrangement of tissue. Pathologists and radiologists seek to describe this anatomy at different spatial scales, but they face the common difficulty of reconstructing a three-dimensional form out of two-dimensional views, such as radiographic projections and tissue slices. There has been little research into measuring the anatomy of the breast in three dimensions [6]. In this paper we present an algorithm that simulates the growth of duct systems within a breast volume. A description of image texture based on the Fourier spectrum is used to compare the simulation with real breast pathology. A model of the mammographic imaging process developed at Oxford [3] allows us to simulate the mammograms that would be obtained by subjecting the artificial breast to selected x-ray exposures. We consider that simulation of breast growth and form will have applications in the areas of breast development, physiology, and computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer.