The diagnostic performance of leak-plugging automated segmentation versus manual tracing of breast lesions on ultrasound images. (May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xiong, Hui; Sultan, Laith R; Cary, Theodore W; Schultz, Susan M; Bouzghar, Ghizlane; Sehgal, Chandra M
• Is Part Of: Ultrasound. Volume 25:Number 2(2017:May)
• Page Start: 98
• Page End: 106
• Publication Date: 2017-05
• Subjects: Breast cancer -- ultrasonography -- lesion segmentation -- computer-aided analysis; Ultrasonic imaging -- Periodicals; Ultrasonography -- Periodicals; 616.0754305
• DOI: 10.1177/1742271X17690425
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-271X

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the diagnostic performance of a leak-plugging segmentation method that we have developed for delineating breast masses on ultrasound images. Materials and methods: Fifty-two biopsy-proven breast lesion images were analyzed by three observers using the leak-plugging and manual segmentation methods. From each segmentation method, grayscale and morphological features were extracted and classified as malignant or benign by logistic regression analysis. The performance of leak-plugging and manual segmentations was compared by: size of the lesion, overlap area ( Oa ) between the margins, and area under the ROC curves ( Az ). Results: The lesion size from leak-plugging segmentation correlated closely with that from manual tracing ( R 2 of 0.91). Oa was higher for leak plugging, 0.92 ± 0.01 and 0.86 ± 0.06 for benign and malignant masses, respectively, compared to 0.80 ± 0.04 and 0.73 ± 0.02 for manual tracings. Overall Oa between leak-plugging and manual segmentations was 0.79 ± 0.14 for benign and 0.73 ± 0.14 for malignant lesions. Az for leak plugging was consistently higher (0.910 ± 0.003) compared to 0.888 ± 0.012 for manual tracings. The coefficient of variation of Az between three observers was 0.29% for leak plugging compared to 1.3% for manual tracings. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance, size measurements, and observer variability for automated leak-plugging segmentations were either comparable to or better than those of manual tracings.