Alain Tiedeu

3-D reconstruction of microcalcification clusters using stereo imaging: algorithm and mammographic unit calibration

The three-dimensional (3-D) shape of microcalcification clusters is an important indicator in early breast cancer detection. In fact, there is a relationship between the cluster topology and the type of lesion (malignant or benign). This paper presents a 3-D reconstruction method for such clusters using two 2-D views acquired during standard mammographic examinations. For this purpose, the mammographic unit was modeled using a camera with virtual optics. This model was used to calibrate the acquisition unit and then to reconstruct the clusters in the 3-D space after microcalcification segmentation and matching. The proposed model is hardware independent since it is suitable for digital mammographic units with different geometries and with various physical acquisition principles. Three-dimensional reconstruction results are presented here to prove the validity of the method. Tests were first performed using a phantom with a well-known geometry. The latter contained X-ray opaque glass balls representing microcalcifications. The positions of these balls were reconstructed with a 16.25-/spl mu/m mean accuracy. This very high inherent algorithm accuracy is more than enough for a precise 3-D cluster representation. Further validation tests were carried out using a second phantom including a spherical cluster. This phantom was built with materials simulating the behavior of both mammary tissue and microcalcifications toward Xrays. The reconstructed shape was effectively spherical. Finally, reconstructions were carried out for real clusters and their results are also presented.

The EKT method for extraction of periodic signals from noise

Abstract Extracting periodic signal drowned in noise is a challenge in signal processing. Usually, to extract a message made up of several harmonics, it is necessary to have a reference periodic signal made up of as many harmonics. This requires a long processing time if harmonics are extracted one after another. The solution adopted is to simultaneously generate harmonics of the reference signal with the aid of the Dirac comb. This method however has limitations in terms of signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, we propose a new reference signal which allows extracting the message with a better signal-to-noise ratio than that obtained using the Dirac comb.

Toward a group delay reduction in digital filtering

Finite impulse response (FIR) filters are often used in digital signal processing applications because their linear phase properties do not introduce group delay distortion. While this property is desirable, we may also desire that the filter exhibit zero group delay to suppress the causal time offset between the input and output of the filter. We can minimize the causal delay by the use of recursive minimum phase filters but these introduce an objectionable group delay distortion. We desire both zero group delay and a nonrecursive impulse response (IR). This filter can be applied to input signals indirectly through a modified overlap and save FFT based circular convolution. The desired result is obtained in our proposed new filtering technique: the modified overlap and save method (MOSM). We accomplish this by redefining the time origin of the prototype filters impulse response by circularly shifting the response in the FFT filter time vector till the symmetry point coincides with the vectors zero index.

A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF TWO ALGORITHMS OF DETECTION OF MASSES ON MAMMOGRAMS

In this paper, we implement and carry out the comparison of two methods of computer-aided-detection of masses on mammograms. The two algorithms basically consist of 3 steps each: segmentation, binarization and noise suppression using different techniques for each step. A database of 60 images was used to compare the performance of the two algorithms in terms of general detection efficiency, conservation of size and shape of detected masses.