A comparative study of volumetric breast density estimation in digital mammography and magnetic resonance imaging: results from a high-risk population

Despina Kontos; Ye Xing; Predrag R. Bakic; Emily F. Conant; Andrew D. A. Maidment

doi:10.1117/12.845568

9 March 2010 A comparative study of volumetric breast density estimation in digital mammography and magnetic resonance imaging: results from a high-risk population

Despina Kontos, Ye Xing, Predrag R. Bakic, Emily F. Conant, Andrew D. A. Maidment

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7624, Medical Imaging 2010: Computer-Aided Diagnosis; 762409 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.845568
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We performed a study to compare methods for volumetric breast density estimation in digital mammography (DM) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for a high-risk population of women. DM and MRI images of the unaffected breast from 32 women with recently detected abnormalities and/or previously diagnosed breast cancer (age range 31-78 yrs, mean 50.3 yrs) were retrospectively analyzed. DM images were analyzed using QuantraTM (Hologic Inc). The MRI images were analyzed using a fuzzy-C-means segmentation algorithm on the T1 map. Both methods were compared to Cumulus (Univ. Toronto). Volumetric breast density estimates from DM and MRI are highly correlated (r=0.90, p≤0.001). The correlation between the volumetric and the area-based density measures is lower and depends on the training background of the Cumulus software user (r=0.73-84, p≤0.001). In terms of absolute values, MRI provides the lowest volumetric estimates (mean=14.63%), followed by the DM volumetric (mean=22.72%) and area-based measures (mean=29.35%). The MRI estimates of the fibroglandular volume are statistically significantly lower than the DM estimates for women with very low-density breasts (p≤0.001). We attribute these differences to potential partial volume effects in MRI and differences in the computational aspects of the image analysis methods in MRI and DM. The good correlation between the volumetric and the area-based measures, shown to correlate with breast cancer risk, suggests that both DM and MRI volumetric breast density measures can aid in breast cancer risk assessment. Further work is underway to fully-investigate the association between volumetric breast density measures and breast cancer risk.

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Despina Kontos, Ye Xing, Predrag R. Bakic, Emily F. Conant, and Andrew D. A. Maidment "A comparative study of volumetric breast density estimation in digital mammography and magnetic resonance imaging: results from a high-risk population", Proc. SPIE 7624, Medical Imaging 2010: Computer-Aided Diagnosis, 762409 (9 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.845568

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