Microcalcifications detection in digital mammograms

A method is presented for detecting minimally sized microcalcifications on ma mammograms to add extra security to the radiologist´s classification. The method imitates the normal procedure followed by the specialist, and is easily implemented on low-cost PCs. As input, it accepts the usual digital mammograms. Tested against one of the most extensive databases - the DDSM of the University of South Florida - it gave a 100% success rate. For any suspicious regions (the so-called regions-of-interest or ROI) a separate image of suitable size is generated and displayed. The system also allows feature vectors to be generated for use in an automatic classifying system - such as a neural network (NN) - to determine the malignancy of the ROIs that were detected.