Detecting the stages of hyperplasia formation in the breast ducts using ultrasound B-scan images

A stochastic decomposition algorithm of the RF echo into its coherent and diffuse components is used towards estimating the structural parameters of the hyperplastic stages of the breast tissue leading to early breast cancer detection. The discrimination power of the various parameters is studied under a host of conditions such as varying resolution and SNR values using a point scatterer model simulator that mimics epithelium hyperplastic growth in the breast ducts. It is shown that three parameters, in particular, the number of coherent scatterers, the Rayleigh scattering degree and the energy of the diffuse scatterers, prove to show very high ability to discriminate between various stages of hyperplasia even in cases of low resolution and SNR values. Values of Az > 0.942 were obtained for resolution less than or equal to 0.4 mm even in low SNR values, then it drops below the 0.9 range as the resolution exceeds the 0.4 mm range