Automatic Segmentation of Enhancing Breast Tissue in Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MR Images

We present a novel method for the segmentation of enhancing breast tissue, suspicious of malignancy, in dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MR images. The method is based on seeded region growing and merging using criteria based on both the original image intensity values and the fitted parameters of a novel empiric parametric model of contrast enhancement. We present the results of the application of the method to DCE-MRI data sets originating from breast MRI examinations of 24 subjects (10 cases of benign and 14 cases of malignant enhancement). The results show that the segmentation method has 100% sensitivity for the detection of suspicious regions independently identified by a radiologist. The results suggest that the method has potential both as a tool to assist the clinician with the task of locating suspicious tissue and as input to a computer assisted diagnostic system for generating quantitative features for automatic classification of suspicious tissue.