Multimodal medical case retrieval using the Dezert-Smarandache theory

Most medical images are now digitized and stored with semantic information, leading to medical case databases. They may be used for aid to diagnosis, by retrieving similar cases to those in examination. But the information are often incomplete, uncertain and sometimes conflicting, so difficult to use. In this paper, we present a Case Based Reasoning (CBR) system for medical case retrieval, derived from the Dezert-Smarandache theory, which is well suited to handle those problems. We introduce a case retrieval specific frame of discernment θ, which associates each element of θ with a case in the database; we take advantage of the flexibility offered by the DSmT's hybrid models to finely model the database. The system is designed so that heterogeneous sources of information can be integrated in the system: in particular images, indexed by their digital content, and symbolic information. The method is evaluated on two classified databases: one for diabetic retinopathy follow-up (DRD) and one for screening mammography (DDSM). On these databases, results are promising: the retrieval precision at five reaches 81.8% on DRD and 84.8% on DDSM.