A new approach to microcalcification detection in digital mammograms

Computer-aided mammography is an important and challenging task in automated diagnosis. It has great potential over the traditional x-ray mammography in terms of efficiency and accuracy. Microcalcifications are the earliest sign of breast carcinomas and their accurate detection is one of the key issues for breast cancer control. In this study, a novel approach to detecting microcalcifications in digital mammograms is presented. The essential idea of the proposed approach is to apply a fuzzified image of a mammogram to locate the regions of interest and to interact the fuzzified image with the original image to preserve the fidelity. The major advantage of the proposed method is its ability to detect microcalcifications in very dense breast mammograms. A series of clinical mammograms are employed to test the proposed algorithm. The experiments aptly show that the microcalcifications are not only accurately detected but their features are also well preserved.