Mixture Modeling for Digital Mammogram Display and Analysis

We have devised a mammogram modeling system which greatly simplifies the development of, and can improve the accuracy and consistency of, computer-aided display and analysis algorithms for digital mammography. Our system segments the five major components of a mammogram: background, uncompressed-fat, fat, dense, and muscle. Differences in the amount and distribution of these components account for much of the variation between mammograms. Via segmentation, the corresponding variations are isolated; automated algorithms can consider the components independently or adapt their parameters based on component-specific statistics.