Digital differential radiography (DDR): a new diagnostic procedure for locating neoplasms, such as breast cancers, in soft, deformable tissues
Andrzej K. Mazur, E. J. Mazur, Richard Gordon · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1993
We introduce a new method, the Image Correlation Technique (ICT), that automatically estimates the transformation of deformations (including large ones) between an image and a distorted version of that image. The outcome of the method is a displacement field. The geometric distortion that occurs between an undeformed (reference) and a deformed picture is, in general, unknown. Using new algorithms and simulation annealing, a well established global optimization technique, by rearranging pixels from a picture frame taken prior to the deformation (the reference picture), we arrive at the pixel arrangement represented by the picture frame taken after the deformation. The method works equally well for linear and non- linear cases. We present examples of deformation estimation for pairs of two-dimensional images. However, the method can be readily applied to three-dimensional objects such as those imaged by CT. By using ICT, we propose a new diagnostic procedure, Digital Differential Radiography (DDR), to find neoplasms, physiological liquid drainage, swelling or tissue necrosis, etc. We present examples of the deformation estimation for a pair of two- dimensional images of breast tissue and the result of the divergence calculation to pinpoint simulated tissue growth abnormalities. This new procedure for automatic detection of growing masses may be applicable to all imaging modalities, especially Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.