Method for Feature Analysis in Medical Imaging. Executive Summary

摘要

The study was designed to improve the ability of radiologists to detectmalignancies and differentiate malignant from benign breast disease in women having mammograms. To this end, a list of perceptual features was developed and the importance of each in the diagnosis of patients having a mammogram, a diaphanogram, or both was quantitated. Two decision aids were developed one to assist readers in assessing the feature numerically and second to assist in merging the assessments into a diagnostic probability. The enhancement effect of these aids was found to increase in size with increasing difficulty of the test cases, reaching a very substantial level for the most difficult cases. Diaphanography used adjunctively with mammography increased the accuracy of mammography alone only in the enhanced condition, but not to a clinically significant extent.