Lesion detection in digital breast tomosynthesis: human reader experiments indicate no benefit from the integration of information from multiple planes

Christiana Balta; Ingrid Reiser; Mireille J. M. Broeders; Wouter J. H. Veldkamp; Ruben E. van Engen; Ioannis Sechopoulos

doi:10.1117/1.JMI.10.S1.S11915

26 June 2023 Lesion detection in digital breast tomosynthesis: human reader experiments indicate no benefit from the integration of information from multiple planes

Christiana Balta, Ingrid Reiser, Mireille J. M. Broeders, Wouter J. H. Veldkamp, Ruben E. van Engen, Ioannis Sechopoulos

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Medical Imaging, Vol. 10, Issue S1, S11915 (June 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.10.S1.S11915

Abstract

Purpose

In digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), radiologists need to review a stack of 20 to 80 tomosynthesis images, depending upon breast size. This causes a significant increase in reading time. However, it is currently unknown whether there is a perceptual benefit to viewing a mass in the 3D tomosynthesis volume. To answer this question, this study investigated whether adjacent lesion-containing planes provide additional information that aids lesion detection for DBT-like and breast CT-like (bCT) images.

Method

Human reader detection performance was determined for low-contrast targets shown in a single tomosynthesis image at the center of the target (2D) or shown in the entire tomosynthesis image stack (3D). Using simulations, targets embedded in simulated breast backgrounds, and images were generated using a DBT-like (50 deg angular range) and a bCT-like (180 deg angular range) imaging geometry. Experiments were conducted with spherical and capsule-shaped targets. Eleven readers reviewed 1600 images in two-alternative forced-choice experiments. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and reading time were computed for the 2D and 3D reading modes for the DBT and bCT imaging geometries and for both target shapes.

Results

Spherical lesion detection was higher in 2D mode than in 3D, for both DBT- and bCT-like images (DBT: AUC_2D = 0.790, AUC_3D = 0.735, P = 0.03; bCT: AUC_2D = 0.869, AUC_3D = 0.716, P < 0.05), but equivalent for capsule-shaped signals (DBT: AUC_2D = 0.891, AUC_3D = 0.915, P = 0.19; bCT: AUC_2D = 0.854, AUC_3D = 0.847, P = 0.88). Average reading time was up to 134% higher for 3D viewing (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

For the detection of low-contrast lesions, there is no inherent visual perception benefit to reviewing the entire DBT or bCT stack. The findings of this study could have implications for the development of 2D synthetic mammograms: a single synthesized 2D image designed to include all lesions present in the volume might allow readers to maintain detection performance at a significantly reduced reading time.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

Citation Download Citation

Christiana Balta, Ingrid Reiser, Mireille J. M. Broeders, Wouter J. H. Veldkamp, Ruben E. van Engen, and Ioannis Sechopoulos "Lesion detection in digital breast tomosynthesis: human reader experiments indicate no benefit from the integration of information from multiple planes," Journal of Medical Imaging 10(S1), S11915 (26 June 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.10.S1.S11915

Received: 20 December 2022; Accepted: 13 June 2023; Published: 26 June 2023

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

JOURNAL ARTICLE
11 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

KEYWORDS

Digital breast tomosynthesis

3D image processing

Breast

3D acquisition

Optical spheres

3D vision

Signal detection

Purpose

Method

Results

Conclusions

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years