Abstract. Early detection of Ground Glass Nodule (GGN) in lungComputed Tomography (CT) images is important for lung cancer prognosis. Due to its indistinct boundaries, manual detection and segmentation of GGN is labor-intensive and problematic. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-level learning-based framework for automatic detection and segmentation of GGN in lung CT images. Our main contributions are: firstly, a multi-level statistical learning-based approach that seamlessly integrates segmentation and detection to improve the overall accuracy for GGN detection (in a subvolume). The classification is done at two levels, both voxel-level and object-level. The algorithm starts with a three-phase voxel-level classification step, using volumetric features computed per voxel to generate a GGN class-conditional probability map. GGN candidates are then extracted from this probability map by integrating prior knowledge of shape and location, and the GGN object-level classifier is used to determine the occurrence of the GGN. Secondly, an extensive set of volumetric features are used to capture the GGN appearance. Finally, to our best knowledge, the GGN dataset used for experiments is an order of magnitude larger than previous work. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated on a dataset of 1100 subvolumes (100 containing GGNs) extracted from about 200 subjects.

In this paper, we propose a learning-based algorithm for automatic medical image annotation based on robust aggregation of learned local appearance cues, achieving high accuracy and robustness against severe diseases, imaging artifacts, occlusion, or missing data. The algorithm starts with a number of landmark detectors to collect local appearance cues throughout the image, which are subsequently verified by a group of learned sparse spatial configuration models. In most cases, a decision could already be made at this stage by simply aggregating the verified detections. For the remaining cases, an additional global appearance filtering step is employed to provide complementary information to make the final decision. This approach is evaluated on a large-scale chest radiograph view identification task, demonstrating a very high accuracy ( > 99.9%) for a posteroanterior/anteroposterior (PA-AP) and lateral view position identification task, compared with the recently reported large-scale result of only 98.2% (Luo, , 2006). Our approach also achieved the best accuracies for a three-class and a multiclass radiograph annotation task, when compared with other state of the art algorithms. Our algorithm was used to enhance advanced image visualization workflows by enabling content-sensitive hanging-protocols and auto-invocation of a computer aided detection algorithm for identified PA-AP chest images. Finally, we show that the same methodology could be utilized for several image parsing applications including anatomy/organ region of interest prediction and optimized image visualization.

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The problem of learning a proper distance or similarity metric arises in many applications such as content-based image retrieval. In this work, we propose a boosting algorithm, MetricBoost, to learn the distance metric that preserves the proximity relationships among object triplets: object i is more similar to object j than to object k. MetricBoost constructs a positive semi-definite (PSD) matrix that parameterizes the distance metric by combining rank-one PSD matrices. Different options of weak models and combination coefficients are derived. Unlike existing proximity preserving metric learning which is generally not scalable, MetricBoost employs a bipartite strategy to dramatically reduce computation cost by decomposing proximity relationships over triplets into pair-wise constraints. MetricBoost outperforms the state-of-the-art on two real-world medical problems: 1. identifying and quantifying diffuse lung diseases; 2. colorectal polyp matching between different views, as well as on other benchmark datasets.

Purpose: A learning-based approach integrating the use of pixel-level statistical modeling and spiculation detection is presented for the segmentation of mammographic masses with ill-defined margins and spiculations. Methods: The algorithm involves a multiphase pixel-level classification, using a comprehensive group of features computed from regional intensity, shape, and textures, to generate a massconditional probability map ͑PM͒. Then, the mass candidate, along with the background clutters consisting of breast fibroglandular and other nonmass tissues, is extracted from the PM by integrating the prior knowledge of shape and location of masses. A multiscale steerable ridge detection algorithm is employed to detect spiculations. Finally, all the object-level findings, including mass candidate, detected spiculations, and clutters, along with the PM, are integrated by graph cuts to generate the final segmentation mask.Results: The method was tested on 54 masses ͑51 malignant and 3 benign͒, all with ill-defined margins and irregular shape or spiculations. The ground truth delineations were provided by five experienced radiologists. Area overlapping ratio of 0.689 ͑Ϯ0.160͒ and 0.540 ͑Ϯ0.164͒ were obtained for segmenting entire mass and margin portion only, respectively. Williams index of area and contour based measurements indicated that the segmentation results of the algorithm agreed well with the radiologists' delineation. Conclusions: The proposed approach could closely delineate the mass body. Most importantly, it is capable of including mass margin and its spicule extensions which are considered as key features for breast lesion analyses.

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Characterization and quantification of the severity of diffuse parenchymal lung diseases (DPLDs) using Computed Tomography (CT) is an important issue in clinical research. Recently, several classification-based computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems [1-3] for DPLD have been proposed. For some of those systems, a degradation of performance [2] was reported on unseen data because of considerable inter-patient variances of parenchymal tissue patterns.We believe that a CAD system of real clinical value should be robust to inter-patient variances and be able to classify unseen cases online more effectively. In this work, we have developed a novel adaptive knowledge-driven CT image search engine that combines offline learning aspects of classification-based CAD systems with online learning aspects of content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems. Our system can seamlessly and adaptively fuse offline accumulated knowledge with online feedback, leading to an improved online performance in detecting DPLD in both accuracy and speed aspects. Our contribution lies in: (1) newly developed 3D texture-based and morphology-based features; (2) a multi-class offline feature selection method; and, (3) a novel image search engine framework for detecting DPLD. Very promising results have been obtained on a small test set.

A learning-based approach integrating the use of pixel level statistical modeling and spiculation detection is presented for the segmentation of mammographic masses with ill-defined margins and spiculations. The algorithm involves a multi-phase pixel-level classification, using a comprehensive group of regional features, to generate a pixel level mass-conditional probability map (PM). Then, mass candidate along with background clutters are extracted from the PM by integrating the prior knowledge of shape and location of masses. A multi-scale steerable ridge detection algorithm is employed to detect spiculations. Finally, all the object level findings, including mass candidate, detected spiculations, and clutters, along with the PM are integrated by graph cuts to generate the final segmentation mask. The method was tested on 54 masses (51 malignant and 3 benign), all with ill-defined margins and irregular shape or spiculations. The ground truth delineations were provided by five experienced radiologists. Area overlap ratio of 0.766 (±0.144) and 0.642 (±0.173) were obtained for segmenting the whole mass and only the margin portion, respectively. Williams index of area and contour based measurements indicated that segmentation results of the algorithm well agreed with the radiologists' delineation. Most importantly, the proposed approach is capable of including mass margin and its extension which are considered as key features for breast lesion analyses.