Computerized radiographic mass detection--part II: Decision support by featured database visualization and modular neural networks.

Based on the enhanced segmentation of suspicious mass areas, further development of computer-assisted mass detection may be decomposed into three distinctive machine learning tasks: 1) construction of the featured knowledge database; 2) mapping of the classified and/or unclassified data points in the database; and 3) development of an intelligent user interface. A decision support system may then be constructed as a complementary machine observer that should enhance the radiologists performance in mass detection. We adopt a mathematical feature extraction procedure to construct the featured knowledge database from all the suspicious mass sites localized by the enhanced segmentation. The optimal mapping of the data points is then obtained by learning the generalized normal mixtures and decision boundaries, where a is developed to carry out both soft and hard clustering. A visual explanation of the decision making is further invented as a decision support, based on an interactive visualization hierarchy through the probabilistic principal component projections of the knowledge database and the localized optimal displays of the retrieved raw data. A prototype system is developed and pilot tested to demonstrate the applicability of this framework to mammographic mass detection.