Summary

   Our current CAD algorithms provide promising results in the laboratory studies. We continue to develop new techniques to further improve their accuracy. However, before the CAD system can be implemented in clinical practice, it is necessary to perform a large scale clinical study to evaluate its performance in the general patient population. We are developing a prototype CAD system with a graphical user interface, as shown in Fig. 15 and Fig. 16, respectively, which will integrate the image analysis algorithms into a fully automated system to facilitate routine processing of mammograms. The performance of our current CAD algorithms and the utility of the user interface are being evaluated with independent test cases in a pre-clinical study. At present the input mammograms are obtained by digitization of film mammograms with a laser scanner. When high-quality direct digital mammography systems and soft-copy display devices become available, the CAD system can be installed as an integral part of a digital mammography viewing workstation.