Optimization of the simulation parameters for improving realism in anthropomorphic breast phantoms

Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran; Predrag R. Bakic; Andrew D. A. Maidment; David D. Pokrajac

doi:10.1117/12.2253903

9 March 2017 Optimization of the simulation parameters for improving realism in anthropomorphic breast phantoms

Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran, Predrag R. Bakic, Andrew D. A. Maidment, David D. Pokrajac

Proceedings Volume 10132, Medical Imaging 2017: Physics of Medical Imaging; 1013257 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2253903
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2017, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Virtual clinical trials (VCTs) were introduced as a preclinical alternative to clinical imaging trials, and for the evaluation of breast imaging systems. Realism in computer models of breast anatomy (software phantoms), critical for VCT performance, can be improved by optimizing simulation parameters based on the analysis of clinical images. We optimized the simulation to improve the realism of simulated tissue compartments, defined by the breast Cooper’s ligaments. We utilized the anonymized, previously acquired CT images of a mastectomy specimen to manually segment 205 adipose compartments. We generated 1,440 anthropomorphic breast phantoms based on octree recursive partitioning. These phantoms included variations of simulation parameters—voxel size, number of compartments, percentage of dense tissue, and shape and orientation of the compartments. We compared distributions of the compartment volumes in segmented CT images and phantoms using Kolmogrov-Smirnov (KS) distance, Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence and a novel distance metric (based on weighted sum of distribution descriptors differences). We identified phantoms with the size distributions closest to CT images. For example, KS resulted in the phantom with 1000 compartments, ligament thickness of 0.4 mm and skin thickness of 12 mm. We applied multilevel analysis of variance (ANOVAN) to these distance measures to identify parameters that most significantly influence the simulated compartment size distribution. We have demonstrated an efficient method for the optimization of phantom parameters to achieve realistic distribution of adipose compartment size. The proposed methodology could be extended to other phantom parameters (e.g., ligaments and skin thicknesses), to further improve realism of the simulation and VCTs.

Citation Download Citation

Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran, Predrag R. Bakic, Andrew D. A. Maidment, and David D. Pokrajac "Optimization of the simulation parameters for improving realism in anthropomorphic breast phantoms", Proc. SPIE 10132, Medical Imaging 2017: Physics of Medical Imaging, 1013257 (9 March 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2253903

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available