Computer-Aided Detection and Diagnosis for Microcalcifications in Mammogram: A Review

Breast cancer continues to be a significant public health problem among women around the world. It has become the number one cause of cancer deaths amongst Malaysian women. The key to improve the breast cancer prognosis is by early detection. The important sign for the breast cancer detection is the presence of lesion such as microcalcification clusters (MCCs). In this review paper, the mammogram-based approach will be focused, as it is particularly suitable for detecting this type of lesion. To date, mammography remains the most effective diagnostic techniques for early breast cancer detection. However, due of some limitations, not all breast cancer can be detected by mammograms. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the computer-aided detection and diagnosis systems that have been proposed, designed and developed by previous researchers in order to overcome the drawbacks of mammograms by assisting the radiologists in detecting the specific abnormalities and improving the diagnostic accuracy in making the diagnostic decisions.