Obtaining breast density measurements and classifications

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• perform breast segmentation on a mammographic image to obtain breast and pectoral muscle segmentation maps;
• perform breast thickness correction on the mammographic image to obtain a flattened breast image;
• and
• compute a breast density measurement in accordance with the breast and pectoral muscle segmentation maps and the flattened breast image.

A method for breast density classification, the method comprising:

• computing, by a processor, a breast density ratio for a mammographic image, the breast density ratio corresponding to a percentage of dense breast tissue in a breast depicted by the mammographic image;
• computing a dispersion measurement value for the mammographic image, the dispersion measurement value corresponding to a distribution of the dense tissue in the breast depicted by the mammographic image;
• and
• assigning a breast density classification to the mammographic image in accordance with the breast density ratio and the dispersion measurement value.

An apparatus comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• compute a breast density ratio for a mammographic image, the breast density ratio corresponding to a percentage of dense breast tissue in a breast depicted by the mammographic image;
• compute a dispersion measurement value for the mammographic image, the dispersion measurement value corresponding to a distribution of the dense tissue in the breast depicted by the mammographic image;
• and
• assign a breast density classification to the mammographic image in accordance with the breast density ratio and the dispersion measurement value.