Breast cancer detection system, breast cancer detection method, breast cancer detection program, and computer-readable recording medium having breast cancer detection program recorded thereon

A breast cancer detection method for detecting an architectural distortion of the mammary gland included in an X-ray image of the breast, comprising:

• a model calculating step of calculating, by a computer, a normal architecture model of the mammary gland that scatters in a fan shape from the nipple toward the greater pectoral muscle with respect to the X-ray image of the breast;
• an orientation extracting step of extracting, by the computer, an orientation of linear components of an image texture of a region that form a shape of a shadow in the X-ray image of the breast;
• and
• a lesion determining step of comparing, by the computer, the orientation of the mammary gland in the normal architecture model calculated by the model calculating step and the orientation extracted by the orientation extracting step with respect to a region of interest in the X-ray image of the breast including architectural distortion candidates of the mammary gland detected by preprocessing to:
• (i) calculate a feature quantity based on a difference between the orientations, and (ii) determine whether the candidates are an architectural distortion of the mammary gland based on the feature quantity.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a breast cancer detection program thereon, for detecting an architectural distortion of the mammary gland included in an X-ray image of the breast, the program causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

• a model calculating step that calculates a normal architecture model of the mammary gland that scatters in a fan shape from the nipple toward the greater pectoral muscle with respect to the X-ray image of the breast;
• an orientation extracting step that extracts orientations of linear components of an image texture of a region that form a shape of a shadow in the X-ray image of the breast;
• and
• a lesion determining step that compares the orientation of the mammary gland in the normal architecture model calculated by the model calculating step and the orientation extracted by the orientation extracting step with respect to a region of interest in the X-ray image of the breast including architectural distortion candidates of the mammary gland detected by preprocessing to:
• (i) calculate a feature quantity based on a difference between the orientations, and (ii) determine whether the candidates are an architectural distortion of the mammary gland based on the feature quantity.