Calcification descriptor and relevance feedback learning algorithms for content-based mammogram retrieval

In recent years a large number of digital mammograms have been generated in hospitals and breast screening centers. To assist diagnosis through indexing those mammogram databases, we proposed a content-based image retrieval framework along with a novel feature extraction technique for describing the degree of calcification phenomenon revealed in the mammograms and six relevance feedback learning algorithms, which fall in the category of query point movement, for improving system performance. The results show that the proposed system can reach a precision rate of 0.716 after five rounds of relevance feedback have been performed. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.