Case-based reasoning as a computer aid to diagnosis

A Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) system has been developed to predict the outcome of excisional biopsy from mammographic findings. CBR is implemented by comparing the current case to all previous cases and examining the outcomes for those previous cases that match the current case. Patients from breast screening who have suspicious findings on their diagnostic mammogram, are candidates for biopsy. The false positive rate for the decision to biopsy is currently between 66% and 90%. The CBR system is designed to support the decision to biopsy. The mammograms are read by clinicians using a standard reporting lexicon (BI-RADSTM). These findings are compared to a database of findings from cases with known outcomes (from biopsy). The fraction of similar cases that were malignant is returned. The clinician can then consider this result when making the decision regarding biopsy. The system was evaluated using round-robin sampling scheme and performed with a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) area of 0.77.

Duke Scholars

Author Joseph Yuan-Chieh Lo Radiology