Cancer Detection Systems and Methods

Abstract

A piece of medical information, e.g., a medical image of tissue, may be received for processing and analysis on a computing device or system. A region of the medical image may be analyzed to determine a presence of one or more contours in the region. One or more properties of the one or more contours may be extracted, where the one or more properties are inputted into a first algorithm to determine an indication of cancer for the region. The indication of cancer may be inputted into a second algorithm to generate a cancer score for the region.

1 . A computer-implemented method for cancer detection and quantification comprising:
 receiving a medical image through a communications interface of a computing device over a data network;   analyzing the medical image, with a processor of the computing device, to determine a first subset of contours in the medical image satisfying one or more criterion;   analyzing, with the processor, one or more geometric attributes and one or more contrast attributes of contours included in the first subset of contours to identify a second subset of contours based upon contours satisfying one or more predetermined geometric and contrast attributes;   selecting, with the processor, a third subset of contours from the second subset of contours that corresponds to potential calcifications, the third subset of contours selected based on contours within the second subset satisfying first calcification criteria;   ranking, with the processor, contours included in the third subset of contours based on a selection metric, the selection metric accounting for a combination of contrast and intensity;   grouping, with the processor, contours included in the third subset of contours into nested structures;   selecting, with the processor, calcifications from the nested structures satisfying second calcification criteria;   grouping, with the processor, the selected calcifications into clusters based on one or more of neighboring calcifications and a spatial cluster scale;   classifying, with the processor, the clusters as benign or possible cancer by performing one or more of: a regression analysis on calcifications within the clusters, edge detection, a density analysis of the clusters, and a circularity analysis of the clusters; and   scoring, with the processor, the clusters using an analytic function of geometric and contrast properties of the calcifications within each cluster, and spatial arrangements of the calcifications within each cluster.   
     
     
         2 .- 32 . (canceled)