Computer-aided diagnostic schemes have been developed with the primary aim of supporting diagnostic accuracy in the investigation of mammography images. A robust mammograms database is a priority requirement to assist in testing the effectiveness of techniques associated with these schemes. However, such datasets–with information on radiological and biopsy reports, different types of findings and good quality images-are difficult to be available, mainly due to restrictions of different radiology centers and hospitals or limited to the research team involved. Aiming to overcome these issues, we are developing an alternative based on images of a structured breast phantom, previously developed in our group. Although having been validated in terms of their physical characteristics, the investigation on the images produced from this phantom exposure on a digital mammography system is an important task with regard to their appearance compared to actual breasts images. For this purpose, a software was developed for managing comparative tests between images from actual breasts and from this phantom, considering internal regions of interest. The intention is to evaluate how much the simulated and real images are confused according to the human visual perception of different observers, seeking to validate the use of this breast phantom for structuring a new mammography images database aimed at evaluation tests of CAD schemes in mammography. Results were promising showing a variation of 50-60% in the rate of correct answers among observers, indicating a reasonable level of confusion between the two types of images.
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