Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation

Breast cancer is a significant cause of death from cancer in women globally, highlighting the need for improved diagnostic imaging to enhance patient outcomes. Accurate tumor identification is essential for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring, emphasizing the importance of advanced imaging technolo...

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Main Authors: Chi-en Amy Tai, Alexander Wong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/24/8173
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author Chi-en Amy Tai
Alexander Wong
author_facet Chi-en Amy Tai
Alexander Wong
author_sort Chi-en Amy Tai
collection DOAJ
description Breast cancer is a significant cause of death from cancer in women globally, highlighting the need for improved diagnostic imaging to enhance patient outcomes. Accurate tumor identification is essential for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring, emphasizing the importance of advanced imaging technologies that provide detailed views of tumor characteristics and disease. Recently, a new imaging modality named synthetic correlated diffusion imaging (CDI<sup>s</sup>) has been showing promise for enhanced prostate cancer delineation when compared to existing MRI imaging modalities. In this study, we explore the efficacy of optimizing the correlated diffusion imaging (CDI) protocol to tailor it for breast cancer tumor delineation. More specifically, we optimize the coefficients of the calibrated signal mixing function in the CDI<sup>s</sup> protocol that controls the contribution of different gradient pulse strengths and timings by maximizing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) across a breast cancer patient cohort. Experiments showed that the optimized CDI<sup>s</sup> can noticeably increase the delineation of breast cancer tumors by over 0.03 compared to the unoptimized form, as well as providing the highest AUC when compared with gold-standard modalities. These experimental results demonstrate the importance of optimizing the CDI<sup>s</sup> imaging protocol for specific cancer applications to yield the best diagnostic imaging performance.
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spelling doaj-art-773bd4ad8bc946ac95bac2766df75caa2024-12-27T14:53:13ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202024-12-012424817310.3390/s24248173Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor DelineationChi-en Amy Tai0Alexander Wong1Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, CanadaDepartment of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, CanadaBreast cancer is a significant cause of death from cancer in women globally, highlighting the need for improved diagnostic imaging to enhance patient outcomes. Accurate tumor identification is essential for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring, emphasizing the importance of advanced imaging technologies that provide detailed views of tumor characteristics and disease. Recently, a new imaging modality named synthetic correlated diffusion imaging (CDI<sup>s</sup>) has been showing promise for enhanced prostate cancer delineation when compared to existing MRI imaging modalities. In this study, we explore the efficacy of optimizing the correlated diffusion imaging (CDI) protocol to tailor it for breast cancer tumor delineation. More specifically, we optimize the coefficients of the calibrated signal mixing function in the CDI<sup>s</sup> protocol that controls the contribution of different gradient pulse strengths and timings by maximizing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) across a breast cancer patient cohort. Experiments showed that the optimized CDI<sup>s</sup> can noticeably increase the delineation of breast cancer tumors by over 0.03 compared to the unoptimized form, as well as providing the highest AUC when compared with gold-standard modalities. These experimental results demonstrate the importance of optimizing the CDI<sup>s</sup> imaging protocol for specific cancer applications to yield the best diagnostic imaging performance.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/24/8173breast cancertumor delineationMRIsynthetic correlated diffusion imagingoptimization
spellingShingle Chi-en Amy Tai
Alexander Wong
Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation
Sensors
breast cancer
tumor delineation
MRI
synthetic correlated diffusion imaging
optimization
title Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation
title_full Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation
title_fullStr Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation
title_full_unstemmed Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation
title_short Optimized Synthetic Correlated Diffusion Imaging for Improving Breast Cancer Tumor Delineation
title_sort optimized synthetic correlated diffusion imaging for improving breast cancer tumor delineation
topic breast cancer
tumor delineation
MRI
synthetic correlated diffusion imaging
optimization
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/24/8173
work_keys_str_mv AT chienamytai optimizedsyntheticcorrelateddiffusionimagingforimprovingbreastcancertumordelineation
AT alexanderwong optimizedsyntheticcorrelateddiffusionimagingforimprovingbreastcancertumordelineation