Harnessing the power of radiomics and deep learning for improved breast cancer diagnosis with multiparametric breast mammography

Abstract

Breast cancer, with its high mortality, faces diagnostic challenges due to variability in mammography quality and breast densities, leading to inconsistencies in radiological interpretations. Computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) systems, while helpful, struggle with accurately interpreting lesion characteristics such as morphology, density, and size. To address this, our study developed advanced deep-learning algorithms to improve the detection, localization, risk assessment, and classification of breast lesions, aiming to reduce false positives on human intervention and tackle slow convergence rates. Key innovations of the approach include preprocessing techniques, advanced filtering, and data augmentation strategies to optimize model performance, mitigating over- and under-fitting concerns. A significant development is the Chaotic Leader Selective Filler Swarm Optimization (cLSFSO) method, which effectively detects breast-dense lesions by extracting textural and statistical features. Additionally, the study adapted deep learning models like modified VGGNet and SE-ResNet152 through transfer learning, significantly enhancing their capability to distinguish between normal and suspicious mammography regions. The study also introduces hybrid deep neural network-based approaches, including CNN+LSTM and CNN+SVM, for diagnosing and grading cancerous polyps from the pre-segmented ROIs. Besides, the transfer learning paradigm is employed to boost the efficacy in classifying breast masses and reducing computing time by modifying the final layer of the proposed pre-trained models. The integration of Grad-CAM techniques further refines our analysis, leading to more accurate assessments and improved diagnosis of breast anomalies. Evaluated using benchmark and private datasets, our algorithms demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.99 and an overall AUC of 0.99, indicating significant improvements in mammogram analysis. These advancements aid radiologists, potentially improving patient outcomes and contributing to medical imaging and AI in healthcare.