Breast Area Research Articles

Long-Term Skin Temperature Changes after Breast Cancer Radiotherapy.

The aim of the study was to use thermal imaging to evaluate long-term chest temperature changes in patients who had previously been treated with radiotherapy. The examination with a thermal imaging camera involved 144 women—48 of them were patients after RT, 48 were females before breast cancer radiotherapy and the last group of participants were 48 healthy women. All patients (before and after radiotherapy) were divided into women after mastectomy and those after conservative surgery. In addition, the first group of women, those who had received radiotherapy, were divided into three other groups: up to 1 year after RT, over 1 year and up to 5 years after RT and over 5 years after RT. Due to this, it was possible to compare the results and analyse the differences between the temperature in the healthy and treated breasts. The comparison of obtained temperature results showed that the area treated by ionizing radiation is characterized by a higher temperature even a few years after the finished treatment. It is worth mentioning that despite the fact that the difference was visible on the thermograms, the patients had no observable skin lesion or change in color at the treatment site. For the results of the study provided for the group of healthy patients, there were no significant differences observed between the average temperatures in the breasts. The use of thermal imaging in the evaluation of skin temperature changes after radiotherapy showed that the average temperature in the treated breast area can change even a long time after treatment.

Breast Cancer Conserving Treatment with Simultaneous Reconstruction of the Defect with Pedicled Adipocutaneous Flaps Early Observations.

Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is the gold standard for cancer treatment. The major goal isto achieve tumor-free margins while maintaining a satisfactory aesthetic result. This task canbe accomplished with the use of modern oncoplastic methods.The goal of this study is to provide the preliminary results of surgical treatment for 20 patientswith breast cancer who had their resection defect repaired with pedicled dermal-subcutaneousflaps from nearby breast areas.

Two-Stage Deep Learning Method for Breast Cancer Detection Using High-Resolution Mammogram Images

Breast cancer screening and detection using high-resolution mammographic images have always been a difficult task in computer vision due to the presence of very small yet clinically significant abnormal growths in breast masses. The size difference between such masses and the overall mammogram image as well as difficulty in distinguishing intra-class features of the Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System (BI-RADS) categories creates challenges for accurate diagnosis. To obtain near-optimal results, object detection models should be improved by directly focusing on breast cancer detection. In this work, we propose a new two-stage deep learning method. In the first stage, the breast area is extracted from the mammogram and small square patches are generated to narrow down the region of interest (RoI). In the second stage, breast masses are detected and classified into BI-RADS categories. To improve the classification accuracy for intra-classes, we design an effective tumor classification model and combine its results with the detection model’s classification scores. Experiments conducted on the newly collected high-resolution mammography dataset demonstrate our two-stage method outperforms the original Faster R-CNN model by improving mean average precision (mAP) from 0.85 to 0.94. In addition, comparisons with existing works on a popular INbreast dataset validate the performance of our two-stage model.

Diabetic mastopathy: A rare clinicopathologic entity with considerable autoimmune potential.

Introduction and importanceDiabetic mastopathy is a rare entity affecting diabetic patients. It has been previously linked to type 1 diabetes mellitus; however, due to the several accompanying conditions, a theory of autoimmune factors contributing to the origin of this condition has been on the rise. In this paper, we report a case of diabetic mastopathy associated with several autoimmune diseases to highlight the immunological potential of this condition.Case presentationA 25-year-old female, known to have type 1 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, dilated cardiomyopathy and end-stage renal disease, was referred to our clinic for a breast lump. Radiological investigations showed a dense mass with irregular borders in the retroareolar area of the left breast. A core biopsy was obtained which revealed keloid-like fibrosis along with lymphocytes infiltrated, suggestive of lymphocytic mastopathy.Clinical discussionFibrous mastopathy has been merely attributed to a long-standing use of insulin therapy by diabetic patients; recent observations, however, proved the major contribution of immunity to etiopathogenesis. Even though human leukocyte antigen (HLA) association has not been supported in the literature, the histological changes of breast lymphocytic infiltrate are seen in patients who not only have T1DM, but also thyroiditis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome, and Addison's disease. The frequent presence of several possible autoimmune conditions has promoted the theory of an autoimmune process affecting connective tissues, however, these claims are yet to be proven by future studies.ConclusionRecent observations have proved the major contribution of immunity to etiopathogenesis of diabetic mastopathy. We shed light on the role of the immune system in triggering the disease process by reporting a case of diabetic mastopathy with a cluster of autoimmune diseases. Future studies should explore the genetic background of the condition as it would potentially have several clinical implications. The discussed pathophysiologic explanations raise the possibility of autoimmunity as a key driver in pathogenesis and indicate the need to change the nomenclature of this condition.

Global Increase in Breast Cancer Incidence: Risk Factors and Preventive Measures.

Breast cancer is a global cause for concern owing to its high incidence around the world. The alarming increase in breast cancer cases emphasizes the management of disease at multiple levels. The management should start from the beginning that includes stringent cancer screening or cancer registry to effective diagnostic and treatment strategies. Breast cancer is highly heterogeneous at morphology as well as molecular levels and needs different therapeutic regimens based on the molecular subtype. Breast cancer patients with respective subtype have different clinical outcome prognoses. Breast cancer heterogeneity emphasizes the advanced molecular testing that will help on-time diagnosis and improved survival. Emerging fields such as liquid biopsy and artificial intelligence would help to under the complexity of breast cancer disease and decide the therapeutic regimen that helps in breast cancer management. In this review, we have discussed various risk factors and advanced technology available for breast cancer diagnosis to combat the worst breast cancer status and areas that need to be focused for the better management of breast cancer.

Histological and chronological study of myostatin (MSTN) role on muscles growth in domestic broiler chicken

Chicken meat have a low-cholesterol levels, low-fat with a high unsaturation amount of fatty acids, which moreover be considered as functional foods, which provide bioactive ingredients with advantageous effects on human health like vitamins and antioxidants. Therefore, this project was designed to focusing on the relationship between increased the growth curve of skeletal muscles and the role of Myostatin (MSTN) in local domestic broiler chicken. The 50 birds of male domestic broiler chicken were collected from commercial field of Al -Kut, and according ages, the birds were divided into five groups (1day, 8 day, 15 day, 22day, and 30day). The samples of skeletal muscles were taken from the breast and leg areas. All samples were exposed to histological investigation by H&E stains, as well as immunohistochemical technique by a primary and secondary antibody of MSTN through paraffin-embedded sections. Histological results apparent a general structure of skeletal muscles at different ages through synchronous growth development of chicken. Immunohistochemical investigation appeared the different attribution of MSTN reactive in the skeletal muscle sections at sequence ages of chicken. Surface blots analysis of MSTN in skeletal muscle at the five experimental stages was (3.096, 10.049, 12.927, 18.453, 22.744) respectively.

Application of Personalized Education in the Mobile Medical App for Breast Self-Examination.

Introduction. Mobile apps are considered intelligent tools useful in various areas of public health. The social dimension of breast cancer and the current epidemic situation require tools that may increase knowledge and improve the skills in the field of breast self-examination. The study aims to assess the use of personalized education based on algorithms with conditions in the mobile medical app for breast self-examination. Materials and methods. In total, 500 women from the Podkarpackie Province were enrolled in the study, which was a representative group for the inhabitants of this province. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups (group I: the study group including 250 people; group II: the controls of 250 people). The study group was subjected to intervention, which was personalized education on breast cancer. The method was a proprietary mobile medical app based on algorithms with conditions. The study was carried out from March 2018 to February 2019. Results. The majority of women, 77.8% (N = 389), were under 30 years of age. Only a small amount of the breast area was marked in the tactile test in both groups. In the study group, the average number of selected points was 14.86 (7.43% of the area to be examined), while in the control group it amounted to 9.14 (4.57%). The area most commonly examined in Test I in both groups was the central area of the mammary gland with the nipple. After the intervention in Test II, women from the study group marked a significantly greater area in the tactile test than women from the control group (χ2 = 99.733; df = 6; p < 0.0001). The mean result in the study group was 22.10, while in the control group it amounted to 9.10. It was found that the breast area marked in both tests depended solely on the women’s knowledge about breast cancer (p < 0.001). It was also found that the higher the risk of developing breast cancer, the more points in Test I were indicated by the women in the tactile test (p = 0.0122). Conclusions. Educational mobile medical apps for breast cancer prevention may help to deal with breast cancer, which is an important public health issue. It is also important to broaden the possibilities of medical apps for breast self-examination with elements verifying the skills of the three-stage compression of the examined breast.

Not only lymphadenopathy: case of chest lymphangitis assessed with MRI after COVID 19 vaccine

BackgroundTo date, no paper reports cases of lymphangitis after COVID 19 vaccination. We present a case of lymphangitis after vaccination from COVID 19, in a patient with colorectal liver metastases.MethodsWe described the case of a 56-year-old woman with history of a surgical resection of colorectal cancer and liver metastases, without any kind of drug therapy for about a month. In addition, a recent administration (2 days ago) of Spikevax (mRNA-1273, Moderna vaccine), as a booster dose, on the right arm was reported.ResultsThe magnetic resonance (MR) examination showed the effects of the previous surgical resection and five new hepatic metastases, located in the VIII, VI, V, IV and II hepatic segments. As an accessory finding the presence of lymphadenopathy in the axillary area and lymphangitis of the right breast and chest were identified. The computed tomography scan performed a week earlier, and re-evaluated in light of the MR data, did not identify the presence of lymphadenopathy in the axillary area and lymphangitis signs.ConclusionsLymphangitis could occur after COVID 19 vaccine and it is important to know this data to avoid alarmism in patients and clinicians and economic waste linked to the execution of various radiological investigations for the search for a tumour that probably does not exist.Trial registration: Not applicable.

Learning the shape of female breasts: an open-access 3D statistical shape model of the female breast built from 110 breast scans

We present the Regensburg Breast Shape Model (RBSM)—a 3D statistical shape model of the female breast built from 110 breast scans acquired in a standing position, and the first publicly available. Together with the model, a fully automated, pairwise surface registration pipeline used to establish dense correspondence among 3D breast scans is introduced. Our method is computationally efficient and requires only four landmarks to guide the registration process. A major challenge when modeling female breasts from surface-only 3D breast scans is the non-separability of breast and thorax. In order to weaken the strong coupling between breast and surrounding areas, we propose to minimize the variance outside the breast region as much as possible. To achieve this goal, a novel concept called breast probability masks (BPMs) is introduced. A BPM assigns probabilities to each point of a 3D breast scan, telling how likely it is that a particular point belongs to the breast area. During registration, we use BPMs to align the template to the target as accurately as possible inside the breast region and only roughly outside. This simple yet effective strategy significantly reduces the unwanted variance outside the breast region, leading to better statistical shape models in which breast shapes are quite well decoupled from the thorax. The RBSM is thus able to produce a variety of different breast shapes as independently as possible from the shape of the thorax. Our systematic experimental evaluation reveals a generalization ability of 0.17 mm and a specificity of 2.8 mm. To underline the expressiveness of the proposed model, we finally demonstrate in two showcase applications how the RBSM can be used for surgical outcome simulation and the prediction of a missing breast from the remaining one. Our model is available at https://www.rbsm.re-mic.de/.

Twelve-Month Evaluation of Temperature Effects of Radiotherapy in Patients after Mastectomy.

The aim of this study was to verify the changes in the temperature distribution within the breast at twelve months after the end of radiotherapy for breast cancer. The study included twenty-four women. The first test group consisted of twelve women who underwent breast mastectomy and qualified for radiotherapy according to standard medical treatment procedures. The second group included twelve healthy women. The tests were conducted before treatment with radiation therapy and two months, six months, nine months, and one year after the end of treatment. The mean temperature values changed depending on the time that had elapsed since the end of treatment. The highest temperature increase in all patients was observed six months after the end of radiotherapy. This research has confirmed that the assessment of temperature changes in the breast area after radiotherapy can evaluate the severity and lesions in the time course of the radiation reaction.

STUDY BIOINFORMATICS WHITE TURMERIC (CURCUMA ZEDOARIA) AGAINST BREAST CANCER

In Indonesia, almost 70% of people with this disease have experienced cancer, which is found in an advanced stage. This cancer occurs because of an unhealthy lifestyle, so that the immune system decreases. Cancer is usually experienced by many women, one of which is breast cancer. This breast cancer arises from the swelling of the woman's breast area or it can be called a tumor. White turmeric (Curcuma zedoria) is a traditional medicine in Indonesia. This white turmeric contains 11 active compounds, there are 5 main active compounds, namely 1,8-cineole, curcumin, D-alpha-pinene, D-borneol and D-champene. The methods used are modeling and computation using phytochem, chemdraw ultra 12.0 and chem 3D Pro 12.0, Switzerland. The conclusion from the results of bioinformatic research on white turmeric extract (curcuma zedoria.) Can be used as an anti-breast cancer drug.

Abstract P4-11-07: Improfib: Impact of radiotherapy on fatigue in breast cancer survivors

Abstract Background Fatigue is a common and disabling symptom experienced by patients (pts) after breast cancer (BC) treatment, significantly impacting their quality of life. However, this complex and multidimensional symptom often remains poorly managed. Previous studies identified some treatment-related factors associated with increased risk of developing severe and persistent fatigue. A better understanding of the relationship between treatment modalities and fatigue may help prevention and management strategies.Multimodal BC treatment often includes radiotherapy (RT) to the breast and/or nodal areas. RT modalities are now increasingly personalized. While an association between receipt of RT and fatigue after BC was previously suggested, large-scale data analyzing the impact of distinct RT modalities on fatigue are lacking.Our aim was to assess the impact of RT modalities on fatigue one year after treatment among patients with early-stage BC. Methods CANcer TOxicity (CANTO; NCT01993498) is a large multicentric nationwide prospective cohort of patients with stage I-III BC diagnosed from June 2012 to February 2017. The present analysis was performed in CANTO-RT, a sub-cohort of CANTO including 3875 patients who received RT in one of the 10 top recruiting CANTO centers. Among those patients, we selected 3797 patients who received unilateral RT.Our primary outcome was severe global fatigue 1 year after RT completion, defined by EORTC QLQ-C30 score ≥ 40/100. Secondary outcomes included severe physical, emotional and cognitive dimensions of fatigue (EORTC QLQ-FA12). The following RT-related variables were used as independent variables: Technique (3D vs IMRT), type of fractionation: Normofractionation (NF) vs Hypofractionation (HF), Boost to tumor bed (Yes vs No), Nodal RT (Yes vs No) and internal mammary chain (IMC) RT (Yes vs No). Multivariable logistic regression models assessed associations between RT-related variables and fatigue, adjusting for clinical, tumor, and BC treatment-related covariates collected at BC diagnosis. Results Our analytic cohort included 3797 patients. Among them, 2348 patients were postmenopausal (63%), 2030 received chemotherapy (52%), and 3068 endocrine therapy (81%). The prevalence of severe global fatigue 1 year after treatment was 33.3%. In addition, 33.1%, 20.4%, and 12.9% of patients reported severe physical, emotional and cognitive fatigue, respectively. Conformal 3D RT was delivered in 3635 patients (96%) mostly NF (2Gy/fraction) (n=2707; 93%). The majority of patients (n=2600; 68%) received a boost. Nodal RT was delivered in 1317 patients (35%) including 819 patients (22%) with IMC RT. After correction for age, BMI, comorbidities, income, smoke behavior, anxiety, depression, receipt of chemo and endocrine therapy, there was a significant relationship between specific RT modalities and severe global fatigue. Specifically, receipt of IMC RT (adjusted OR vs. no 1.57 [95% CI 1.10-2.25; p=0.0134]) and NF RT (adjusted OR vs. HF 1.77 [95% CI 1.01-3.11; p=0.048]) were associated with increased odds of severe global fatigue.In addition, there was a significant association between NF RT (adjusted OR vs. HF 1.75 [95% CI 1.01-3.07; p=0.049]) and an increased likelihood of severe physical fatigue, whereas none of the investigated RT modalities seemed to be associated with emotional and cognitive fatigue dimensions. Conclusions More than one third of patients in this RT-treated cohort reported severe fatigue 1 year after treatment. We found a significant association between RT modalities, such as IMC RT and NF, and increased likelihood of severe global fatigue. NF was also associated with physical fatigue. Our data add to the current understanding of treatment-related factors that can impact fatigue after BC, and inform personalized interventions to improve prevention and management of this disabling symptom. Citation Format: Youssef Ghannam, Antonio Di Meglio, Thomas Sarrade, Alexandra Jacquet, Sibille Everhard, Youlia Kirova, Karine Peigneaux, Philippe Guilbert, Claire Chara-Brunaud, Julien Blanchecotte, Gilles Crehange, David Pasquier, Séverine Racadot, Céline Bourgier, Julien Geffrelot, Ahmed Benyoucef, Francois Paris, Guillaume Auzac, Inès Vaz-Luis, Sofia Rivera. Improfib: Impact of radiotherapy on fatigue in breast cancer survivors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-11-07.

Breast cancer segmentation using K-means clustering and optimized region-growing technique

Breast cancer is one of the major causes of death among women, and early detection may decrease the aggressiveness of the disease. The goal of this paper is to create an automated system that can classify digital mammogram images into benign and malignant. This paper presents a new detection technique of micro-calcifications in mammogram images. An automated technique for identifying breast microcalcifications (MCs) proposed utilizing two-level segmentation processes, first crop the breast area from the image using k-means clustering, then, an optimized region growing (ORG) approach has been used, where multi-seed points and thresholds are generated optimally depending on the color values of the image pixels. Then the texture features are extracted based on Haralick definitions of texture analysis. In addition, three features (cross-correlation coefficient, pearson correlation, and average area of segmented spots) are obtained from the segmented image. Support vector machine (SVM) classifier evaluate the efficiency of the system utilizing the images from the digital database for screening mammography (DDSM) dataset. The results were obtained by utilizing 355 images for training and 85 images for testing. The proposed system's sensitivity reached up to 97.05%, the specificity obtained is 98.52%, and accuracy is 98.2%.

Deep learning model for fully automated breast cancer detection system from thermograms.

Breast cancer is one of the most common diseases among women worldwide. It is considered one of the leading causes of death among women. Therefore, early detection is necessary to save lives. Thermography imaging is an effective diagnostic technique which is used for breast cancer detection with the help of infrared technology. In this paper, we propose a fully automatic breast cancer detection system. First, U-Net network is used to automatically extract and isolate the breast area from the rest of the body which behaves as noise during the breast cancer detection model. Second, we propose a two-class deep learning model, which is trained from scratch for the classification of normal and abnormal breast tissues from thermal images. Also, it is used to extract more characteristics from the dataset that is helpful in training the network and improve the efficiency of the classification process. The proposed system is evaluated using real data (A benchmark, database (DMR-IR)) and achieved accuracy = 99.33%, sensitivity = 100% and specificity = 98.67%. The proposed system is expected to be a helpful tool for physicians in clinical use.

Incidence of radiodermatitis in breast cancer patients during hypofractionated radiotherapy.

To analyze the incidence, dose of occurrence, grade, severity, and associated risk factors for the development of radiodermatitis, by area of the irradiated breast, in women with breast cancer, during hypofractionated radiotherapy. Observational, prospective, and longitudinal study, according to the guidelines of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology, carried out between May 2019 and May 2021. A total of 104 women participated in the study, and 73.1% (95%CI: 64-82) developed signs of radiodermatitis during treatment. The majority (63.5%, 95%CI: 54-73) developed erythema in the axillary region with about 36.5 Grays. Women with large breasts and statin users are more likely to develop radiodermatitis. However, women with Phototype III skin color classification (light brown skin) are less likely to develop radiodermatitis, with skin color being a protective factor. The incidence of radiodermatitis in women with breast cancer during hypofractionated radiotherapy is significant. Therefore, the development of protocols for the management of this radiotoxicity is suggested, considering the cumulative dose and associated risk factors.

Breast tumor segmentation on medical images using combination of fuzzy clustering and threshold

Breast tumor segmentation and boundary detection are crucial stages in breast cancer therapy and follow-up. Radiologists can minimize the high workload associated with screening for breast cancer by automating this complex process. This article proposes a system for segmenting breast and unaffected areas (breast) tumors on medical images using a combination of fuzzy clustering and thresholding (FCMT) tools. This computer diagnostic method works with each section of the mammary gland without learning segmentation and definition of boundaries. As part of the approbation, two databases of breast mammogram images were used. To increase the image quality, we used pre-processing techniques such as contrast augmentation before applying the FCMT for segmentation. To assess the effectiveness of the devised approach, the Mean Square Error, dice coefficient, Structured Similarity Index, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio, accuracy, and sensitivity were computed. Using the proposed FCMT segmentation technique, a mean intersection over union (IoU) of 93.85 was attained. The presented approach is more resilient and accurate in segmenting tumor progression on medical images, according to the findings of the experiments.

2021 Oncology update

Despite COVID-19 pandemic, which is still deeply affecting world economy and global health, medical oncology specialists keep pursuing their effort for the identification of new therapeutic options to improve patients' life expectancy and quality of life. 2021 confirms the immunotherapy efficacy, alone or in combination with other modalities, across several indications. This year, we are summarizing the new approaches in the following sectors: lung, breast, melanoma, gynecological, digestive, urological and ENT areas.

Effect of selenium nanoparticles and mannan oligosaccharide supplementation on muscle and lymphoid histomorphometry and morphometry of tibia bone in broilers reared under high stocking density

The current study investigated the potential of selenium-nanoparticles (SeNPs) and mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) supplementation in ameliorating the high stocking density (HSD) stress on breast muscle, immune organs, and tibia bone in broilers. Three hundred and ninety two (392) day-old Ross chicks were divided in seven groups with eight replicates each (n = 7): as NSD [basal diet (BD) + normal stocking density: 10 chicks/m$^{2}$], HSD (BD + high stocking density: 16 chicks/m$^{2}$), Se-HSD [BD + Selenium (Se) 0.15 mg/kg of BD], MOS-HSD (BD + MOS 05 g/kg of BD), Se-MOS-HSD (BD + Se 0.15 mg/kg of BD + MOS 05 g/kg of BD), SeNP-HSD (BD + SeNP 0.15 mg/kg of BD), and SeNP-MOS-HSD (BD + SeNP 0.15 mg/kg of BD + MOS 05 g/kg of BD). HSD decreased (p < 0.05) breast muscle fibre diameter, density and area, pH at 0 h, pH at 24 h postslaughter, and water holding capacity (WHC), area of lymphoid tissue in caecal tonsil and bursa of Fabricius, tibia bone morphometric parameters, and Se and Copper (Cu) concentrations in bone, muscle, and serum in the HSD group compared to the NSD group. Breast muscle fibre diameter and density increased (p < 0.05) in the Se-MOS-HSD and SeNP-MOS-HSD groups and WHC only increased (p < 0.05) in the SeNP-MOS-HSD group. The area of lymphoid tissue in caecal tonsil and bursa of Fabricius increased (p < 0.05) in the SeNP-MOS-HSD group. The tibia bone weight, medullar canal diameter, tibio-tarsal index, weight/length index, and ash% improved (p < 0.05) in the SeNP-HSD and SeNP-MOS-HSD groups. Se and Cu concentration improved (p < 0.05) in bone, muscle, and serum of the Se-MOS-HSD, SeNP-HSD, and SeNP-MOS-HSD groups. We concluded that supplementation of SeNPs-MOS proved to be a more superior combination in mitigating HSD stress on breast muscle, lymphoid organs, and tibia bone.

Investigation of dose profile across the junction of deep inspiration breath hold, breast with supra-clavicle fossa treatments.

Breast with supraclavicular fossa (Br+SCF) radiotherapy treatments can utilise a monoisocentric technique to concurrently treat the breast area (tangent fields) and supraclavicular area (opposing fields). The region where these treatment areas adjoin is known as the junction region, field junction, or match line. Dose variations that may occur about the junction region, due to geometrical inaccuracies, are typically feathered out in patient free-breathing treatments. However, there is limited information on how dose at the junction is influenced in deep inspiration breath hold (DIBH) treatments. This study aims to investigate dose variation at the field junction for a patient population undertaking a DIBH Br+SCF treatment course. GAFChromic EBT3 film was used to record the dose across the junction at skin surface for approximately one third of the 25 fraction treatment course for 11 patients undergoing DIBH Br+SCF treatment. Single fraction and summated fraction profiles for each patient were compared to profiles in the treatment planning system and assessed the: (1) local dose variations, (2) position of the 50% dose gradient, and (3) relative dose at the nominal junction. Local dose variations of 10% or greater, position displacement of the junction greater than 5 mm, and relative dose differences at the match line greater than 10% can be found within single fraction dose profiles. When these single fractions are summed over the treatment course, the position variations reduce to 2 mm and dose variations reduced to within 10% for 10 of the 11 patients. Only one of 11 patients recorded a summed dose difference greater than ±10% over their treatment, recording 76% ± 8% of the planned dose in this region. This was due to a small overall position displacement of 1.8 ± 1.6 mm from the nominal junction. A feathering of the dose at the junction is present for DIBH Br+SCF patient treatments. The feathering effect is sufficient, in the majority of cases studied, to reduce any differences in dose and displacement present in single fractions. This work also demonstrates that there may be exceptions from this observed behavior that should be considered. Further study in this area using a larger patient cohort is recommended.

A REVIEW ON IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES FOR BREAST CANCER ANALYSIS

In recent years breast cancer detection has been the most popular research topic in medical image analysis. It is the most common malignancy in women, and men can also be affected. Conferring to the American Cancer Society, in 2019, almost two million new cases were registered, and the death rate was almost 41,000. The death rate can be reduced if the cancer is timely diagnosed. For cancer detection, different modalities are used, like MRI, ultrasound, and mammography. The most common and popular modality is mammography. A mammogram shows breast irregularities that are benign or malignant. In digital mammography, it is not easy to extract accurate breast regions. The main problem in the extraction region of concern is pectoral muscle suppression. The pectoral muscle appears in the breast area. Sometimes it is marked as an area of attention that causes a false positive rate. It is essential to eradicate pectoral muscles from the breast. This manuscript overviews the introduction of basic breast cancer terminologies. The work also analyzes state-of-the-insight imaging procedures used for breast cancer analysis.