NASA Software Could Aid in Interpretation of Mammograms

Space science software utilized to enhance earth science imaging could aid in the interpretation of medical images.

The new MED-SEG system, developed by Bartron Medical Imaging, Inc. (New Haven, CT, USA), relies on an innovative software program developed at NASA's ([U.S.] National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Washington DC, USA) Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD, USA) to help doctors analyze mammograms, ultrasounds, digital X-rays, and other medical images.

"The use of this computer-based technology could minimize human error that occurs when evaluating radiologic films and might allow for earlier detection of abnormalities within the tissues being imaged,” said Dr. Thomas Rutherford, a medical doctor and director of gynecologic oncology at Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the system to be used by trained professionals to process images. These images can be used in radiologist's reports and communications as well as other uses, however, the processed images should not be used for primary image diagnosis.

MED-SEG is a software device that receives medical images and data from various imaging sources (including but not limited to CT, MR, US, radiofrequency [RF] units), computed and direct radiographic devices, and secondary capture devices, (scanners, imaging gateways or imaging sources). Images and data can be stored, communicated, processed, and displayed within the system or across computer networks at distributed locations.

The core of Bartron's MED-SEG system is a computer algorithm--hierarchical segmentation software (HSEG)--developed by Goddard computer engineer James C. Tilton, Ph.D. Dr. Tilton's goal was to advance a totally new approach for analyzing digital images, which are made up of thousands of pixels. Similar to a single piece of a jigsaw puzzle, a pixel frequently does not provide enough information about where it fits into the overall scene. To overcome the deficiency, Dr. Tilton focused on an approach called image segmentation, which organizes and groups an image's pixels together at different levels of detail. However, Dr. Tilton's approach to image segmentation was different than other approaches in that it not only finds region objects, but also groups spatially separated region objects together into region classes.

Bartron learned of the software through Goddard's Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office, and in 2003 licensed the patented technology to create a system that would differentiate hard-to-see details in complex medical images. Bartron's exclusive license of NASA's HSEG technologies in the medical imaging field allows the company to contribute to the work of doctors who analyze images obtained from computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, radio frequency, and other imaging sources.

"Trained professionals can use the MED-SEG system to separate two-dimensional images into digitally related sections or regions that, after colorization, can be individually labeled by the user,” explained Fitz Walker, president and CEO of Bartron Medical Imaging.

With the MED-SEG system, medical centers will be able to send images via a secure Internet connection to a Bartron data center for processing by the company's imaging application. The data are then sent back to the medical center for use by medical personnel during diagnosis. Bartron has installed the system at the University of Connecticut Health Center (Farmington, USA), with the possibility of installing evaluation systems at New York University Medical Center (New York, NY, USA), Yale-New Haven Medical Center, and the University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore, USA).

Through a cooperative research and development agreement, Dr. Tilton also worked with the company to develop, test, and document a new, three-dimensional version of HSEG, which the company plans to incorporate into the next version of the MED-SEG product.

In the future, Dr. Molly Brewer, a professor with the division of gynecologic oncology, University of Connecticut Health Center, would like to do clinical trials with the MED-SEG system. The goal, she said, would be improving mammography as a diagnostic tool for detecting breast cancer. "One problem with mammograms is they often give a false-negative for detecting abnormalities in women's breasts. Women who have either high breast density or a strong family history of breast cancer are often sent for MRIs, which are costly, very uncomfortable and have a high false-positive rate resulting in many unnecessary biopsies. Neither imaging modality can detect cancers without a significant number of inaccuracies either missing cancer or overcalling cancer. In addition, reading these tests relies on detecting differences in density, which is highly subjective. The MED-SEG processes the image allowing a doctor to see a lot more detail in a quantitative way.”

Related Links

Bartron Medical Imaging
National Aeronautics and Space Administration