Do Mammographic Systems Affect the Performance of Computerized Parenchymal Analysis?

Early identification of women at high risk of developing breast cancer is fundamental for timely diagnosis and treatment. Recently, researchers have demonstrated that the computerized analysis of parenchymal (breast tissue) patterns in mammograms can be utilized to assess the risk level of patients. However, parenchymal analysis being an image-based biomarker, its performance may be affected by the acquisition parameters of the mammogram. Unfortunately, research on the effect of the mammographic system on the performance of parenchymal analysis is very scarce. In this paper, we implement a parenchymal analysis algorithm and study the effect of different mammographic systems on its performance. We show in a setting of 286 women that the use of different mammographic systems can yield differences of up to 24% in the area under the ROC curve. Results suggest the the construction of models for risk assessment based on parenchymal analysis should incorporate the imaging technologies into the analysis.