Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T14:53:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Werner Borges de Sampaio.pdf: 2991418 bytes, checksum: 1c3fd03c2e6ffea37ed00740d75d2ffd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-31 / Breast cancer presents high occurrence frequency among the world population and its psychological effects alter the perception of the patient s sexuality and the own personal image. Mammography is an x-ray of the mamma that allows the precocious detection of cancer, since it is capable to showing lesions in their initial stages, typically very small lesions in the order of millimeters. The processing of mammographic images has been contributing to the detection and the diagnosis of mammary nodules, being an important tool, because it reduces the degree of uncertainty of the diagnosis, providing a supplementary source of information to the specialist. This work presents a computational methodology that aids the specialist in the detection of breast masses. The first step of the methodology aims at improvement the mammographic image, which consists of removal of unwanted objects, reduction of noise and enhancement of the breast internal structures. Then, Cellular Neural Networks are used to segment areas suspected of containing masses. These regions have their shapes analyzed by geometry descriptors (eccentricity, circularity, compactness, circular disproportion and circular density) and their textures are analyzed using geostatistical functions (Ripley's K function, Moran's and Geary's indices). Support Vector Machine were trained and used to classify the candidate regions in one of the classes, masses or no-mass, with sensibility of 80.00%, specificity of 85.68%, acuracy of 84.62%, a rate of 0.84 false positive for image and 0.20 false negative for image and an area under the curve ROC of 0.827. / Câncer de mama apresenta alta freqüência de ocorrência entre a população mundial e seus efeitos psicológicos alteram a percepção da sexualidade do paciente e a própria imagem pessoal. A mamografia é uma radiografia da mama que permite a descoberta precoce de câncer, sendo capaz a mostrar lesões nas fases iniciais, tipicamente lesões muito pequenas na ordem de milímetros. O processamento de imagens mamográficas tem contribuído para a descoberta e o diagnóstico de nódulos mamários, sendo uma importante ferramenta, pois reduz o grau de incerteza do diagnóstico, provendo uma fonte adicional de informação ao especialista. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia computacional que ajuda o especialista na descoberta de massas mamárias. O primeiro passo da metodologia visa à melhoria da imagem da mamografia que consiste em remoção de objetos externos à mama, redução de ruídos e realce das estruturas internas da mama. Então, Redes Neurais Celulares são usadas para segmentar áreas suspeitadas de conter massas. Estas regiões têm as suas formas analisadas por descritores de geometria (excentricidade, circularidade, densidade, desproporção circular e densidade circular) e as suas texturas analisadas por funções geoestatísticas (função de K de Ripley, e os índices de Moran e Geary). Máquinas de Vetores de Suporte são treinadas para classificar as regiões candidatas em um das classes, massas ou não-massa, com sensibilidade de 80,00%, especificidade de 85,68%, acurácia de 84,62%, uma taxa de 0,84 falsos positivos por imagem e 0,20 falsos negativos por imagem e uma área sob da curva ROC de 0,870.

Breast cancer presents serious epidemiological problem, in result of which die more than 2 000 czech women every year. Screening mammography is one of the most expanded and most effective examinations for early detection of this desease but one has to take into account an inconsiderable risk connected with the procedure based on X-ray ionizing radiation. This diploma thesis deals with evaluation of the dose absorbed by the tissue. It contains the description of evaluation of the average dose in glandular tissue on PMMA phantom, as well as results of the measurements on conventional and digital mammograph. A data file with exposure parameters from mammography screening is included and interpreted. Also the Monte Carlo method was used for the dose evaluation, the thesis contains the brief description of the method, concept of analysis model in mammography and results of simulations.

In the last 10-15 years there has been a renewed interest in amorphous Se (a-Se) and its alloys due to their application as photoconductor materials in the new fully digital direct conversion flat panel x-ray medical image detectors. For a number of reasons, the a-Se photoconductor layer in such x-ray detectors has to be operated at very high electric fields (up to 10 Volts per micron) and one of the most difficult problems related to such applications of a Se is the problem of the dark current (the current in the absence of any radiation) minimization in the photoconductor layer. <p>This PhD work has been devoted to researching the possibilities for dark current minimization in a-Se x-ray photoconductors devices through a systematic study of the charge transport (carrier mobility and carrier lifetimes) and dark currents in single and multilayered a-Se devices as a function of alloying, doping, deposition condition and other fabrication factors. The results of the studies are extensively discussed in the thesis. We have proposed a new technological method for dark current reduction in single and multilayered a-Se based photoconductor for x-ray detector applications. The new technology is based on original experimental findings which demonstrate that both hole transport and the dark currents in a-Se films are a very strong function of the substrate temperature (Tsubstrate) during the film deposition process. We have shown that the new technique reduces the dark currents to approximately the same levels as achievable with the previously existing methods for dark current reduction. However, the new method is simpler to implement, and offers some potential advantages, especially in cases when a very high image resolution (20 cycles/mm) and/or fast pixel readout (more than 30 times per second) are needed. <p>Using the new technology we have fabricated simple single and double (ni-like) photoconductor layers on prototype x-ray image detectors with CCD (Charge Coupled Device) readout circuits. Dark currents in the a-Se photoconductor layer were not a problem for detector operation at all tested electric fields. Compared to the currently available commercial systems for mammography, the prototype detectors have demonstrated an excellent imaging performance, in particular superior spatial resolution (20 cycles/mm). Thus, the newly proposed technology for dark current reduction has shown a potential for commercialization.

In the last 10-15 years there has been a renewed interest in amorphous Se (a-Se) and its alloys due to their application as photoconductor materials in the new fully digital direct conversion flat panel x-ray medical image detectors. For a number of reasons, the a-Se photoconductor layer in such x-ray detectors has to be operated at very high electric fields (up to 10 Volts per micron) and one of the most difficult problems related to such applications of a Se is the problem of the dark current (the current in the absence of any radiation) minimization in the photoconductor layer. <p>This PhD work has been devoted to researching the possibilities for dark current minimization in a-Se x-ray photoconductors devices through a systematic study of the charge transport (carrier mobility and carrier lifetimes) and dark currents in single and multilayered a-Se devices as a function of alloying, doping, deposition condition and other fabrication factors. The results of the studies are extensively discussed in the thesis. We have proposed a new technological method for dark current reduction in single and multilayered a-Se based photoconductor for x-ray detector applications. The new technology is based on original experimental findings which demonstrate that both hole transport and the dark currents in a-Se films are a very strong function of the substrate temperature (Tsubstrate) during the film deposition process. We have shown that the new technique reduces the dark currents to approximately the same levels as achievable with the previously existing methods for dark current reduction. However, the new method is simpler to implement, and offers some potential advantages, especially in cases when a very high image resolution (20 cycles/mm) and/or fast pixel readout (more than 30 times per second) are needed. <p>Using the new technology we have fabricated simple single and double (ni-like) photoconductor layers on prototype x-ray image detectors with CCD (Charge Coupled Device) readout circuits. Dark currents in the a-Se photoconductor layer were not a problem for detector operation at all tested electric fields. Compared to the currently available commercial systems for mammography, the prototype detectors have demonstrated an excellent imaging performance, in particular superior spatial resolution (20 cycles/mm). Thus, the newly proposed technology for dark current reduction has shown a potential for commercialization.