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EVALUATION OF MALIGNANCY IN TUMORS OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM USING FRACTAL DIMENSION
D. Pereira1, C. Zambrano2 and M. Martín2
1Laboratorio de Soporte Instrumental, Departamento de Física Aplicada, Facultad de Ingeniería
2Laboratorio de Física y Química Computacional, Centro de Resonancia Magnética
Escuela de Física, Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad Central de Venezuela
Postal Address: Apartado Postal 47586, Caracas 1041-A, Venezuela
mmartin@fisica.ciens.ucv.ve

[Poster presentation, World Congress on Medical Physics and Bioengineering, Chicago, USA, July 23-28, 2000.]


Abstract

In this work, we propose the use of the concepts of Fractal Dimension and Digital Image Processing, as a possible methodology to characterize the degree of malignancy of neoplastic structures located in the Central Nervous System. The images were detected by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques including Proton Density, T1, and T2 images. Malignant lesions (Gliomas) were compared with benign ones (Cysts). The Correlation Dimension, Lyapunov Exponents and Information Dimension were used as the relevant geometrical properties to characterize the irregular edge present in a particular structure. The edge was obtained by means of an edge detector operator and afterwards a codification procedure based on Fourier Descriptors was used to generate a numerical array or Time Series. The analysis of the processed images revealed that the relevant geometrical properties exhibit a different behavior in the case of gliomas compared to cystic lesions, a fact that can be used by the physician as an auxiliary tool to evaluate the malignancy of neoplastic structures in the brain.



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References

  1. Bauer, W., C. Mackenzie, Cancer Detection Via Determination Of Fractal Cell Dimension, Michigan State University. National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (1995) Preprints.

  2. Fortin, C., R. Kumaresan, W. Ohley and S. Hoefer, Fractal Dimension in the Analysis of Medical Images, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology. June, 1992.

  3. Fortin, C., W. Ohley and H. Gewirtz, The Use of Fractal Dimension In MR Image Segmentation. A Variance Technique., Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, December, 1990.

  4. Parker, T., L. Chua, Practical Numerical Algorithms For Chaotic Systems, Springer - Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 1989.

  5. Feder, J., Fractals, Plenum Press, New York, New York, USA, 1989.

  6. Pratt, W., Digital Image Processing, John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York, USA, 1980.

  7. Jain, A., Fundamentals of Digital Image Processing, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, 1989.

[Web page manteined by Prof. Rafael Martín, updated on march 18th, 2001]

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