Quantification of Breast Arterial Calcification in Mammograms Using a UNet-Based Deep Learning for Detecting...

Breast arterial calcification (BAC) is increasingly recognized as a significant indicator of cardiovascular risk, necessitating improvements in detection and quantification methods through mammographic screening.

To develop and validate a deep-learning model capable of detecting, segmenting, and quantifying BAC in mammograms, improving mammographic screening for cardiovascular risk assessment.

We conducted a retrospective study using mammograms from 369 patients. The study utilized a modified U-Net architecture that incorporates Hausdorff loss, Dice loss, and Binary Cross-Entropy (BCE) loss for segmentation and subsequent quantification. The model's performance was assessed using the Dice score, BCE loss for segmentation accuracy, linear fit, and Bland-Altman analysis for quantification accuracy.

Our model achieved high segmentation accuracy with Dice scores of 0.90 for the training set and 0.89 for the validation set. Quantification reliability was validated through Bland-Altman analysis, showing a mean difference of -0.98 mg of calcium in the training set. The model also demonstrated high classification accuracy with F1 scores of 0.97 and 0.93 for validation and training sets, respectively, in BAC detection.

The deep-learning framework substantially improves BAC detection, segmentation, and quantification in mammograms, advancing the accuracy and efficiency of cardiovascular risk screening. This study supports the potential for integrated dual-purpose screening in women's healthcare.