Use of the K-distribution for classification of breast masses

The K-distribution had been introduced as a valid model to represent the st atistics of the envelope of the backscattered echo from phantom and tissue. This paper investigates the efficacy of the parameters of this statistical model; namely, the effective number and the effective cross-section, to ch aracterize breast lesions as benign or malignant. Based on the normalized v alues of the effective number and the effective scattering cross-section, i mages containing benign and malignant masses were classified for a data set from 52 patients having breast masses/lesions. The receiver operating char acteristic (ROC) curves were then obtained to test the classification based on these two parameters. The results indicate that the parameters of the K -distribution may be useful in classification of the breast lesions as beni gn and malignant. (C) 2001 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Bi ology.