Classification of ultrasonic B-mode images of breast masses using Nakagamidistribution

The Nakagami distribution was proposed recently for modeling the echo from tissue. In vivo breast data collected from patients with lesions were studi ed using this Nakagami model. Chi-square tests showed that the Nakagami dis tribution is a better fit to the envelope than the Rayleigh distribution. T wo parameters, m (effective number) and a (effective cross section), associ ated with the Nakagami distribution were used for the classification of bre ast masses, Data frost 52 patients with breast masses/lesions were used in the studies. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were calculated for t he classification methods based on these two parameters. The results indica te that these parameters of the Nakagami distribution may be useful in clas sification of the breast abnormalities, The Nakagami distribution may be a reasonable means to characterize the backscattered echo from breast tissues toward a goal of an automated scheme for separating benign and malignant b reast masses.