Tactile Mapping of Breast Palpation for Diagnosis, Documentation, and Training
Abstract
Palpation by clinicians is an effective examination frequently performed for breast cancer detection and treatment monitoring, The most common symptom of breast cancer is a lump, and studies show that the majority of breast cancers are found by palpation, The primary goal of this project is to develop a tactile mapping system that can quantitatively measure the location and applied forces in breast palpation, and the tactile features of detected breast lumps. By combining the knowledge of vision based neural networks, tactile sensing technology is integrated for the investigation of soft tissue interaction with tactile/force sensor, where the hard inclusion (breast lump) can be characterized through neural network learning capabilities, instead of using a simplified complex biomechanics model with many heuristic assumptions. Through a nonlinear soft tissue analysis by the neural networks, the system can accurately characterize and document breast lumps. These maps will serve as an objective documentation of palpable lesions for future comparative examinations,
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA412803
Entities
People
- Rujirutana Srikanchana
Organizations
- The Catholic University of America