Development of an Anthropomorphic Breast Software Phantom Based on Region Growing Algorithm

Software breast phantoms offer greater flexibility in generating synthetic breast images compared to physical phantoms. The realism of such generated synthetic images depends on the method for simulating the three-dimensional breast anatomical structures. We present here a novel algorithm for computer simulation of breast anatomy. The algorithm simulates the skin, regions of predominantly adipose tissue and fibro-glandular tissue, and the matrix of adipose tissue compartments and Cooper’s ligaments. The simulation approach is based upon a region growing procedure; adipose compartments are grown from a selected set of seed points with different orientation and growth rate. The simulated adipose compartments vary in shape and size similarly to the anatomical breast variation, resulting in much improved phantom realism compared to our previous simulation based on geometric primitives. The proposed simulation also has an improved control over the breast size and glandularity. Our software breast phantom has been used in a number of applications, including breast tomosynthesis and texture analysis optimization.