Breast Cancer Detection Techniques: Issues and Challenges

Breast cancer is the revelatory health problem among the world and becomes the most common malignancy in women. In the area of medical research, image processing is quite receptive in applications like mammography, computer-aided detection, breast ultrasound and breast MRI. The physician can examine and even diagnose the tumor with the help of the output in terms of an image produced by these techniques. The best way to improve the prognosis of breast cancer is early detection. X-ray mammography is the primary method used for early detection of the breast cancer. Although mammography is an effective screening tool, it does not provide certain and reliable results for women with dense breasts as well as in women having surgical interventions. Recent researches have shown that MRI proves to be a better alternative to mammography as it does not involve any radiation exposure. The main drawbacks of breast MRI are: Specificity is too low and interpretation is complex and not standardized, which recommended only the screening of high-risk women. The other imaging techniques like ductogram (galactogram), nuclear medicine studies, PET (positron emission tomography) scan, scintimammography (molecular breast imaging), electrical impedance imaging, thermography, optical imaging tests, molecular breast imaging, positron emission mammography are also available for breast cancer detection. So the main objectives of this paper are to represent the comparative analysis of different imaging modalities which are used for breast imaging for detection of cancerous cells and to represent various issues and challenges in the field of breast cancer detection. © 2019, The Institution of Engineers (India).