Nico Karssemeijer - Böcker

These papers give an overview of ongoing research in digital mammography, aimed at improved detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Topics that are covered are computer-aided diagnosis, image processing, detector development, system design, observer performance and clinical evaluation. Potential benefits of this new technology are large. With digital mammography image quality can be increased and advanced processing techniques can be implemented, making it easier for radiologists to diagnose breast cancer, and allowing detection of the disease at an earlier stage. The book includes around 100 contributions, many of which give detailed technical descriptions of new methods and systems. The purpose of this book is to help and stimulate further research to develop this important area.

The 20th International Conference on Information Processing in Medical Im- ing(IPMI)washeldduringJuly2–6,2007,atRolducAbbey,locatedinKerkrade in the south of the Netherlands. Following the highly successful IPMI in Gl- wood Springs in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA (2005), the conference was the latest in a series of biennial scienti?c meetings where new developments in acquisition, analysis, and use of medical images are presented. IPMI is one of the longest running conferences in medical imaging. It was started in 1969 by a group of young scientists working in nuclear medicine. With a few iterations the conference expanded to other areas and became established as an important meeting for in-depth discussion of new methodological developments in me- cal imaging. Nowadays it is widely recognized as one of the most exciting and in?uential conferences in its ?eld. At IPMI meetings a wide variety of topics are covered by a relatively small selection of papers presented in single-track sessions. This year, there were 210 manuscripts submitted to the conference. Of these papers, 26 were accepted for oral presentation, and 37 papers were accepted as posters. Papers were ca- fully judged by three reviewers and two paper selection committee members, with emphasis on originality, methodological development, scienti?c rigor, and relevance. Selection of papers was di?cult, but using the rankings and detailed comments of the reviewerswe wereable to makea greatselectionin anobjective way. Unfortunately, due to the large number of submissions, it was inevitable that many high-quality papers did not make it into the ?nal program.

In June 1998 the Fourth International Workshop on Digital Mammography was held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where it was hosted by the department of Radiology of the University Hospital Nijmegen. This series of meetings was initiated at the 1993 SPIE Biomedical Image Processing Conference in San Jose, USA, where a number of sessions were entirely devoted to mammographic image analysis. At very successful subsequent workshops held in York, UK (1994) and Chicago, USA (1996), the scope of the conference was broadened, establishing a platform for presentation and discussion of new developments in digital mammog­ raphy. Topics that are addressed at these meetings are computer-aided diagnosis, image processing, detector development, system design, observer performance and clinical evaluation. The goal is to bring researchers from universities, breast cancer experts, and engineers together, to exchange information and present new scientific developments in this rapidly evolving field. This book contains all the scientific papers and posters presented at the work­ shop in Nijmegen. Contributions came from as many as 20 different countries and 190 participants attended the meeting. At a technical exhibit companies demon­ strated new products and work in progress. Abstracts of all papers were reviewed by members of the scientific committee. Many of the accepted papers had excellent quality, but due to limited space not all of them could be included as full papers in these proceedings. Papers that were rated high by the reviewers are included as long or short papers, others appear as extended abstracts in the last chapter.