Development of a CAD Assessment of a PN Database
David Yankelevitz, M.D.
Cornell University
Grant Number: U01CA091100
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, both in men and
women, with an estimate of over 164,000 new cases and over 156,000 deaths in
2000 in the United States alone. A principal reason for this high mortality is
that lung cancer typically is first detected at an advanced stage where the
prospects for cure are quite low. However, in those cases where it is found in
an early stage, the prospects for cure are quite high. Recognition of these
facts is a primary driver behind the development of improved screening and
diagnostic tools. We propose to form a collaborative group of institutions to
develop a large, high-quality internet-accessible spiral computed tomography
(CT) image database of pulmonary nodules. This will serve as an important
resource for researchers interested in developing improved methods for early
detection and screening for lung cancer.
Specifically this proposal plans to 1) develop the criteria for inclusion of
nodules within the database, 2) develop ground truth or pathologic diagnosis of
each nodule, 3) populate the database with the appropriate nodule candidates as
described above, 4) develop common data elements (CDEs) to classify each case,
5) develop criteria for measuring performance standards of various CADs, and 6)
develop an overall management plan for the consortium. The database developed
in this consortium will be an important resource for research and teaching
purposes. It will represent a standard that can be used for testing new CAD
systems. With the rapid advances in computer science and engineering, a
high-quality database that is continually evolving will be an invaluable
resource.
The design of this research proposal is somewhat novel in that we aim not only
to collaborate with others on the design and content of the image database, but
intend also to attach demographic and pathologic data to each case so that a
broad community of research can be served. Our overall management plan seeks to
aggressively identify collaborative partners from a variety of sources
including similar or related industry, for example the Visible Human Project.
Working groups will include radiology, CAD development, and informatics and our
outreach efforts will include patient advocacy and early users of the database.
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