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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Computational imaging and analysis in breast cancer

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The conventional pathologic analysis of malignancies involves a qualitative characterization and integration of several factors including tumor size, general degree of differentiation, tumor heterogeneity, mitotic rate, and lymphovascular invasion. For some cancers, biomarkers such as hormone receptor expression or receptor kinase over-expression can provide additional prognostic and therapeutic guidance. Unfortunately, all of these qualitative histologic approaches, while generally accepted for directing patient care, often exhibit significant inter-observer variability resulting in inconsistent inter- and intra-institutional predictions of tumor behavior (including metastases and/or recurrence), resulting in incorrect diagnoses or treatment. Because cellular morphology is an integrated reflection of genetic and epigenetic expression, we hypothesize that a more accurate quantitative accounting and measurement of histologic features can provide a more robust and reliable prediction of tumor behavior. Computational imaging utilizes software to augment or replace the role of traditional optical elements in imaging systems and has an ability to significantly increase the accuracy, robustness and cost-efficiency of digital pathology. In this thesis, we develop and test three novel computational imaging algorithms including, to the best of our knowledge, the first system for lensless computational imaging through deep learning. We then test our hypothesis by applying augmented image retrieval, analysis algorithms, and machine learning on a validated dataset of breast cancer images where the clinical outcomes of the primary tumor are known. In particular, we analyze algorithms related to identifying mitoses as a central proof of concept.

Degree

thesis:*
Department dc:contributor.department
Harvard--MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2018

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Lee, Justin Wu
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • George Barbastathis.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115703
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/115703

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Lee, Justin Wu. Computational imaging and analysis in breast cancer. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115703