Computer-aided diagnosis in radiology: potential and pitfalls

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) may be defined as a diagnosis made by a physician who takes into account the computer output as a second opinion. The purpose of CAD is to improve the diagnostic accuracy and the consistency of the radiologists’ image interpretation. This article is to provide a brief overview of some of CAD schemes for detection and differential diagnosis of pulmonary nodules and interstitial opacities in chest radiographs as well as clustered micro-calcifications and masses in mammograms. ROC analysis clearly indicated that the radiologists’ performances were significantly improved when the computer output was available. An intelligent CAD workstation was developed for detection of breast lesions in mammograms. Results obtained from the first 10 000 cases indicated the potential of CAD in detecting approximately one-half of ‘missed’ breast cancer.