CiiT International Journal of Digital Image Processing, Vol 8, No 02, February 2016
Application of Echo State Neural Network in
Identification of Microcalcification in Breast
J. Jebathangam, S. Purushothaman and P. Rajeswari
Abstract---This paper presents a combination of wavelet with echo
state neural network in identifying the microcalcification (MC) in a
mammogram image. Mammogram image is decomposed using
Daubauchi wavelet to 5 levels. Statistical features are extracted from
the wavelet coefficients. Training of the ESNN/BPA is done using the
features as inputs to the network along with a labeling of presence or
non-presence of MC. The classification performance of ESNN is
compared with back propagation algorithm.
Keywords---Microcalcification, Wavelet, Neural Network, Echo
State Neural Network, Backpropagation Algorithm
I. INTRODUCTION
B REAST cancer cause cells in the body to grow out of control.
The tumor is formed from the cancer cells. The breast
cancers affect the breast tissue. The milk-producing glands and
ducts connecting the lobules to the nipple are part of the breast.
To detect breast cancer at an early stage, mammography is
preferred. Mammograms cannot be used for detecting all types
of breast cancers.
Busing et al., 1990, mentioned that microcalcifications are
grouped into type I-calcium oxalate (CO) and type II - calcium
hydroxyapatite (HA). Benign breast condition is of Type-I.
Benign and malignant breast tissue correspond to Type-II.
Johnson et al., 1999, stated that MCs are presence of calcium
in breast tissues. It is considered as an early mammographic
evidence of breast cancer.
A condition called Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) presence
in a breast. In this normal epithelial cells are replaced b
abnormal cells. Due to this expansion of the ducts and lobules
take place.
The analysis for DCIS can be through, history and physical
examination, diagnostic bilateral mammogram, Pathology
review, determination of tumour estrogen receptor (ER) status,
Genetic counselling if the patient is at high risk for hereditary
breast cancer, and breast magnetic resonance imaging. There
are invasive or infiltrating breast cancers. The walls of the
glands or ducts are broken during origination of the cancers.
They grow into surrounding breast tissue. The identification of
invasive cancer can be done through complete blood count,
platelets, liver function test, fertility counselling if
premenopausal, bone scan or sodium fluoride Positron
Emission Tomography (PET)/ computed tomography (CT),
Manuscript received on February 25, 2016, review completed on March 05,
2016 and revised on March 14, 2016.
J. Jebathangam is with the Mother Teresa Women’s University, Kodaikanal,
India. E-Mail: jeba_mca@yahoo.co.in
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45
chest/abdominal/pelvic diagnostic CT, flurodeoxyglucose
(FDG) PET scan and the methods used for DCIS
(www.nccn.org/patients).
Manuel et al., 2015 have discussed microcalcifications
formations in the breast. Sukassini and Velmurugan, 2015;
Minavathi and Amrutha, 2015, detected the Microcalcifications
in Ultrasound images using watershed segmentation and
artificial neural networks. Hatice et al., 2015, studied the
invasive breast carcinoma stereotactic vacuum-assisted biopsy.
This is meant for MCs-only lesions. BY this process, the
reasons could be estimated.
Shradhananda et al., 2015; Lowis et al., 2015, proposed the
use of Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) with
neural network mammography analysis. Kim et al., 2015,
assessed the sonographic visibility and feasibility of biopsy
under ultrasound guidance of mammographically suspicious
microcalcification-only lesions.
Summrina Kanwal Wajid and Amir Hussain, 2015; Nazeem
et al., 2015, studied associations between mammographic MCs
and tumor pathology. They compared outputs of a mammogram
with that of biopsy outputs. Zobi et al., 2015, worked on
automatic detection of MC using blob through supervised
learning.
Zobia et al., 2015; Imad et al., 2015; Seung et al., 2015,
developed a cascaded classification framework for automatic
detection of individual and clusters of MC. Their framework
comprised three classification stages: i) a random forest (RF)
classifier for simple features capturing the second order local
structure of individual MCs. ii) Boltzmann machine (BM)
classifier for MC candidates determined in the RF stage and iii)
a detector to detect clusters of MCs from the individual MC
detection results, using two different criteria. From the two-
stage RF-DRBM classifier, the algorithm distinguishes MCs
using explicitly computed features, as well as learn implicit
features that can further discriminate between confusing cases.
Experimental evaluation is conducted on the original
Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) and mini-
MIAS databases. Joberth et al., 2015; Julian and Ravi, 2015;
Durgadevi and Himanshu, 2015, implemented k-means
clustering algorithm for diagnosis of breast cancer. Kanchana
and Varalakshmi, 2015; Ayman, 2015, used multi-statistical
filters and wavelet decomposition transform for classifying the
S. Purushothaman is with the Institute of Technology, Haramaya University,
Ethiopia. E-Mail: dr.s.purushothaman.2015@gmail.com
P. Rajeswari is with the Mother Teresa Women’s University, Kodaikanal,
India. E-Mail: rajeswaripuru@gmail.com
Digital Object Identifier: DIP022016002.
CiiT International Journal of Digital Image Processing, Vol 8, No 02, February 2016 46

MCs. Dar-Ren Chen and Yi-Hsuan, 2008 used computer aided

diagnosis with ultrasound for detection of breast cancer.

II. METHODS
A. Wavelets

Fig.1 Wavelet Segmentation

The wavelet transform (WT) was developed as an alternative

to the short-time Fourier transform (STFT). A wavelet is a Fig.2 Schematic flow for MC Detection
waveform with a limited duration. Scaling the wavelet and Figure 2 presents schematic flow for MC detection.
shifting the wavelet are used for breaking the signals. The
B. Echo State Neural Network for MC Detection
features are obtained by decompositions at various levels using
the following equations: Harikumar R., and Vinoth kumar B., 2015 have used
V1=1/d ∑ (Approximation details) (1) artificial neural networks in breast diagnosis. Figure 3 presents
Where d = Samples in a frame and an ESNN architecture. The ESNN architecture is made of
V1 = Mean value of approximation neurons with interconnections. The interconnection is a
V2=1/d ∑ (Approximation or details –V1)) (2) recurrent architecture. The outputs of the processing elements
Where V2=Standard Deviation of approximation are input to the network output. The training is done with
V3=maximum (Approximation or details) (3) memory less readout.
V4=minimum (Approximation or details) (4)
V5=norm (Approximation or Details)2 (5)
Where V5 = Energy value of frequency
Wavelet segmentation steps (Figure 1)
1. Read Mammogram and Decompose the image to five
levels
2. Apply inverse wavelet
3. Apply segmentation for spotting the calcification
4. Apply morphological operations
5. Filter out the excess unwanted information and Mark
squares around the calcifications
Fig.3 An Echo State Neural Network (ESNN)

The echo state condition is defined regarding the spectral

radius of the reservoir’s weight matrix (|| W ||<1). The spectral
radius refers to the largest among the absolute values of the
eigenvalues of a matrix, denoted by (|| ||).
The recurrent network is a reservoir. The network is
interconnected dynamical components. Echo states refer to
different situations (states) of dynamics. The output is obtained
by training the memory less linear readout.
Figure 3 shows ‘A’ input units, ‘B’ internal PEs, and
‘C’output units. The value of the input unit at time ‘k’is u(k) =
[u1(k), u2(k), . . . , uM(k)]T,
The internal units are
x(k) = [x1(k), x2(k), . . . , xN(k)]T (6)
Output units are
y(k) = [y1(k), y2(k), . . . , yL(k)]T (7)

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CiiT International Journal of Digital Image Processing, Vol 8, No 02, February 2016 47

The connection weights are given III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

 W
back back
a) In an (B x A) weight matrix W ij for
connections between the input and the internal PEs,
 W ij
in in
b) In an B× B matrix W represents
connections between the internal PEs
 W ij
out out
c) In an C × B matrix W represents
connections from PEs to the output units and
 W ij
back back
d) In an B × C matrix W represents
connections from the output to the internal PEs.
The activation of the internal PEs (echo state) is updated
according to
x(k + 1) = p(Win u(k + 1) + Wx(k) +Wbacky(k)), (8)
where p = ( p1, p2, . . . , pN) are the internal PEs’ activation Fig.4 Original Image
functions. 50

x 100

e e
x
150

Here, all pi’s are hyperbolic tangent functions x

. The 200

e e
x
250

Rows
read out network’s outputs are obtained by: 300

350

y(k + 1) = pout(Woutx(k + 1)), . (9) 400

where 450

500

pout=(pout1, pout2,…..,poutc) are the output unit’s nonlinear 550

functions. 100 200 300 400

Columns
500 600 700

Fig.5 Level-1 Decomposition

2.2.1 Training ESNN algorithm
Step 1: Read a Pattern (I) 50

100

Step 2: Decide the number of reservoirs. 150

Step 3: Decide the number of sides in the input layer = length 200

250

of the pattern.
Rows

300

Step 4: Decide the number of sides in the output layer = a 350

400

number of target values. 450

Step 5: Initialize random weights between input and hidden 500

550
layer (Ih) hidden and output. 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Columns

Step 6: Store Wout = Pseudo inverse (tan h(Ih*I + Ho * T + Fig.6 Level-2 Decomposition
R*S)) x T.
50

2.2.2 The algorithm for testing the ESNN is as follows: 100

Step 1: Read a Pattern (I) . 150

200

Step 2: Calculate F=Ih*I. 250

Rows

Step 3: TH = Ho * T. 300

350

Step 4: TT = R*S. 400

Step 5: S = tan h(F+TT+TH). 450

500
Step 6: a = Pseudo inverse (S). 550

Step 7: estimated = a * Wout. 100 200 300 400

Columns
500 600 700

Step 8: Locate MC. Fig.7 Level-3 Decomposition

50

Training patterns were formed from sample mammogram 100

150

under consideration. Ten mammogram images are considered 200

from mammographic image analysis (MIAS) database for 250

Rows

300

evaluating the performance of ESNN / BPA. The number of 350

400
input features used is five in the input layer of ESNN/ BPA, and 450

the number of targets used is 1 in the output layer. The weights 500

550
in the ESNN/ BPA are initialized. At the end of training, the 100 200 300 400
Columns
500 600 700

final weights are stored for testing the ESNN/BPA to identify Fig.8 Level-4 Decomposition
the MC in mammogram images.

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CiiT International Journal of Digital Image Processing, Vol 8, No 02, February 2016 48

50

100

150

200

250
Rows

300

350

400

450

500

550

100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Columns

Fig.9 Level-5 Decomposition

Figure 4 shows original mammogram of a breast. Figures 5-

Fig.12 Vertical at all Five Levels of Decomposition
9 shows decomposed images. In each image, the
approximation, horizontal, vertical and diagonal have been
combined and displayed.
Figures 10-13 show coefficients of all levels for
approximation, Horizontal, Vertical and Diagonal. These
coefficients are used as inputs to equations 1-5 for generating
patterns. These patterns are used for training the ESNN / BPA
network.

Fig.13 Diagonal at all Five Levels of Decomposition

Table 1 shows the method of assigning values for TP, TN,
FP, FN based on the output of ESNN / BPA.

Fig.10 Approximation at all Five Levels of Decomposition IV. RECEIVER OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC (ROC)
CURVES
ROC is the plot between false positive rate and true positive
rate. The points plotted here represent the performance of an
algorithm in meeting the expected criteria, it is 80% or above.
When mammogram image is presented to algorithm, how
well an algorithm is able to identify the presence of MC to the
maximum extent, and how much the algorithm wrongly detects
MC. The explanation for TP, TN, FP, FN are as follows:
1. True positive (TP) - If the pattern contains MC and if
the proposed algorithm detects the presence of MC,
then it is true positive.
2. False negative (FN)- If the pattern contains MC and if
Fig.11 Horizontal at All Five Levels of Decomposition the proposed algorithm does not detect the presence of
MC, then it is False negative.
3. True negative (TN): If the pattern does not have MC
and if the proposed algorithm does not detect MC, then
it is true negative.
4. False positive (FP): If the pattern has “no MC” and if
the proposed algorithm detects the presence of MC,
then it is false positive.

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CiiT International Journal of Digital Image Processing, Vol 8, No 02, February 2016
Fig.14 ROC Plot for ESNN
Figure 14 presents the plot for FPR versus TPR. The points
obtained are above the diagonal. Hence, the ESNN is suitable
for detecting MC in mammogram image.
Fig.15 ROC plot for BPA
Figure 15 presents the plot for FPR versus TPR. The points
obtained are above the diagonal. Hence, the detection of MC by
BPA is within acceptable region.
The accuracy refers how correctly, the ESNN/BPA
algorithms identify the presence of MC and “no MC” in
mammogram images. If there are about 50 MC on 200 different
mammogram images and if the ESNN/BPA algorithms can
exactly identify all the 50 MC without identifying a non-MC as
MC, then, the algorithms possess the capability of providing
100% MC identification accuracy. The detection rate is
computed using the equations (9 to 10).
TP
Sensitivit y  (9)
TP  FN
TP  TN
Accuracy  (10)
TP  TN  FP  FN
Where FP—False Positive, FN—False Negative, TP—True
Positive, and TN—True Negative.
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49
Fig.16 Accuracy in Detecting MC
Figure 16 shows higher accuracy for the ESNN / BPA
algorithms in detecting MC in 10 mammogram images. The
ESNN algorithm has more accuracy when compared to that of
BPA in detecting MC in mammogram image.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this work, daubauchi wavelets, echo state neural network,
and back propagation algorithm have been used on
mammographic image analysis (MIAS) mammogram database.
The MC identification accuracy of ESNN is better than that of
BPA. Performance of the ESNN algorithm can be tested using
other mammogram database.
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Dr.S. Purushothaman completed his PhD from Indian

Institute of Technology Madras, India in 1995. He has
168 publications to his credit. He has 23 years of teaching
experience. Presently he is working as Associate
Professor in Institute of Technology, Haramaya
University, Ethiopia.

J. Jebathangam completed her MCA in university of

Madras, Chennai, India. She has 8 years of teaching
experience. Currently she is working as Assistant
Professor in Vel’s University, Chennai, India.

Dr.P. Rajeswari completed her PhD in Mother Teresa

Women’s University, Kodaikanal, India in 2014. She has
32 publications to her credit. Her areas of research interest
is Intelligent Computing.

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