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Model observer design for multi-signal detection in the presence of anatomical noise

As psychophysical studies are resource-intensive to conduct, model observers are commonly used to assess and optimize medical imaging quality. Model observers are typically designed to detect at most one signal. However, in clinical practice, there may be multiple abnormalities in a single image set (e.g. multifocal multicentric (MFMC) breast cancer), which can impact treatment planning. Prevalence of signals can be different across anatomical regions, and human observers do not know the number or location of signals a priori. As new imaging techniques have the potential to improve multiple-signal detection (e.g. digital breast tomosynthesis may be more effective for diagnosis of MFMC than mammography), image quality assessment approaches addressing such tasks are needed. In this study, we present a model observer to detect multiple signals in an image dataset. A novel implementation of partial least squares (PLS) was developed to estimate different sets of efficient channels directly from the images. The PLS channels are adaptive to the characteristics of signals and the background, and they capture the interactions among signal locations. Corresponding linear decision templates are employed to generate both image-level and location-specific scores on the presence of signals. Our results show that: (1) the model observer can achieve high performance with a reasonably small number of channels; (2) the model observer with PLS channels outperforms that with benchmark modified Laguerre–Gauss channels, especially when realistic signal shapes and complex background statistics are involved; (3) the tasks of clinical interest, and other constraints such as sample size would alter the optimal design of the model observer.