The main aim of this work was the design of a new algorithm capable to detect masses. Obviously, its comparison with already published works was also necessary to evaluate the performance and quantitatively measure the improvements (if any). For this reason, the use of public mammographic databases was necessary. As shown in this work, MIAS and DDSM were used.
However, as explained in the initial chapter, full-field digital mammography is gaining importance compared to the typical film-based mammography, which is the technique in which both MIAS and DDSM databases were acquired. In order to compare the performance of our algorithms with mammograms obtaining using this newer technology, a digital database was constructed using the mammograms acquired on the Hospital Dr Josep Trueta of Girona.
In what follows we describe in more detail each of these three databases, along with the Málaga database, which is another used database.