Development of a Mathematical Model to Predict the Specific
Growth Rate of Cancerous Tumor for Mammogram
Shwetha S V*, Dr. Dharmanna L, and Dr. Shridhar Allagi, Dr. Basavaraj S Anami

Abstract— Breast cancer is a disease with leading death rate
among women as per the World Health Organization (WHO).
Many researchers had worked to detect cancerous (malignant)
and non-cancerous tumor (benign) in the breast. But the
estimation of the tumor volume has not done till today. The
identification of the malignant tumor is not a big challenge as
growth rate estimation because it is not sufficient to cure and
avoid the cancer in advance. When tumor is in the higher stage
there is a need of rigorous treatment for the curing of the
disease. We carried out the research work to estimate the tumor
volume growth per day. Based on this we can not only classify as
benign or malignant, the stage of the tumor is also identified by
estimating the specific growth rate of tumor volume per day.
The research work shows that the benign tumor will get doubled
in 1200 days, malignant stage 1tumor takes 376 days, stage 2
tumor doubles in 212 days and stage 3 tumor doubles in 45 days.
This work is carried out in three different phases,
phase1-enhancement of tumor region in ultrasound images. The
tumor is enhanced using novel Anistropic DiffuusionGabor
Filter. In phase 2 tumor portions that are RoI is separated from
the rest of the image. In third phase the tumor volume is
estimated and specific growth rate per day also computed.
Further the correlation developed specific growth rate versus
tumor volume doubling time for the fast estimation of the tumor
progress.
Index Terms— Growth, SGR, Benign tumor, Malignant,
Benign Tumor, Tumor Volume, and Doubling Time
I. INTRODUCTION
The estimation of tumor growth rate plays a vital role in
providing various advantages to the pathologist in assessment
of early diagnosis of cancer. In this the parameters like SGR,
aggressiveness of tumor, volume of the tumor are considered.
The detailed discussion about the tumor growth rate is
presented in the section.
The section focuses on breast tumor growth. To study on
breast tumor for benign and malignant is important to
diagnose cancer tumor stages progression. The Doubling
Time (DT) of benign tumor ranges in between 1 year to 7
years and for malignant tumor on an average the doubling
time is very much aggressive as compared to benign tumor.
The stages of progression of cancerous tumor increases, the
doubling time of the tumor decreases. Hence this section deals
Manuscript received XXX; revised XXX; accepted XXX.
*Ms.Shwetha S V,Research Scholar, Department of Computer Science,
KLEIT Hubballi, Karnataka, India
Dr. Dharmanna L,Professor, School of Computation and Information
Technology, REVA University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Dr. Shridhar Allagi, Associate Professor, Department of Computer
Science, KLEIT Hubballi, Karnataka, India
*Correspondence: dharmannasdmit@gmail.com
on which stages of the tumor grow in a rapid rate. Size of the
tumor does not matter how fast tumor develops matters a lot
and helps the clinician to in order to take decision for the
surgery. We have developed mathematical model to calculate
tumor growth rate [x] and the specific growth rate is
calculated using Gompertz equation [x]. The malignant tumor
cells get multiplied rapidly [x]. This chapter focuses on
specific growth rate estimation and how it differs with benign
and malignant tumor.
Benign tumor have usual slow Tumor Growth Rate (TGR)
and painful as compared to malignant. This tumor does not
affect the neighboring cells and used have more circular in the
nature whereas cancer tumor have no pains and TGR have
higher effects on the surrounding cells. This kind of tumor has
low doubling Time (days) for example third stage of cancer
tumor doubles in 45 days. Fig. 1(a) shows a benign tumor
initial screening with tumor 1.6 cm3 and Fig. 1(b) shows the
tumor with 2.5 cm3. Fig. 1(c) shows a malignant tumor with
2.1 cm3 and Fig. 1(d) shows the tumor with 4.5 cm3.
Fig.1. (a) benign tumor initial screening (b) Second Screeining-1300 (c)
Initial screening of malignant tumor-volume 2.1 cm3 (d) Second screening
after 45 days with tumor volume 4.5 cm3
In this section, the equation for the doubling time of the
tumor, Specific Growth Rate Estimation of Breast Tumor and
Correlating SGR estimation and TVDT are presented in the
further sections. The following section demonstrates the
derivation of tumor growth rate.
Section 1 presents the introduction of the tumor growth
rate; section presents literature review done by various
authors. Section three presents mathematical model. Section 4
presents the methodology and implementation. Section 5
represents the results and discussion. The section 6 presents
the conclusion followed by references.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
In this section the work done by the various authors on the
estimation of the growth rate is presented. Emma G et. al.
worked on “Radiological Audit of interval of breast cancer :
estimation of tumor growth rates”. In this work author had
developed the correlation between tumor volume doubling
time and clinical pathological features such as age, grade, ER
status, tumor types etc. In this study average time from
screening to diagnose is 644 days. 19% of tumors diagnosed
in first twelve months 42%in next subsequent 12 months and
39% after the twelve months. In this study author presented
overall doubling time of cancer was 167 days [10].
Meryl Dahan et. al presented on “ Has tumor doubling time in
breast cancer changed over the past 80 years”. The study
shows that total number of 151 publications is involved in the
experiment and obtained the results in such a way that there is
no significant difference in the tumor doubling time from the
last 80 years. All cancerous tumor growth had been elevated
by the Ki-67 protein. The study very clearly categorizes the
prognostic and predictive impact of breast cancer[10].
Alexander W and Pearl Man M D, presented a study on
“breast cancer -influence of growth rate on prognosis and
treatment evaluation”. In this study growth rate has been
estimated from patient history with good accuracy. The study
shows that 50% of the samples in the dataset of tumor, there is
a rapid growth. All the tumors get double in 25 days. 33% of
the tumors volume gets double in 26-75 days and remaining
16% of tumor dataset het double in 75 and above days. If the
tumor gets double in 25 days the survival rate of the patient is
less than 5 years and remaining are above 8 years [4].
Herald Weedon-Fekjaer et. al. demonstrated on “ breast
cancer tumor estimated through mammography screening
data “.This paper reveals the previous research work
conducted on small datasets and small experiments. This
work is performed on Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening
Program and tumor growth rate was estimated on large
datasets with no mathematical model. In this work to estimate
the tumor growth likelihood based estimating procedure are
adopted. In this study the patients of 50-69 years were
considered with 3,95,188. 5% of tumor taking less than 1.2
months taking to double 10mm to 20mm in diameter. And
remaining 55 of sample took approximately 6.3 years. Overall
time required to double the tumor diameter was 1.7 years.
Study shows that tumor volume increases with increase in the
age[3].
Esmaeil Mehrara et. al. presented a work on “quantitative
work on tumor growth rate and changes in tumor marker level
:Specific Growth rate v/s Doubling Time. The author had
small they differ in the samples contained in the datasets. The
author arrived at the interesting results using these datasets.
Su. Hyun Lee et. al. experimented on tumor growth rate of
invasive breast cancer during wait times for surgery assessed
by ultrasonography[7]. The author worked on estimation of
tumor volume growth between first screening assessment and
second screening assessment which is called wait time for
surgery of the tumor. The author also developed the tumor
growth rate during the wait period as well as clinic
pathological features. For an example case the second
screening estimation of the tumor was 15.6 mm and 1.6 mm3
was the diameter. In the first screening the diameter and
volume of the tumor is 14.7mm and 1.3 mm3. In 31 days the
tumor had increased in the volume by 0.3 mm3 and diameter
by 0.9 mm. The author had also shown that growth rate of
various cancer tumors such as triple negative, hER2-+ve,
luminol cancer. The triple negative tumor has highest growth
rate, the SGR is 1.002%/day, the HER2+ve is 0.85%/day, the
luminol cancer is 0.208%/day
III. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. Tumor Growth rate (TGR)
The Tumor Volume Doubling Time (TVDT) [9] is the time
required by the cells of the tumor to get doubled and volume if
the tumor grows in size by twice. There will be 109 cells in
1cm of the tumor. The derivation for TVDT is as follows,
Assume kt=Number of cells derived from one cell
V0=Initial Volume of Tumor
Vt  V0 k.t ...equation  (1)
t
k 2 tD
because t
Where t is the time period and tD is the doubling time
t

shown the limitations of calculating tumor doubling time over Vt  V0  2 ...equation  (2)
tD

the specific growth rate. The tumor doubling time produced Expressing the above equation in terms of the diameter D of
incorrect estimations as well as uncertainty of the growth rate. the tumor
Also Tumor doubling time provides the over estimation result t
for the slower growth rate of the tumor. And underestimate
Dt  D0 2 t D ....equation  (3)
faster growth of the tumor. Whereas, the SGR overcomes all
the limitations of the estimation of the tumor doubling Apply log on both sides to solve the equation for tD
time[8].  t

Shristi Bhapttarai et. al., a work on machine learning based ln Dt   ln D0 2
 tD ...equation  (4)
 
prediction of breast cancer growth rate in vivo. The author  
developed the experiment to predict the growth rate of the
ln Dt   ln D0   ln 2...equation  (5)
tumor using a new unique coherent model for breast cancer
t
patients. In the model two serial mammograms visible in the tD
diagnosis and second one is missed one in the first screening
ln Dt   ln D0   ln 2...equation  (6)
t
assessment. The developed model is called SM-INVIGOR
stratified discovery. This model predicts breast cancer tumor tD
growth rate in pre predictor stage and offers various useful
D   t 
applications[10]. ln  t     ln 2...equation  (7)
Anne Talkington & Rick Durrett presented a work on  D0   t D 
estimating tumor growth rate in vivo. The author worked on
t  ln 2
TGE fitted four mathematical models such as PowerLaw , tD  ...equation  (8)
exponential, Gompertz and Spratts. These four mathematical  Dt 
models adapted for five datasets such as Nakamura, ln 
Laasonen, Heuser, Saito, Nakajima. Though the datasets are  D0 
Assuming t=∆t=t2-t1
 t  ln 2 BTVDT  1.517e  0.6t 2  0.004582t  5.218...eq.  (19)
tD  ...equation  (9)
Dt
ln
D0
The tumor volume doubling time for the benign tumor sets in
t  t ln 2 ...equation  (10)
TVDT  2 1 quadratic equation and is represented in the Fig. 2.
V 
ln  t 
 V0 
t D  t 2  t1 
ln 2
...equation  (11)
 Vt 
ln  
 V0 

B. SGR-Specific Growth rate

The specific growth rate is defined as the growth of the tumor

in a day that measures the increase in volume of tumor per
Fig.2. The equation for benign tumor volume doubling time
day.
Vt  V0 e rt ...equation  (12 ) E. Equations for Estimations of the Tumor Volume with
Apply log on both sides Different Shapes
ln Vt  ln V0  rt  ln e...equation  (13)
The tumor will not always perfect circular in shape. The
V  various shapes of the tumor are spherical, ellipsoid, irregular
ln  t   rt  (14) etc. The equations for the estimation of the tumor volume with
 V0  different shapes is presented as below[x],
V 
ln  t  1) Tumor of Spherical Shape
r   0  ...equation  (15)
V
t The Breast Tumor Volume (BTV) is computed through the
Let r=SGR and t=tt-t0 following formula, assuming the tumor is in spherical shape

V  4  b  1
ln  t  BTV      a  b   a    ...equation  (20)
SGR   0  ...equation  (16)
V 3  2  8
tt  t 0 Where , a-denotes the longest TD-Tumor diameter
b-denotes the shortest Tumor diameter (TD)
C. SGR v/s TGR
2) Tumor of Ellipsoid Shape
The TVDT is the tumor volume doubling time and SGR is the
growth rate of tumor per day, these two can be correlated, The breast tumor shape is assumed as ellipsoid. So in this case
higher the SGR lesser will be the doubling time of the cancer the height of the tumor is equal to its width.
1
tumor and is as given below, V  l  w  w...equation  (21)
TVDT 
tt  t0   ln 2 ...equation  (17) 2
Breast tumor defined for ball/spherical shape is given below
V 
ln  t  4
 V0  BTV   3.14  a 3 ...equation  (22)
3
ln 2 Where a indicates the maximum radius of the tumor
TVDT  ...equation  (18)
SGR 3) Tumor of Irregular Shape

The TVDT is given by the equation (17) and the equation (16)
specifies SGR. The equation (18) represents the expressing
TVDT in terms of SGR.
D.Benign Tumor Growth
The benign tumor growth rate is estimated using proposed
mathematical model. The model for this tumor fits in the
polynomial equation and is quadratic in nature for benign
tumor and is given by the equation (19)
The breast tumor shape is cylindrical where a is the length of
the tumor and r is the radius of the tumor,
a 2
BTV   r ...equation  (23)
2
F. Malignant Tumor Growth with Stages
The malignant tumor is found in stage-I, stage-II and stage
–III of the cancer. The polynomial equation for tumor
doubling time fits in quadratic equation for stage-III cancer t
and is given by the equation (24) Vt  V0  2 td
...equation  (28)

Vt  1.949 e  05t 2  0.01088 t  1.664 ...eq.  (24 ) Where Vt= Volume at specific time, V0=Volume at initial
time, td=doubling time if tumor, t=a random time in terms of
days
The polynomial equation for tumor doubling time fits in
quadratic equation for stage-II cancer and is given by the
The equation for td in terms of SGR is given as,
equation (25)

ln 2
Vt  5.658 e  05t 2  0.03632 t  5.895 ...eq.  (25) td  ...equation  (29)
SGR
The polynomial equation for tumor doubling time fits in linear
equation for stage-I cancer and is given by the equation (26)
Substitute equation (16) in equation (18) for tD
Vt  0.0432t  3.508...equation  (26)
t
ln 2
1) Different Volume Size of Malignant Tumor with the Vt  V0  2 SGR

Stages
SGRt
The speed of the breast cancer growth rate (BCG) was Vt  V0  2 ln 2
...equation  (30 )
estimated by the doubling rate of cancer cells. The doubling
time (DT) model was used to compute the growth rate. The This is generalized equation for the volume of tumor at time t.
growth rate of the tumor can be calculated through the For the Stage-3, the doubling time is 77 days and
specific growth rate. It is defined as the rate of increase of SGR=9x10-3, therefore the Vt is given by,
breast tumor cancer cell population per day.
910 3 t
Breast Tumor volumes are often measured in centimeters Vt  V0  2 ...equation  (31)
ln 2

(cm). Generally, food items are often measured in centimeters

(cm). The tumor sizes are mapped with food item size like Similarly for Stage -2, SGR=3x10-3, Vt is given by,
size of peanut, lime, grape etc. The size of food items will be
applied to showcase the breast tumor size in centimeters 310 3 t
includes is given in the table 1. Vt  V0  2 ln 2
...equation  (32)

Table 1. Tumor size in centimeters mapped to food items Similarly for Stage -1, SGR=2x10-3, Vt is given by,

Sl. No. Item Name Size in cm 210 3 t

Vt  V0  2 ln 2
...equation  (33)
1 A Pea 1
2 Peanut 2 Similarly for Benign stage, SGR=3x10-4, Vt is given by,
3 Grape 3
310 4 t
4 Walnut 4 Vt  V0  2 ln 2
...equation  (34)
5 Lime 5
G.Tumor Enhancement
6 An egg 6
7 Peach 8 The extracted tumor is enhanced with the filtering technique
of Modified Gabor Filter.
8 Grapefruit 10
The computation of growth of cancer tumor can lead to H. Tumor Localization
diagnose the early stage cancer detection. Benign tumor
roughly doubles in 120 days to 7 years and mean time is 2100 In order to automatically locate the tumor three features are
days. The stage-1 malignant tumor doubles in 347 days with considered like Super Pixel saliency map, Blackness ratio and
SGR 2x10-3. The stage-2 tumor doubles in 212 days with SGR Intensity.
3X10-3, whereas stage-3 tumor doubles in 77 days with SGR
9x10-3. Even cancerous tumor are detected at the early stage I. Tumor Segmentation
with tumor size of 0.1 mm [62]
The Segmentation of the extracted tumor is performed
The doubling time for the tumor of stage-3, stage-2, stage-1 through the Region Growing & Merging Algorithm.
and benign are 77 days, 212 days, 347 days and 2100 days.
The equation for the tumor (Vt) is given by,

IV. METHODOLOGY
The section presents the methodology of implementation of
the estimation of tumor growth rate. The methodology is
presented as shown in Fig. 3. Stage 1: This is the input stage
where all samples of first screening ultrasound images and
second screening of images of same patient had been stored
with time intervals first and second screening. The stage has
huge dataset which was collected from various hospitals.
Image acquisition: The first stage is the process of the
acquisition of the image from the several instruments. The
image is in the form of the mammograms and ultrasound
images. The mammograms and ultrasound images are
processed.
Preprocessing : Stage 2 is image enhancement stage. The
USB are involved much of speckle noise. The USB are
involved much of speckle noise. Speckle noise is introduced
during ultrasound image acquisition with implementation of
Environmental sound waves. This noise occurs due to low
level luminance images. This noise also called as
multiplicative noise. The reducing speckle noise is essential
because clear visibility of tumor area in order to extract
cancer tumor to measure its volume and diameter. This noise
reduced by placing the homogeneity of the surrounding
region of the tumor to remove the noise. We developed hybrid
approach called anisotropic diffusion Gabor filter namely
(ADGF). The result of this hybrid approach is that it improves
the clear edges of the tumor area.
Tumor Segmentation by RGM: The segmentation of the
tumor is carried out by the RGM segmentation technique for
the extraction of the tumor from the mammogram and
ultrasound images.
Feature extraction of RoI: The geometrical and physical
features of the tumor are extracted from the segmented tumor
by which the area, volume and major axis etc. are detected.
Tumor diameter and Volume Computation: The extracted
features aids to the computation of the diameter and volume
of the tumor
Fig.3. Dataflow diagram
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The work of the tumor growth rate estimation is implemented
in MATLAB R2020a. The one of the case study of breast
cancer detection is presented and as follows. The ultrasound
imaging is done for woman of 53 years old. On the first day of
screening the tumor volume was 2.56 cm3 and after 21 days
the tumor was found of the size 2.58 cm3.The SGR is 0.045%
indicating the patient has stage-3 cancer as shown in the
Fig.4 and of a 32 year old woman in Fig.5.
Fig. 4 A 53-year-woman with an invasive ductal carcinoma in the left breast
of US image at first screening (a) 17.1 mm diameter (b) 2.56 cm 3 vol. after
21 days at second screening, tumor diameter was 18.5 mm (c) Volume was
2.58 cm3 (d) The specific growth rate had been computed i.e. 0.045 and as it
exceeds minimum SGR of stage-3 i.e 1.3, hence it is stage-3 cancer
Fig. 5 A 32 year woman’s ultrasound breast right tumors taken for the case
study with initial measurement of tumor diameter and volume were 17.8 mm
and 2.53 cm3. In the second screening after 40 days, the volume and diameter
of the tumor were found as 23.3 mm and 4.70 cm 3. The SGR was estimated
as 1.552%/day and is of grade-III cancer
The table 2 presents the initial volume (V0) at the time of the
first screening and the (Vt), the volume at the time of second
screening. The volume of the tumor is expressed in terms of
the weight of the tumor (in milligrams), Also the tumor
volume Doubling Time (DT) is specified in terms of months
and the Specific Growth Rate (SGR) is mentioned in terms of
percentage per month.
The spread of the tumor in the other parts is described as
follows, T stands for the tumor size, N stands for spread of the
tumor in nearby lymph node and M stands for the spread of
the tumor in nearby parts i.e. T- Tumor size, N-Node status,
M-Metastasis. The description of the different tumor size is
presented in table 3. The details of the different stages of the
cancer and the TNM criteria for each stage are tabulated in
table 4.
This study investigated the breast cancer growth rate and
found that it varies from fast growing to slow growing breast
tumors by a factor of 19. The Ki-67 protein increases and the
cell get prepared to split into another cell. This was
investigated to be the robust univariate growth rate predictor.
 Table 2 Tumor estimation T3, N1, M0 or
Sl PI Stg V0 in W0 in Vt Wt in DT( SGR (% T3, N2, M0
.N D . cm3 mgs in mgs Mon /mon.) T4, N0, M0 or
o cm3 ths)
6 Stage IIIB T4, N1, M0 or
1 3 II 1.3 1300 2.6 2600 3.97 17.46
T4, N2, M0
2 7 III 1.9 1900 5.69 5690 5.67 12.22
3 8 III 2.43 2430 4.76 4760 1.14 60.80 7 Stage IIIC any T, N3, M0
4 9 III 1.73 1730 2.48 24 3.37 20.57
5 11 III 2.7 2785 3.48 3480 1.58 43.87 The computed average Tumor Volume Doubling Time
6 15 III 3.63 3630 7.28 7280 2.66 26.06
7 17 II 1.2 1200 2.12 2500 3.64 19.04
(TVDT) of first stage cancer was 347 days and the second
8 18 III 3.92 3920 7.46 7460 2.04 33.98 stage breast cancer doubling time was 212 days and third
9 20 III 4.17 4170 8.09 8090 2.33 29.75 stage tumor doubling time was just 47 days, whereas the
10 21 I 0.8 800 1.67 1670 6.29 11.02 benign tumor doubling time was 2012 days, very slow
11 22 II 0.7 2700 1.53 3530 5.12 13.54 progress rate and as well as harmless to the patient. The
12 25 III 3.27 3270 7.21 7210 2.88 24.3
patient age, secondary lymph node contribution and
13 10 Be 2.3 2300 2.8 2800 60.8 6.60
1 n. advancement in TNM have been presented to correlate with
TVDT. In this chapter the estimation of specific growth per
day and the correlated specific growth rate and tumor volume
Table 3 TNM class and description
doubling time is presented. The SGR ranges for III stage
Sl.No. TNM cancer from 1.3 to 2.49 , for II stage BC from 0.05 to 0.41
Criteria mm, for I stage cancer from 0.05 to 0.27, whereas for the
class
1 T0 No tumor benign tumor was very slow SGR that is 0.0003 to 0.0057 as
2 T1a Carcinoma depicted in table 3. The table 4 gives cancer TNM details.
3 T1 Tumor size less than 2 cm
4 T1m1c Micro-invasion 0.1 cm or less This also presents the derivation of the TVDT estimation,
5 T1a In range of 0.1 to 0.5 cm SGR and correlation of SGR and TVDT. Hence doctor need
6 T1b In range of 0.5 to 1 cm not wait for longer time of 10 to 15 days to decide which stage
7 T1c In range of 1 to 2 cm tumor it is and can predict the nature of the tumor growth.
8 T2 In range of 2 to 5 cm
The assumption of an exponential growth rate Vt=V0.2t/td with
9 T3 In range of 5cm
fixed doubling process authenticated to give a better
10 Size immaterial and tumor
computation of BC [8] growth. This model didn’t differ much
T4 spread across chest wall and
from the GM (Gompertz equation) and hypothesizes the
skin
tumor to appear during early stage (<25 mm) will TGR and
11 Spread across Chest wall
T4a usually generated with the cells reproductive proceed of the
excluding pectoral muscle
breast tumor tissues. One issue with Gompertz model is, it
12 T4b Skin nodule
didn’t set upper limit and lower limits, representing a bounded
13 T4c 4a and 4b growth. Whereas our work had shown the upper limit and
14 T4d Inflammatory carcinoma lower limit of the tumor growth, the study found that growth
15 Regional lymph nodes difficult rate of BC varies from fast growing to slow growing and that
Nx
to surgery GR associated with Histological Grade (HG), Patient Age
16 N0 Metastasis (PA), secondary lymph node involvement and Ki-67 protein
17 N1 Movable metastasis expression. Finally, TVDT incorporated in the multiple
18 Secondary lymph nodes. biomarkers that clearly help the doctors to take the clinical
N2
( N2b) treatment strategies immediately. The overall results of
19 Internal mammary lymph enhancement, segmentation, characterization, classification,
N3
nodes stage detection through mitotic cells and tumor growth rate
20 Distant metastasis difficult to estimation are presented in results and discussion chapter.
MX
screening
21 M0 No distant metastasis The section presents the results obtained by processing
22 M1 Distant metastasis mammogram and ultrasound images. In this process benign
and malignant tumor were extracted through region growing
Table 4 Breast cancer-TNM details and merging algorithm. In this stage benign images were
Sl. Breast cancer Classification criteria based processed .The malignant tumor US images were also
No. stages on TNM processed. The result infers that area of the malignant tumor
1 Stage 0 Tis, N0, M0
doubles for 77 days in third stage of breast cancer, tumor
2 Stage I T1, N0, M0
doubles in 212 days for 2nd stage and 342 days for first stage
T0, N1, M0 or
3 Stage II A T1, N1, M0 or malignant tumor in general. But benign tumor had roughly
T2, N0, M0 taken 2100 days to double the tumor and does not lead to
T2, N1, M0 or mortality.
4 Stage II B
T3, N0, M0
Fig. 6 depicts the tumor in woman of 67 years old with mass
T0, N2, M0 or
size of 2.4 cm in the initial sonographic screening. The size of
5 Stage IIIA T1, N2, M0 or
T2, N2, M0 or the mass rose to 5.8 cm2 in the second screening (60 days).
The tumor doubling time was estimated to be 47 days and
depicted in Fig. 7.
Fig. 6 Result of Ultrasound Imaging-initial stage
Fig. 7 Result of Ultrasound Imaging-After 60 days
Fig. 8 Result of 52 years old woman first UltraSound
Fig. 9 Result of 52 years old woman second UltraSound
In Fig. 8, a woman of 52 years-old with tumor on the first
ultrasound image assessment is depicted. The diameters were
estimated in two directions using the larger plane of the tumor
(14X9 mm). Then the volume of tumor was computed by
using ellipsoid formula (approximately 3.27 cm3). After 56
days second ultrasound image assessment, the volume of
tumor rose to 6.93 cm3 and the tumor doubling time was
calculated to be 52 days (third stage) and depicted in Fig.9.
The more discussion on Fig. 8 is illustrated as the overall
process of tumor area estimation at given point of time. In
order to extract region of the tumor grown in breast ultrasound
is a series of challenging process. Fig. 6 (a) is the original
ultrasound image that was extracted by the skilled technician
in the laboratory and approximately dimension measured
major x-axis and y-axis which we can observed limes over the
US image, but these line makes the disturbance for the
automatic estimation of the tumor size. Hence, these can be
removed by image filtering technique; we can observe label
and artifacts removed object in Fig. 6 (b). Fig. 6 (c) shows the
contrast enhancement. This process adjusts the relative
brightness and darkness of breast tumor object in the
ultrasound image in order to improve their visibility. The
contrast of the US image will be changed by mapping the gray
scales in the image to new data points through a gray-scale
transformation. The Fig. 6 (d) Image sharpening is important
step in US image processing. This technique will restore some
of the sharpness lost in tumor object of US. Similarly the same
process had carried out in Fig. 7, Fig. 8 and Fig.9.
Fig.10 Sharpening of image
A general sharpening method subtracts a fraction of
neighboring pixel from each pixel elements as explained in
Fig.10. The black thin line curve in the lower section of image
is the input to the sharpening method. The two blue curves are
the reflections of the input, minimized in amplitude and
shifted by the distance of + or – 2 pixel intensities. This
distance is referred as sharpening radius Rs. The result of
sharpening process can be seen as a brighter image in Fig.7
(d). The breast US image is embossed in which each pixel of
an image is replaced either a shadow or highlight based on
light boundaries on the original input US image. This
technique also helps to diagnose the tumor part in breast
image. This is shown in Fig. 9.(e). The Fig. 9.(f) represents
the final segmentation of the tumor with area of 3.27 cm3 and
this result is approximately very closer to the pathologist
measured value in the laboratory with hardly two percentage
error rate. Similarly process has been carried out for the Fig. 9
but 56 days later. The tumor size has doubled and this
technique can be used by the doctor as an additional benefit to
detect the disease in automatic process. The same process is
carried out for 67 years old woman in Fig.5 & Fig.6 after 60
days.
Table 5 SGR and days values of Stage-I, Stage-II and Stage-III samples
Stage-I samples with SGR and days
SGR Days SGR Days
0.19 367 0.26 269
0.27 254 0.05 300
0.19 368
Stage-II samples with SGR and days
SGR Days SGR Days
0.89 78 0.75 93
0.53 132 0.33 213
0.72 96 0.91 76 1.33 52 1.71 41
0.95 73 0.98 71 2.06 34 1.76 39
1 69 0.578 122 1.51 46 1.75 40
1.09 64 1.11 62 1.61 43 1.46 47
1.16 60 0.19 368 1.76 39 1.33 52
0.86 1.19 0.58 0.89 1.79 39 1.89 37
1.01 68 0.8 87 1.67 42 1.65 42
0.74 93 0.78 88 1.96 35 1.98 35
1.18 59 1.01 69 1.67 42 1.58 44
0.52 132 1.03 67 1.33 52 1.76 39
0.99 70 1.27 54 1.5 46 1.79 39
1.1 63 0.81 85 1.31 53 1.72 40
0.95 73 1.04 67 2.06 34 2.3 30
1.02 68 1.08 64 2.49 28 2.12 33
1.3 6 0.98 71 1.76 39 1.52 46
1.08 64 0.98 71 1.32 53 1.79 39
0.47 148 0.91 76 1.47 47 1.81 38
1.1 63 1.01 69 1.5 46 1.67 42
0.95 73 1.01 69 1.4 49 1.75 40
0.99 70 0.86 81 1.79 39 1.69 41
0.57 122 0.8 87 1.89 37 1.4 50
0.3 230 0.91 76 1.91 36 1.4 50
0.92 75 0.82 85 1.91 36 2.06 34
1.11 62 1.26 55 1.5 46 1.41 49
0.75 92 1.29 54 1.68 41 1.69 41
1.28 54 0.41 171 1.62 43 1.5 46
0.46 152 0.69 100 1.93 36 1.38 50
0.81 85 1.23 56 1.72 40 1.38 50
0.9 77 0.73 95 1.42 49 2.03 34
0.69 100 1.02 68 1.69 41 2.36 29
1.12 62 0.05 300 1.62 43 1.66 41
1.41 49 0.28 244 1.49 46 1.33 52
0.78 0.94 1.15 60 1.35 52 1.56 44
0.37 188 1.25 56 2.3 30 1.64 42
0.7 99 0.8 84 1.3 53 1.58 44
0.86 81 1.14 61 1.35 51 1.62 43
0.27 254 0.44 159 1.96 35 1.57 44
1.15 61 0.36 194
1.19 58 1.09 63 Table 5 is the data set values for the tumor growth rate in
1.17 59 1.13 61 terms of SGR and days required for doubling the tumor. For
0.37 188 1.05 66 stage II, 120 samples and stage III, 80 samples and stage-I, 6
0.55 126 1.01 69 samples. Actually, the computation is done for 1200 samples,
0.93 74 1.17 59 but here only 200 samples has been displayed for visual
0.83 83 1.04 66 convenience and also summarized with seven statistics
1.17 59 1.09 64 features have detailed description is given in further sections.
1.2 58 0.92 76 The seven statistical features have been computed for the
0.54 129 0.47 148 Stage-I, Stage-II and Stage-III breast tumor for the computed
1.17 59 1.23 57 values of SGR and days. It gives average days for SGR for
1.26 55 0.48 145 Stage-I, Stage-II and Stage-III cancerous tumor.
0.19 367 0.85 82 In the table 6, the mean value for the Stage-I is SGR-0.20 and
days -304.5, for Stage-II, 0.87 and 95.33 days whereas for
0.39 180 0.26 269
Stage-III, 1.7 and 41.77 days. It can be observed that stage 3
1.28 54 0.67 103
SGR is 9 times higher than the stage 1. Hence tumor doubling
0.7 100 1.15 60
time is 42 days for Stage III tumor. It is essential to
0.8 87 0.3 227
recommend for the rigorous treatment of BC.
0.82 84 0.69 101 The Standard Deviation (SD) feature describes over the
1.19 58 1.27 54 dataset elements, Mean variance to the mean value as
0.86 81 0.81 85 described above. SD for days in Stage I, Stage II, and Stage
Stage –III samples with SGR and days III are (51.02, 0.08), (58.94, 0.30) and (6.55, 0.28). It can be
SGR Days SGR Days inferred that if the third stage day’s duration to double the
2.33 30 2.25 31 tumor is very less, hence, there is consistency in the SGR
value. So the time in the third stage get doubled immediately
in a short span of time. Whereas the Stage I tumor
demonstrate that sometimes gets doubled in 365 or 250 days,
where as some may take 1412 days also to get doubled. Stage
II doubling time is moderate and as shown in the table 6.
The minimum number of days required to double the tumor in
Stage1, Stage2, Stage3 are as follows 254 days, 169 days, 28
days respectively and SGR value is 0.05, 0.05, 1.3.The
maximum number of days for the doubling of tumor is 1412
days,368 days, 53 days and SGR values 0.27, 0.41,2.49
Fig.11 Graph of Tumor growth rate SGR V/s Days
respectively.
The median value describes the given dataset elements either
odd number of elements or even number of elements. In case
of odd number elements the middle element is the median
whereas in even number elements the average of middle two
numbers is taken. As we can observe that the median value is
304.5 days, 95.33 days, 41.77 days and SGR is 0.225, 0.925,
1.67.
The mode as defined over the given dataset element which
occurs with the highest frequency that is mode of n elements.
If two elements occur with the same frequency so that it is
called as bimodal, three elements occur that is called trimodal. Fig.12 Graph of Tumor growth rate SGR V/s Days-stage1
In our experiment mode values for stage 1, stage2 and stage3
are 269 days, 54 days, 39 days and SGR is 0.19, 1.01, and
1.33 respectively.
It can be inferred that the range for the 25 days shows that the
tumor got doubled in the third stage, 362 days for the stage2
tumor to get doubled and 1158 days i.e. at least three years for
stage 1 tumor to get doubled.
The Fig. 11 graph –SGR & days is drawn for the above
statistics and depicted in below table 5. The data reading in
red color shows the aggressive growth rate over the number of
days. The blue color readings indicate stage2 of the tumor
Fig.13 Graph of Tumor growth rate SGR V/s Days-stage2
growth rate and the green color depicts the tumor growth rate
of stage 1 tumors. The data fittings for stage 1, stage2, stage3
has been demonstrated as an equation and estimated that for
stage3 it is linear equation expression has been satisfied with
coefficient. y= 0.0432x+3.508 and for the stage2 equation on
data points are cubic given by equation
y=5.546e-08x3+5.108e-05x2-0.01578x+1.866 and have been
satisfied. Whereas for the stage1 data points depicted is
quadratic equation and given by
y=5.658e-05x2-0.03632x+5.895.All these are depicted in the
Fig. 11, Fig.12, Fig 13.and Fig. 14. Fig.14 Graph of Tumor growth rate SGR v/s Days-Stage3
Table 6. SGR & Days –Mean and Median value

Stat.Par. Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 VI. CONCLUSION

SGR Days SGR Days SGR Days
Min 0.05 254 0.05 169 1.3 28 The estimation of the tumor growth rate is computed with the
Max 0.27 368 1.41 368 2.49 53 size of the volume of the tumor and SGR. The estimation
Mean 0.20 304.5 0.86 95.33 1.71 41.77 assists the oncologist in the determination of the stages of
SD 0.08 51.02 0.31 58.94 0.29 6.56 cancer. The Mathematical model helps in the estimation of
Median 0.22 284.5 0.92 74.5 1.67 42 the tumor growth rate from the initial screening and second
Mode 0.19 269 1.01 54 1.33 39 screening and can detect the stage of the tumor, thereby the
Range 0.22 114 1.36 362 1.19 25 decision of the treatment can be taken in the right manner.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
The author Shwetha S V has carried out the study and
documented the work. The author Dr. Dharmanna L and Dr.
Shridhar Allagi had verified the work with suitable [4] Alexander W Pearlman et. al.,”Breast cancer -Influence of Growth
suggestions. Rate on Prognosis and Treatment
Evaluation,acsjournal.onlinelibrary,doi/10.1002/1097-0142
[5] Dahan, Méryl, et al. "Has tumor doubling time in breast cancer
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