Inventors:
Hiroyuki Yoshida - Chicago IL
Shigehiko Katsuragawa - Chicago IL
Yali Amit - Chicago IL
Kunio Doi - Willowbrook IL
Assignee:
Arch Development Corporation - Chicago IL
International Classification:
G06K 900
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for discrimination of nodules and false positives in digital chest radiographs, using a wavelet snake technique. The wavelet snake is a deformable contour designed to identify the boundary of a relatively round object. The shape of the snake is determined by a set of wavelet coefficients in a certain range of scales. Portions of the boundary of a nodule are first extracted using a multiscale edge representation. The multiscale edges are then fitted by a gradient descent procedure which deforms the shape of a wavelet snake by changing its wavelet coefficients. The degree of overlap between the fitted snake and the multiscale edges is calculated and used as a fit quality indicator for discrimination of nodules and false detections.