A Context Based Automated System for Lung Nodule Detection in CT Images

This thesis is focused on automatic lung nodule detection in CT images. CAD systems are suited for this tak because the sheer volume of information present in CT data sets is overwhelming for radiologists to process. The system developed in this thesis presents a fully automatic solution that applies a sequential algoriths which strongly focuses on nodule context. The system operates at a rate of 80% sensitivity with 3.05 FPs per slice. Our testing data, consisting of 19 CTdata sets containing239 lung nodules, is extremely robust when compared with other documented systems. In addition it introduces many new approaches such as a tight bounding, vessel connectivity, perimeter analysis, adaptive MLT and region growing based lung segmentation. The experimental results produced by this systemare an affirmation of the competitiveness of its performance when compared to other documented approaches.