Computer-aided abdominal lymph node detection using contrast-enhanced CT images

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 — Poster Session III
10:00 a.m. – Noon	Natcher Conference Center	CC	TECH-5

Authors

• J Hua
• J White
• J Liu
• R Summers

Abstract

Many malignant processes cause abdominal lymphadenopathy, and computed tomography (CT) has become the primary modality for its detection. A lymph node is considered enlarged (swollen) if it is more than 1 centimeter in diameter. Which lymph nodes are swollen depends on the type of disease and the body parts involved. Identifying their locations is very important to determine the possible cause. In the current clinical workflow, the detection and diagnosis of enlarged lymph nodes is usually performed manually by examining all slices of CT images, which can be error-prone and time consuming. 3D blob enhancement filter is a usual way for computer-aided node detection. We proposed an improved blob detection method for automatic lymph node detection in contrast-enhanced abdominal CT images. First, spine was automatically extracted to indicate abdominal region. Since lymph nodes are usually next to blood vessels, abdominal blood vessels were then segmented as a reference to set the search region for lymph nodes. Next, lymph node candidates were generated by object-scale Hessian analysis. Finally the detected candidates were segmented and some prior anatomical knowledge was utilized for false positive reduction.

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