Image Segmentation for Evaluating Axillary Lymph Nodes

Abstract

The use of computer algorithms for the delineation of anatomical structures or other regions of interest (ROIs) is called image segmentation. 1 Image segmentation is not a new evaluation technique, but the use has proliferated to provide more information that is locked inside a medical image. Segmenting a medical image can be extremely helpful in quantifying tissue volumes, diagnosis, localization of pathology, and the study of anatomical structures. 2-5 Unfortunately, image segmentation has been conducted with only a limited number of sonographic cases. Examples of successful clinical research using image segmentation of sonography images are those determining heel density, ovarian cysts, breast cysts, and fetal, liver, and cardiac pathology. 6-15 The ability to segment anatomic and pathologic information from an image is only possible because of the composition of voxels. Extracting