Knowledge-based analysis and understanding of 3d medical images

The anatomical three-dimensional (3D) medical imaging modalities, such as X-ray CT and MRI, have been well recognized in the diagnostic radiology for several years while the nuclear medicine modalities, such as PET, have just started making a strong impact through functional imaging. Though PET images provide the functional information about the human organs, they are hard to interpret because of the lack of anatomical information. Our objective is to develop a knowledge-based biomedical image analysis system which can interpret the anatomical images (such as CT). The anatomical information thus obtained can then be used in analyzing PET images of the same patient. This will not only help in interpreting PET images but it will also provide a means of studying the correlation between the anatomical and functional imaging. This paper presents the preliminary results of the knowledge based biomedical image analysis system for interpreting CT images of the chest.