A knowledge-based approach to automatic detection of the spinal cord in CT images.

Accurate planning of radiation therapy entails the definition of treatment volumes and a clear delimitation of normal tissue of which unnecessary exposure should be prevented. The spinal cord is a radiosensitive organ, which should be precisely identified because an overexposure to radiation may lead to undesired complications for the patient such as neuronal disfunction or paralysis. In this paper, a knowledge-based approach to identifying the spinal cord in computed tomography images of the thorax is presented.

A computer aided diagnostic system for radiotherapy planning.

Planning for radiation therapy intervention implies the definition of treatment volumes as well as a clear delimitation of normal tissue. This paper presents a Computer Aided Diagnostic system for the automatic CT image analysis. Two important problems are solved: the spinal cord segmentation and the detection of lung metastases.