A computer-implemented method for generating a listing of abnormalities in tissue structures within a thickness dimension of the wall of tubular structure of a body including tissue adjacent the exterior of the wall, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a data set containing data representing a three-dimensional volume of a tubular structure of the body taken along a longitudinal axis of the tubular body, the tubular body having a lumen defined by a wall; (b) selecting a starting point along a central pathway disposed along the longitudinal axis of the tubular body; (c) projecting a ray at a 90 degree angle relative to said central pathway towards the wall a selected distance by stepping towards the wall along the ray from the starting point, the distance selected such that the ray steps into and through the thickness of the wall; (d) calculating a voxel value at the location of each step of the ray; (e) storing the sum of said voxel values to a flattened image buffer stored in memory once a pre-defined tolerance has been exceeded, said flattened image buffer representing the flattened volume of the tubular structure as an isotropic data set; (f) incrementing the angular projection of the ray one degree; (g) determining if the angular projection of the ray has been incremented 360 degrees since the starting point was selected; (h) projecting a ray having the incremented angulation toward the wall; (i) repeating steps (d) through (h) until the angular projection of the ray has been incremented 360 degrees; (j) comparing using pattern recognition software the data stored within the isotropic data representing a selected portion of the tubular body to a library of geometrical patterns representative of predetermined abnormalities; and (k) generating a listing of abnormalities found in the tubular body. (a) providing a data set containing data representing a three-dimensional volume of a tubular structure of the body taken along a longitudinal axis of the tubular body, the tubular body having a lumen defined by a wall; (b) selecting a starting point along a central pathway disposed along the longitudinal axis of the tubular body; (c) projecting a ray at a 90 degree angle relative to said central pathway towards the wall a selected distance by stepping towards the wall along the ray from the starting point, the distance selected such that the ray steps into and through the thickness of the wall; (d) calculating a voxel value at the location of each step of the ray; (e) storing the sum of said voxel values to a flattened image buffer stored in memory once a pre-defined tolerance has been exceeded, said flattened image buffer representing the flattened volume of the tubular structure as an isotropic data set; (f) incrementing the angular projection of the ray one degree; (g) determining if the angular projection of the ray has been incremented 360 degrees since the starting point was selected; (h) projecting a ray having the incremented angulation toward the wall; (i) repeating steps (d) through (h) until the angular projection of the ray has been incremented 360 degrees; (j) comparing using pattern recognition software the data stored within the isotropic data representing a selected portion of the tubular body to a library of geometrical patterns representative of predetermined abnormalities; and (k) generating a listing of abnormalities found in the tubular body. <EOS>