Patent ID: 8634622

Claim:
A method of detecting regions of interest in a tomographic breast image using a system, the system comprising a processor, an input device, and an output device, the method comprising the steps of: a) acquiring tomographic breast image data by means of the input device; b) deriving a plurality of synthetic sub-volumes from the tomographic breast image data by means of the processor; wherein each sub-volume is defined by parallel planar top and bottom surfaces; wherein planar top and bottom surfaces of successive sub-volumes are parallel to each other; and wherein a top planar surface of a sub-volume is offset from a top planar surface of a prior sub-volume, such that successive sub-volumes overlap; c) deriving a two-dimensional image by means of a processor for each sub-volume; d) identifying regions of interest therein for each two-dimensional image, by means of the processor that identifies a plurality of identified regions of interest by searching for general characteristics of a suspicious region of interest; e) computing values associated with at least one identified region of interest of the plurality of identified regions of interest to indicate a level of suspiciousness of the at least one region of interest, by means of the processor; and f) outputting information associated with at least one derived region of interest of potential clinical interest by means of the output device.