Patent ID: 7206462

Claim:
A method of processing computed tomographic (CT) images of a lung, the method comprising: generating a first plurality of CT images of the lung at a first time; generating a second plurality of CT images of the lung at another time; selecting a first CT image from among the first plurality of CT images; and relating the selected first CT image with the second plurality of images of the lung, wherein the relating comprises: selecting a plurality of predetermined vertical regions of the lung; identifying a first one of the predetermined vertical regions associated with the selected first CT image; and selecting a second CT image from among the second plurality of CT images associated with the identified first one of the predetermined vertical regions, and identifying a first one or more centroids in the selected first CT image and a second one or more centroids in the selected second CT image, wherein the first one or more centroids and the second one or more centroids are associated with at least one of a right lung or a left lung.