Patent ID: 8379950

Claim:
A method for detecting an object in a three-dimensional medical image, comprising: determining, by a processing device, from data representing the three-dimensional medical image, for each voxel in a portion of the three-dimensional medical image, values of a plurality of features at the voxel, wherein each feature at the voxel characterizes a respective property of the three-dimensional medical image at the voxel; calculating, by the processing device, a likelihood probability distribution of each feature based on the determined values of the feature and a parameter value derived from training data; generating, by the processing device, a probability map that indicates a probability of each voxel in the portion of the three-dimensional medical image containing an object to be detected, wherein said generating a probability map includes combining, using Bayes' law, the likelihood probability distributions of the plurality of features at each respective voxel of the portion of the three-dimensional medical image; detecting, by the processing device, the object in the portion of the three-dimensional medical image based on the probability map; and outputting, by the processing device, an indication of the detected object.