Automatic segmentation of neck CT images

In this era of cross-sectional imaging, it is useful to think of the neck in terms of adjacent anatomical spaces separated by fascial layers extended from the skull base to the thoracic inlet. Although these layers are not usually visible in CT or AM images, their locations can be inferred by knowing their relationships to various anatomical structures that are visible in cross-sectional images. Identifying these anatomical structures in the neck region can facilitate applications such as automated diagnosis by finding abnormality, or computer assisted radiation therapy planning by inferring cervical lymph node regions from these anatomical structures. We are proposing a system that can automatically segment the neck region from CT images by identifying the cranial and caudal bounding slices and then locating and labeling various anatomical structures in the region.