Automatic definition of the central-chest lymph-node stations

摘要

PurposeLung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Central to the lung-cancer diagnosis and staging process is the assessment of the central-chest lymph nodes. This assessment requires two steps: (1) examination of the lymph-node stations and identification of diagnostically important nodes in a three-dimensional (3D) multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) chest scan; (2) tissue sampling of the identified nodes. We describe a computer-based system for automatically defining the central-chest lymph-node stations in a 3D MDCT chest scan.