An image processing method for feature extraction of space-occupying lesions.

Space-occupying lesions (SOL) and irregular intensity distribution are usually observed in the radioisotope images of human liver diseases, hepatic cancer, etc. This paper describes a new image processing method for evaluating such SOL by using a computer. This method analyzes quantitatively the convex and the concave structure of the contour line. From the processed results, the contour lines of radioisotope images of liver diseases are more ragged than those of normal ones; the region of SOL is extracted by the abnormal raggedness in the contour structure.