title: [Automatic feature extraction and new method for retrieval from CT image database].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To propose a new method for content-based retrieval from medical CT image database on the basis of automatically extracted features of the images.
  
  
  METHODS
  An automatic feature extraction method is proposed based on expectation-maximization algorithm. A CT image is represented by a set of regions, each of which is characterized by a fuzzy regional feature vector reflecting the grey level, texture, shape, and the cumulative distribution histogram feature of the region of interest (ROI) to efficiently describe the difference between the ROIs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the submitted query image, the target images were retrieved in the order of similarity calculated by the proposed similarity measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed technique for CT image retrieval is suitable for clinical application, with greater precision and efficiency for retrieval than the conventional methods.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Medical Image Processing of PLA, First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. zhoujie@fimmu.com
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Qian-jin
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Ya-zhong
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Wu-fan
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019992:Databases as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed