A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING ASYMMETRY IN AN IMAGE

摘要

A method for determining asymmetry in an image such as an MR image of a brain comprises determining a symmetry plane to divide the image into a first part and a second part representative of, for example, the hemispheres of the brain. The probability distributions of voxels against intensities are determined for the first and second parts and histograms of intensities representative of the parts are generated. Compensation is made for any relative shift along a predetermined axis between the histograms. A divergence value based on a distance between the first and second histograms is then calculated and it is determined if the calculated divergence value is greater than a predetermined threshold. A divergence of greater than the predetermined threshold is indicative of asymmetry in the image that may be considered as suspicious for abnormality. There is also disclosed an apparatus for determining asymmetry in an image.