Genetic Programming

The domain of medical imaging analysis has burgeoned §in recent years due to the availability and §affordability of digital radiographic imaging §equipment and, as such, there has been significant §activity in the automation of the medical diagnostic §process. One such process, a cephalometric analysis, §is manually intensive and can take an experienced §orthodontist several minutes to analyse one §radiology image. This book describes an approach §based on genetic programming and various image §processing techniques to automate this process. A §cephalometric analysis involves locating a number of §points in an X-ray and determining the linear and §angular relationships.§§This book is presented as a logical sequence of §steps into developing a domain independent approach §that will automatically learn a landmark detection §program through the use of the genetic programming §paradigm. In each step the approach is explained in §detail and tested on a selection of landmarks. The §work presented in this book could be used as the §basis of an automated system with an orthodontist §undertaking a few corrections prior to completing §the analysis.