Automatic segmentation of kidney without using contrast medium on abdominal CT images

Automatic kidney segmentation from abdominal computed tomography (CT) images is a key step in computer-aided diagnosis for kidney CT. However, due to gray levels similarities of adjacent organ¿s positions and shapes, automatically identifying abdominal organs has always been a high challenging task. In this paper, we proposed an automatic segmentation method integrated some prior knowledge into traditional segmentation methods. Experimental results are comparable to those of manual tracing radiologist and shown to be efficient.