NASA technology being used to diagnose breast cancer

It is amazing the amount of unheralded technological discoveries that come out of NASA. Take for example something called Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation, which is quite the mouthful no matter how you try to say it.

So what is it?

Well it is an algorithm created by NASA scientist James C. Tilton some twenty-five years ago that took the ability to group pixels at different levels of detail to a new height. It allowed him to apply the algorithm to satellite images and be able to not only identify and separate lakes of varying depths but could recognize lakes as a class of object that were spatially distinguishable from other objects around it.

Fast forward to today and Bartron Medical Imaging’s work with with things like mammograms, ultrasounds and other things like digital x-rays.

“My original concept was geared to Earth science,” says Tilton, who was at first skeptical that his algorithm could enhance, say, mammography. “I never thought it would be used for medical imaging.”

Then he processed cell images and saw details not visible in unprocessed displays of those images. “The cell features stood out real clearly, and this made me realize that Bartron was onto to something.”

Bartron Medical Imaging, based out of Connecticut, has since developed the new MED-SEG system, which the FDA recently cleared for use by trained professionals to process images alongside other images, though stipulated that the system should not (at least yet) be used for primary image diagnosis.

Bartron, which first studied the software through Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office, licensed the patented technology in 2003 to create a system that would differentiate hard-to-see medical image details. It then began to work with doctors to analyze CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, etc.

“Trained professionals can use the MED-SEG system to separate two-dimensional images into digitally related sections or regions that, after colorization, can be individually labeled by the user,” says Bartron President and CEO Fitz Walker.

via CNET News

A lot of people may think that NASA is nothing but a waste of money but the space effort aside there has been a lot of good things that have come out of NASA that more often that not slip under the radar.

Much like the technology that may save women’s lives around the world. How do you put a price on that?

image: An original mammogram, at left, compared to a mammogram after MED-SEG processing, at right - Bartron Medical Imaging