Fractal geometric analysis of lung cancer angiogenic patterns.

Abstract

For medical images, the fractal dimension D may be used as an index of irregularity. The angiogenesis patterns of lung cancer were analysed by means of the perimeter-area and box counting algorithms. The fractal nature of all images in the sense of the perimeter-area method and of 68% images in the sense of the box-counting method suggest the possibility to use the fractal dimension as a new non-morphometric parameter evaluating angiogenic processes in neoplasms.