A method, system, and computer program product for modifying an appearance
of an anatomical structure in a medical image, e.g., rib suppression in a
chest radiograph. The method includes: acquiring, using a first imaging
modality, a first medical image that includes the anatomical structure;
applying the first medical image to a trained image processing device to
obtain a second medical image, corresponding to the first medical image,
in which the appearance of the anatomical structure is modified; and
outputting the second medical image. Further, the image processing device
is trained using plural teacher images obtained from a second imaging
modality that is different from the first imaging modality. In one
embodiment, the method also includes processing the first medical image
to obtain plural processed images, wherein each of the plural processed
images has a corresponding image resolution; applying the plural
processed images to respective multi-training artificial neural networks
(MTANNs) to obtain plural output images, wherein each MTANN is trained to
detect the anatomical structure at one of the corresponding image
resolutions; and combining the plural output images to obtain a second
medical image in which the appearance of the anatomical structure is
enhanced.