1. A method for automatic detection and segmentation of a target anatomical structure in received three dimensional (3D) volumetric medical images using a database of a set of volumetric images with expertly delineated anatomical structures, the method comprising the steps of: training a 3D anatomical structure detection and segmentation module offline by learning anatomical structure appearance using the set of expertly delineated anatomical structures; searching online a received volumetric image for the anatomical structure of interest using the offline learned 3D anatomical structure detection and segmentation module.