1. A method for detecting an object in a pixelated image and segmenting the pixelated image to separate the object from a background, comprising the steps of: (a) providing pixelated image data for a plurality of pixelated images, where a pixelated image in the plurality of pixelated images may include an object; (b) detecting the presence of an object included within any of the pixelated images by filtering the pixelated image data, producing filtered image data in which an object is detected in a pixelated image based upon relative amplitude values of pixels corresponding to the filtered image data for said pixelated image; (c) segmenting the image in which the object was detected by defining a region of interest from the filtered image data for the pixelated image in which the object was detected, so that the ROI comprises less than all of the filtered image data for said pixelated image, but includes the object that was detected in said pixelated image; and (d) determining object boundaries for the object using the filtered image data within the ROI.