A fissure detection method for lung lobe segmentation in 3D image data is disclosed. In this method, 3D lung image data is filtered using one or more filters based on at least one of planar structures coupled with vessel suppression, curvature computations, and local gradient magnitude and direction comparisons. Fissures are detected in the 3D lung image data based on the filtered 3D lung image data, and lung lobes are segmented from the 3D lung image data based on the detected fissures.