Abstract: The present invention comprises a method for the detection and segmentation of bright images within a digital image using wavelets. One example of such a bright image is microcalcifications within a mammogram. Multiresolution analysis may be used to detect and segment the possible microcalcification areas by combining Bayes classifiers. By analyzing the time-frequency characteristics of clustered microcalcifications, the inventors first choose the optimized wavelet for the detection of microcalcifications. A wavelet packet analysis is then used to detect different size microcalcifications. An adaptive method of choosing the threshold for detection by using a one-dimensional wavelet transform to analyze the PDF of the images at different scales is used. Then, a scheme to detect different size microcalcifications in different scale wavelet packet transformed images is developed.