A survey of prostate modeling for image analysis

•Complete and up to date review of prostate modeling.•Description as three main steps: characteristics extraction, analyses and modeling.•Classification and linkage with the main clinical applications.

Computer technology is widely used for multimodal image analysis of the prostate gland. Several techniques have been developed, most of which incorporate a priori knowledge extracted from organ features. Knowledge extraction and modeling are multi-step tasks. Here, we review these steps and classify the modeling according to the data analysis methods employed and the features used. We conclude with a survey of some clinical applications where these techniques are employed.