Systems and methods for performing a medical imaging study include acquiring a preliminary scan. A set of local feature candidates is automatically detected from the preliminary scan. The accuracy of each local feature candidate is assessed using multiple combinations of the other local feature candidates and removing a local feature candidate that is assessed to have the lowest accuracy. The assessing and removing steps are repeated until only a predetermined number of local feature candidates remain. A region of interest (ROI) is located from within the preliminary scan based on the remaining predetermined number of local feature candidates. A medical imaging study is performed based on the location of the ROI within the preliminary scan.