The present technology relates to in vivo ultrasound imaging, and particularly to a proxy model of vascularity in soft and glandular tissue from two-dimensional ultrasound signals. The methods, processes, and systems herein are useful for detecting abnormal cell growth, and involve obtaining an ultrasound image of an anatomical structure of interest, isolating a region of interest (ROI) within the anatomical structure, identifying, within the ROI, one or more hyperechoic structures, subjecting the hyperechoic structures to 2D and 3D smoothing, or 2D and 3D thinning, or 2D and 3D application of one or more morphological operations, to produce closed segmented structures.