STACS: new active contour scheme for cardiac MR image segmentation

The paper presents a novel stochastic active contour scheme (STACS) for automatic image segmentation designed to overcome some of the unique challenges in cardiac MR images such as problems with low contrast, papillary muscles, and turbulent blood flow. STACS minimizes an energy functional that combines stochastic region-based and edge-based information with shape priors of the heart and local properties of the contour. The minimization algorithm solves, by the level set method, the Euler-Lagrange equation that describes the contour evolution. STACS includes an annealing schedule that balances dynamically the weight of the different terms in the energy functional. Three particularly attractive features of STACS are: 1) ability to segment images with low texture contrast by modeling stochastically the image textures; 2) robustness to initial contour and noise because of the utilization of both edge and region-based information; 3) ability to segment the heart from the chest wall and the undesired papillary muscles due to inclusion of heart shape priors. Application of STACS to a set of 48 real cardiac MR images shows that it can successfully segment the heart from its surroundings such as the chest wall and the heart structures (the left and right ventricles and the epicardium.) We compare STACS' automatically generated contours with manually-traced contours, or the "gold standard," using both area and edge similarity measures. This assessment demonstrates very good and consistent segmentation performance of STACS.     

基于活动轮廓模型的左心室MR图像分割

本文提出一种基于局部与全局特征的活动轮廓模型左心室MR图像分割算法.该算法融合了图像局部信息和全局信息.局部信息包含了图像局部均值和方差信息,来克服图像灰度不均匀的影响.全局信息则较好地提高模型处理图像弱边界的能力,并防止模型陷入局部最优,实验结果表明,改进算法分割出较为精确的心脏左心室MR图像.     

Segmentation of the Ventricle Membranes in Short-Axis Sequences by Optical Flow Base on DLSRE Model

Recent studies have pointed out that the boundary of the extracted ventricle membranes is unsmooth, and the segmentation of the cardiacpapillary muscle and trabecular muscle do inconformity the clinical requirements. To address these issues, this paper proposes an automatic segment algorithm for continuously extracting ventricle membranes boundary, which adopts optical flow field information and sequential images information. The images are cropped by frame difference method, which according to the continuity of adjacent slices of cardiac MRI images. The roughly boundary of epicardium is extracted by the Double level set region evolution (DLSRE) model, which combines image global information, local information and edge information. The ventricle endocardium and epicardial contours are tracked according to the optical flow field information between image sequences. The segmentation results are optimized by Delaunay triangulation algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can improve the accuracy of segmenting the ventricle endocardium and epicardium contours, and segment the contour of the smooth ventricle membrane edge that meets the clinical definition.     

基于流形特征与形状先验的红外直升机图像分割

为有效分割复杂天空背景下的直升机目标,提出了基于流形特征与形状先验的变分分割模型.根据图像数据的灰度分布构造区域能量项,推动变形曲线向目标边界演化;引入对称正定（Symmetric Positive Definite,SPD）矩阵流形上的区域协方差描述子构造流形特征能量项以提高分割算法的鲁棒性.在区域项、边界项和流形特征项的共同作用下获取红外直升机目标的第一阶段分割结果.在第二阶段分割过程中,基于主成分分析（Principal Component Analysis,PCA）方法获取直升机目标的先验形状变化模式,以变形曲线在PCA空间重构的形状作为先验知识约束曲线的演化,最终实现红外直升机图像的分割.实验结果表明,本文方法能够有效获取直升机目标的完整轮廓.     

基于区域特征分割的红外弱小目标提取算法

针对现有的红外图像中目标分辨率低且边缘弱等问题,提出了一种基于区域特征分割的红外弱小目标提取算法;该算法根据灰度形态学理论,利用红外背景与目标轮廓信息来提取图像的目标信号;其中算法先根据红外图像的灰度与形状的相似度进行归属度处理,来分类出图像中的目标区与背景区;接着,根据边缘检测算法,该算法对目标区的目标的进行轮廓提取;实验结果表明,该算法能够有效的进行目标提取针对红外图像的不同性质;具有精度高,抗干扰能力强的分割优势。     

Boundary detection in medical images using edge following algorithm based on intensity gradient and texture gradient features

Finding the correct boundary in noisy images is still a difficult task. This paper introduces a new edge following technique for boundary detection in noisy images. Utilization of the proposed technique is exhibited via its application to various types of medical images. Our proposed technique can detect the boundaries of objects in noisy images using the information from the intensity gradient via the vector image model and the texture gradient via the edge map. The performance and robustness of the technique have been tested to segment objects in synthetic noisy images and medical images including prostates in ultrasound images, left ventricles in cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images, aortas in cardiovascular MR images, and knee joints in computerized tomography images. We compare the proposed segmentation technique with the active contour models (ACM), geodesic active contour models, active contours without edges, gradient vector flow snake models, and ACMs based on vector field convolution, by using the skilled doctors' opinions as the ground truths. The results show that our technique performs very well and yields better performance than the classical contour models. The proposed method is robust and applicable on various kinds of noisy images without prior knowledge of noise properties.     

Simultaneous vector-valued image segmentation and intensity nonuniformity correction using variational level set combined with Markov random field modeling

Object quantification requires an image segmentation to make measurements about size, material composition and morphology of the object. In vector-valued or multispectral images, each image channel has its signal characteristics and provides special information that may improve the results of image segmentation method. This paper presents a region-based active contour model for vector-valued image segmentation with a variational level set formulation. In this model, the local image intensities are characterized using Gaussian distributions with different means and variances. Furthermore, by utilizing Markov random field, the spatial correlation between neighboring pixels and voxels is modeled. With incorporation of intensity nonuniformity model, our method is able to deal with brain tissue segmentation from multispectral magnetic resonance (MR) images. Our experiments on synthetic images and multispectral cerebral MR images with different noise and bias level show the advantages of the proposed method.     

一种自适应初始轮廓的水平集演化方法的研究

距离规则水平集存在对噪声、初始轮廓敏感、收敛速度慢以及容易从弱边缘处泄露等不稳定问题.结合待分割目标灰度统计信息和图像梯度信息,提出了一种自适应初始轮廓的水平集演化方法,利用图像信息构成的自带符号目标信息函数代替面积项中的边缘指示函数,解决水平集方法对初始轮廓敏感问题.另外,还设计一个自我调整的面积项系数解决水平集方法对收敛速度慢以及弱边缘处泄露问题.实验结果表明：本文方法不仅可以减少图像分割时间,提高了分割质量,同时能够解决对初始轮廓敏感问题.     

Variational image segmentation using boundary functions

A general variational framework for image approximation and segmentation is introduced. By using a continuous "line-process" to represent edge boundaries, it is possible to formulate a variational theory of image segmentation and approximation in which the boundary function has a simple explicit form in terms of the approximation function. At the same time, this variational framework is general enough to include the most commonly used objective functions. Application is made to Mumford-Shah type functionals as well as those considered by Geman and others. Employing arbitrary L(p) norms to measure smoothness and approximation allows the user to alternate between a least squares approach and one based on total variation, depending on the needs of a particular image. Since the optimal boundary function that minimizes the associated objective functional for a given approximation function can be found explicitly, the objective functional can be expressed in a reduced form that depends only on the approximating function. From this a partial differential equation (PDE) descent method, aimed at minimizing the objective functional, is derived. The method is fast and produces excellent results as illustrated by a number of real and synthetic image problems.     

The Piecewise Smooth Mumford–Shah Functional on an Arbitrary Graph

The Mumford-Shah functional has had a major impact on a variety of image analysis problems, including image segmentation and filtering, and, despite being introduced over two decades ago, it is still in widespread use. Present day optimization of the Mumford-Shah functional is predominated by active contour methods. Until recently, these formulations necessitated optimization of the contour by evolving via gradient descent, which is known for its overdependence on initialization and the tendency to produce undesirable local minima. In order to reduce these problems, we reformulate the corresponding Mumford-Shah functional on an arbitrary graph and apply the techniques of combinatorial optimization to produce a fast, low-energy solution. In contrast to traditional optimization methods, use of these combinatorial techniques necessitates consideration of the reconstructed image outside of its usual boundary, requiring additionally the inclusion of regularization for generating these values. The energy of the solution provided by this graph formulation is compared with the energy of the solution computed via traditional gradient descent-based narrow-band level set methods. This comparison demonstrates that our graph formulation and optimization produces lower energy solutions than the traditional gradient descent based contour evolution methods in significantly less time. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of the graph formulation to apply the Mumford-Shah functional to new applications such as point clustering and filtering of nonuniformly sampled images.     

利用模糊特征改进Snakes模型的图像分割

利用模糊特征自适应地控制曲线法向力场改进参数主动轮廓模型,改进后的模型可以对弱边缘、无边缘区域和纹理图像进行分割。曲线法向力场加速了曲线收敛到目标区域边界,改进了抓取范围和提取凹区域的能力。对弱边缘图像、医学图像和纹理的分割实验表明,新方法具有良好的性能。     

Knowledge-based image analysis for automated boundary extraction of transesophageal echocardiographic left-ventricular images

A system for automatically determining the contour of the left ventricle (LV) and its bounded area, from transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) images is presented. It uses knowledge of both heart anatomy and echocardiographic imaging to guide the selection of image processing methodologies for thresholding, edge detection, and contour following and the center-based boundary-finding technique to extract the contour of the LV region. To speed up the processing a rectangular region of interest from a TEE picture is first isolated and then reduced to a coarse version, one-ninth original size. All processing steps, except the final contour edge extraction, are performed on this reduced image. New methods developed for automatic threshold selection, region segmentation, noise removal, and region center determination are described.     

一种新的用于医学图像分割的几何活动轮廊模型

提出一种新的几何活动轮廊模型对医学图像进行分割．首先，我们对几何活动轮廊模型中吸引力场进行正则化，扩大目标轮廊边缘对的轮廊曲线的吸引力范围，增加轮廊曲线搜寻凹轮廊的能力．然后，采用多尺度模型增加对边缘提取的精确度．将正则化方法与多尺度方法相结合，能够很好的抑制医学图像中的噪声和虚假边缘的干扰，这一方法能够在不采用任何附加拓扑控制的情况下自动控制轮廊曲线的拓扑结构变化，同时提取多个解剖结构，对来自不同成像技术的医学图像的分割，结果表明该方法是一种有效的医学图像分割方法。     

改进边界指示函数的水平集活动轮廓模型

由于受成像原理的限制,导致超声图像对比度低、边界模糊,因此基于边界的水平集分割效果很不理想。为了提高超声图像的分割精度和分割效率,提出了一种梯度信息与区域信息相结合的水平集分割算法。首先对基于边界的距离正则化水平集演化(DRLSE)模型进行改进,将区域信息引入到边界指示函数中,并用改进后的边界指示函数代替DRLSE模型中的边界指示函数,最后,得到一个梯度与区域信息相结合的水平集演化模型。结果表明,本文中的模型能准确分割甲状腺肿瘤超声图像,且在分割效率和分割精确度方面均比DRLSE模型有所提高。     

Variational level set method for image segmentation with simplex constraint of landmarks

Landmarks are prior image features for a variety of computer vision tasks. In the image processing domain, research on image segmentation methods has always been a significant topic. Due to the image characteristics of heterogeneous nature, lack of clear boundaries, noise and so on, accurate segmentation of the image is still a challenge. In this paper, utilizing a level set framework and the simplex constraint, preferred image point landmarks are combined into a variational segmentation model to enforce the contour evolve with prior points. Then the alternating minimization algorithm of the proposed model is designed, meanwhile the landmarks constraints are doubled ensured with simplex projection. Finally, experiments on many synthetic and real-world images were implemented. Comparing with other state-of-the-art segmentation variational models, the most striking result to emerge from the data is that the proposed method has higher segmentation performance. Benefiting from appropriate point landmarks, the proposed segmentation method can tackle noisy, weak edges and corrupted area images effectively and robustly.     

基于Level Set方法的图像分割

研究了基于水平集的图像分割,提出了一种无需重新初始化,基于边缘信息的变分水平集图像分割算法.该算法消除了影响水平集计算量的重新初始化步骤,加速了轮廓线的演化,提高了算法的鲁棒性,同时使得初始化方法更加灵活.     

RAGS: region-aided geometric snake

An enhanced, region-aided, geometric active contour that is more tolerant toward weak edges and noise in images is introduced. The proposed method integrates gradient flow forces with region constraints, composed of image region vector flow forces obtained through the diffusion of the region segmentation map. We refer to this as the Region-aided Geometric Snake or RAGS. The diffused region forces can be generated from any reliable region segmentation technique, greylevel or color. This extra region force gives the snake a global complementary view of the boundary information within the image which, along with the local gradient flow, helps detect fuzzy boundaries and overcome noisy regions. The partial differential equation (PDE) resulting from this integration of image gradient flow and diffused region flow is implemented using a level set approach. We present various examples and also evaluate and compare the performance of RAGS on weak boundaries and noisy images.     

Superpixels extracted via region fusion with boundary constraint

In this paper, we present an accurate superpixel algorithm by region fusion with boundary constraint (RFBC). Superpixels with regular shape and high boundary adherence can be generated in weak boundary and complex texture regions through our algorithm. RFBC includes two steps which are initial segmentation and region fusion respectively. In initial segmentation, broken Canny edges are connected through edge closing algorithm. Subsequently, the closed Canny edges and SLIC superpixel edges are combined together to form the incipient superpixels. In region fusion, gray Gaussian distribution and adjacent relation are used as priori to compute the degree of similarity across incipient superpixels in GBP algorithm. For concreteness, the information of similarity is propagated between regions and the most similar regions are fused, which are accomplished alternatingly to preserve accurate boundaries. Extensive experiments on the Berkeley segmentation benchmark show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the most state-of-the-art algorithms.     

结合边缘检测和区域分割的形状特征提取

提出了一种将Canny边缘检测和区域分割相结合的形状特征提取方法.该方法通过区域分割得到的粗略形状轮廓,过滤掉边缘检测轮廓中不规则或冗余的边界点,得到位置比较准确的主轮廓图像,减少形状描述的计算量.为验证方法的有效性,建立了一个基于形状特征的图像检索系统框架,实验结果表明,该方法提高了系统检索准确性.