U-Net与自适应阈值脉冲耦合神经网络相结合的眼底血管分割方法

由于眼底血管结构复杂多变,且图像中血管与背景对比度低,眼底血管分割存在巨大困难,尤其是微小型血管难以分割.基于深层全卷积神经网络的U-Net能够有效提取血管图像全局及局部信息,但由于其输出为灰度图像,并采用硬阈值实现二值化,这会导致血管区域丢失、血管过细等问题.针对这些问题,提出一种结合U-Net与脉冲耦合神经网络(P...     

Construction and verification of retinal vessel segmentation algorithm for color fundus image under BP neural network model

To improve the accuracy of retinal vessel segmentation, a retinal vessel segmentation algorithm for color fundus images based on back-propagation (BP) neural network is proposed according to the characteristics of retinal blood vessels. Four kinds of green channel image enhancement results of adaptive histogram equalization, morphological processing, Gaussian matched filtering, and Hessian matrix filtering are used to form feature vectors. The BP neural network is input to segment blood vessels. Experiments on the color fundus image libraries DRIVE and STARE show that this algorithm can obtain complete retinal blood vessel segmentation as well as connected vessel stems and terminals. When segmenting most small blood vessels, the average accuracy on the DRIVE library reaches 0.9477, and the average accuracy on the STARE library reaches 0.9498, which has a good segmentation effect. Through verification, the algorithm is feasible and effective for blood vessel segmentation of color fundus images and can detect more capillaries.

     

基于双注意力编码-解码器架构的视网膜血管分割

眼底视网膜血管的分割提取对于糖尿病、视网膜病、青光眼等眼科疾病的诊断具有重要的意义。针对视网膜血管图像中的血管难以提取、数据量较少等问题,文中提出了一种结合注意力模块和编码-解码器结构的视网膜血管分割方法。首先对编码-解码器卷积神经网络的每个卷积层添加空间和通道注意力模块,加强模型对图像特征的空间信息和通道信息(如血管的大小、形态和连通性等特点)的利用,从而改善视网膜血管的分割效果。其中,空间注意力模块关注于血管的拓扑结构特性,而通道注意力模块关注于血管像素点的正确分类。此外,在训练过程中采用Dice损失函数解决了视网膜血管图像正负样本不均衡的问题。在3个公开的眼底图像数据库DRIVE,STARE和CHASE_DB1上进行了实验,实验数据表明,所提算法的准确率、灵敏度、特异性和AUC值均优于已有的视网膜血管分割方法,其AUC值分别为0.9889,0.9812和0.9831。实验证明,所提算法能够有效提取健康视网膜图像和病变视网膜图像中的血管网络,能够较好地分割细小血管。     

Retinal vessel extraction using dynamic multi-scale matched filtering and dynamic threshold processing based on histogram fitting

Automatic extraction of retinal vessels is of great significance in the field of medical diagnosis. Unfortunately, extracting vessels in retinal images with uneven background is a challenging task. In addition, accurate extraction of vessels with different widths is difficult. Aiming at these problems, in this paper, a new dynamic multi-scale filtering method together with a dynamic threshold processing scheme was proposed. The image is first divided into sub-images to facilitate the analysis of gray features. Then for each sub-image, the scales of the matched filter and the segmentation threshold are dynamically determined in accordance with the Gaussian fitting results of the gray distribution. Compared with the current blood vessel extraction algorithms based on multi-scale matched filter using uniform scales for the whole retinal image, the proposed method detects many fine vessels drowned by noise and avoids an overestimation of the thin vessels while improving the accuracy of segmentation in general.     

Supervised vessel delineation in retinal fundus images with the automatic selection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-COSFIRE filters

The inspection of retinal fundus images allows medical doctors to diagnose various pathologies. Computer-aided diagnosis systems can be used to assist in this process. As a first step, such systems delineate the vessel tree from the background. We propose a method for the delineation of blood vessels in retinal images that is effective for vessels of different thickness. In the proposed method, we employ a set of B-COSFIRE filters selective for vessels and vessel-endings. Such a set is determined in an automatic selection process and can adapt to different applications. We compare the performance of different selection methods based upon machine learning and information theory. The results that we achieve by performing experiments on two public benchmark data sets, namely DRIVE and STARE, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

High speed detection of retinal blood vessels in fundus image using phase congruency

Detection of blood vessels in retinal fundus image is the preliminary step to diagnose several retinal diseases. There exist several methods to automatically detect blood vessels from retinal image with the aid of different computational methods. However, all these methods require lengthy processing time. The method proposed here acquires binary vessels from a RGB retinal fundus image in almost real time. Initially, the phase congruency of a retinal image is generated, which is a soft-classification of blood vessels. Phase congruency is a dimensionless quantity that is invariant to changes in image brightness or contrast; hence, it provides an absolute measure of the significance of feature points. This experiment acquires phase congruency of an image using Log-Gabor wavelets. To acquire a binary segmentation, thresholds are applied on the phase congruency image. The process of determining the best threshold value is based on area under the relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The proposed method is able to detect blood vessels in a retinal fundus image within 10 s on a PC with (accuracy, area under ROC curve) = (0.91, 0.92), and (0.92, 0.94) for the STARE and the DRIVE databases, respectively.     

Estimating directions of optic disk blood vessels in retinal images

The problem of determining directions of blood vessels in the optic disk is considered. The proposed method for estimating the vessel directions is based on analyzing local minima of gray-scale profile of the eye-ground image. Results of tests on real images are presented. Mikhail Anan’in. Born 1984. Graduated from the Samara State Aerospace University in 2007 and is currently a post-graduate student at the same university. From 2006 to present is a junior researcher at the Image Processing Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: image processing, image reconstruction, pattern recognition, wavelet analysis, and differential geometry. Authored more than ten papers. Nataliya Il’yasova. Born 1966. Graduated from the Samara State Aerospace University in 1991, where in 1997 she received candidate’s degree (Eng.). Currently a senior s researcher at the Image Processing Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences and a senior lecturer at Samara State Aerospace University. Scientific interests: digital image processing and recognition, pattern recognition, information systems in biomedical applications, computer-aided systems for monitoring eye fundus microvascular morphology, and analysis of cardiac coronary vessels. Author of more than 60 papers in the field of image processing and pattern recognition. Aleksandr Kupriyanov. Born 1978. Graduated from the Samara State Aerospace University in 1991 and in 1997 received candidate’s degree (Eng.) from the same university. Currently has a position of researcher at the Image Processing Systems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific interests: digital image processing and recognition, pattern recognition, information systems in biomedical applications, computer-aided systems for monitoring eye fundus microvascular morphology, analysis of cardiac coronary vessels, evaluation of diagnostic features, and retinal image analysis. Author of more than 30 papers in the field of image processing and pattern recognition.     

改进的形态学与Otsu相结合的视网膜血管分割

针对视网膜图像采集过程中由于疾病引起的图像光照反射过强问题,提出了一种修正的形态学与Otsu相结合的无监督视网膜血管分割算法。首先运用形态学中的高低帽变换增强血管与背景的对比度;然后提出了一种修正方法,消除部分由视网膜疾病引起的光照问题;最后使用Otsu阈值方法分割血管。算法在DRIVE和STARE视网膜图像数据库中进行了测试,实验结果表明,DRIVE数据库中的分割精度为0.9382,STARE数据库中的分割精度为0.9460,算法的执行时间为1.6s。算法能够精确地分割出视网膜血管,与传统的无监督视网膜血管分割算法相比,算法的分割精度高、抗干扰能力强。     

Vessel Extraction on Ocular Fundus Images by Using Gabor Filter Bank

Fundus diagnosis is an important part of the whole body examination that may provide rich clinical information to doctors for diagnostic reference. Manual fundus vessel extraction is helpful to quantitative measurement of diseases but obviously it is a tough work for physicians. This paper presents an automatic method by using Gabor filter bank to extract the artery and vein separately in the ocular fundus images. After preprocessing steps that include gray-scale transform, gray value inversion and contrast enhancement, the Gabor filter bank is applied to the extraction of the artery and vein in the ocular fundus images. Finally these two different width types of vessels are selected by post-processing methods such as labeling, corrosion, binarization, etc. Evaluation results show an accurate rate of 90% in vein and 82% in artery from 20 cases, that indicates the effectiveness of our proposed segmentation method.     

U-net与Dense-net相结合的视网膜血管提取

目的 视网膜血管健康状况的自动分析对糖尿病、心脑血管疾病以及多种眼科疾病的快速无创诊断具有重要参考价值。视网膜图像中血管网络结构复杂且图像背景亮度不均使得血管区域的准确自动提取具有较大难度。本文通过使用具有对称全卷积结构的U-net深度神经网络实现视网膜血管的高精度分割。方法 基于U-net网络中的层次化对称结构和Dense-net网络中的稠密连接方式,提出一种改进的适用于视网膜血管精准提取的深度神经网络模型。首先使用白化预处理技术弱化原始彩色眼底图像中的亮度不均,增强图像中血管区域的对比度;接着对数据集进行随机旋转、Gamma变换操作实现数据增广;然后将每一幅图像随机分割成若干较小的图块,用于减小模型参数规模,降低训练难度。结果 使用多种性能指标对训练后的模型进行综合评定,模型在DRIVE数据集上的灵敏度、特异性、准确率和AUC（area under the curve）分别达到0.740 9、0.992 9、0.970 7和0.917 1。所提算法与目前主流方法进行了全面比较,结果显示本文算法各项性能指标均表现良好。结论 本文针对视网膜图像中血管区域高精度自动提取难度大的问题,提出了一种具有稠密连接方式的对称全卷积神经网络改进模型。结果表明该模型在视网膜血管分割中能够达到良好效果,具有较好的研究及应用价值。     

结合视觉密码和离散小波变换的栅格地理数据双重水印

目的 在栅格地理数据的使用过程中,为防止数据被破坏或被篡改,需要加强对数据完整性的检验;为防止数据被恶意传播,需要加强对数据版权信息的保护。双重水印技术可以同时完成这两项任务。方法 利用基于异或的（2,2）-视觉密码方案VCS（visual cryptography scheme）和离散小波变换DWT（discrete wavelet transform）,对数字栅格地理数据嵌入双重水印,使用半脆弱性水印作为第1重水印进行完整性检验,水印信息依据DWT变换后高频系数中水平分量之间的大小关系嵌入;使用零水印作为第2重水印进行版权保护,提取DWT变换后经低频子带奇异值分解的特征值生成特征份,利用基于异或的（2,2）-VCS,根据特征份和水印信息生成版权份。结果 为验证算法的有效性,对具体的栅格地理数据进行实验分析。结果表明,本文算法中第1重水印能够正确区分偶然攻击和恶意破坏,对含水印的栅格地理数据进行质量因子为90、80、70、60、50的JPEG压缩后,提取出完整性水印的归一化相关系数NC（normalized correlation）值分别是1、0.996、0.987、0.9513、0.949,在定位裁剪攻击时,能准确地定位到篡改的位置,对于定位替换攻击时,能定位到篡改的大致位置;第2重水印具有良好的视觉效果和较强的鲁棒性,对含水印的栅格地理数据进行滤波攻击、JPEG压缩、裁剪攻击、缩放攻击等性能测试,提取出版权水印的NC值优于其他方案。结论 论文基于异或的（2,2）-VCS和DWT提出的栅格地理数据双重水印算法,在实现数据完整性检验的同时达到了版权保护的目的。     

一种视网膜血管自适应提取方法

为了快速有效地提取视网膜血管，根据视网膜图像的灰度分布特征，提出了一种新的基于自适应阈值化的血管提取方法。该方法是首先把图像划分成很多同样尺寸的小子图像，然后在每个子图像中分别计算局部阈值，并用该阈值分割该子图像。因为视网膜图像中血管和背景在局部范围内都比较均匀，所以在每个子图像中都存在一个局部阈值能够将其中的血管分割出来。采用的局部阈值计算方法不仅允许子图像可以取得很小，而且能够保证得到平方误差最小意义下的最优阈值。在阈值计算过程中，还用到一种基于过零点边缘检测技术的边缘追踪算法。最后还提出一种基于区域生长的特征综合方法，即通过综合两次阈值化分割得到的血管结构来清除碎片。多幅视网膜图像的实验证明，该方法的计算速度很快，并且可以提取包括细血管在内的绝大部分血管。     

基于PST和多尺度高斯滤波的视网膜血管的分割

视网膜血管分割是眼科计算机辅助诊断和大规模眼科疾病筛查系统的基础。为辅助眼科医生进行眼底疾病的诊断，文中提出了一种基于相位拉伸变换(PST)和多尺度高斯滤波的视网膜血管分割方法。首先，将彩色眼底影像的绿色通道分量图进行增强预处理；然后采用不同尺度的高斯滤波器对预处理增强后的视网膜血管进行降噪处理，再结合PST边缘检测算法初步获得视网膜血管分割图；最后整合初步获得的视网膜血管分割图并进行形态学去噪，获得最终的视网膜血管分割图。通过在视网膜图像库DRIVE上进行实验，其平均准确率为93%，平均灵敏度达77%，平均特异性为95%，该实验结果验证了文中方法的有效性。     

双层水平集描述眼底图像视杯视盘分割

目的 青光眼是一种可导致视力严重减弱甚至失明的高发眼部疾病。在眼底图像中,视杯和视盘的检测是青光眼临床诊断的重要步骤之一。然而,眼底图像普遍是灰度不均匀的,眼底结构复杂,不同结构之间的灰度重叠较多,受到血管和病变的干扰较为严重。这些都给视盘与视杯的分割带来很大挑战。因此,为了更准确地提取眼底图像中的视杯和视盘区域,提出一种基于双层水平集描述的眼底图像视杯视盘分割方法。方法 通过水平集函数的不同层级分别表示视杯轮廓和视盘轮廓,依据视杯与视盘间的位置关系建立距离约束,应用图像的局部信息驱动活动轮廓演化,克服图像的灰度不均匀性。根据视杯与视盘的几何形状特征,引入视杯与视盘形状的先验信息约束活动轮廓的演化,从而实现视杯与视盘的准确分割。结果 本文使用印度Aravind眼科医院提供的具有视杯和视盘真实轮廓注释的CDRISHTI-GS1数据集对本文方法进行实验验证。该数据集主要用来验证视杯及视盘分割方法的鲁棒性和有效性。本文方法在数据集上对视杯和视盘区域进行分割,取得了67.52%的视杯平均重叠率,81.04%的视盘平均重叠率,0.719的视杯F1分数和0.845的视盘F1分数,结果优于基于COSFIRE（combination of shifted filter responses）滤波模型的视杯视盘分割方法、基于先验形状约束的多相Chan-Vese（C-V）模型和基于聚类融合的水平集方法。结论 实验结果表明,本文方法能够有效克服眼底图像灰度不均匀、血管及病变区域的干扰等影响,更为准确地提取视杯与视盘区域。     

基于微粒群算法的视网膜血管自动提取方法

针对视网膜血管网络灰度分布特征与结构特征,提出了将灰度-梯度共生矩阵最大熵与微粒群算法相结合的视网膜血管提取方法。采用Gabor滤波以增强血管图像,获取增强后视网膜图像的灰度-梯度共生矩阵,利用微粒群算法并结合灰度-梯度共生矩阵的最大熵方法进行阈值化处理,对图像进行二值化处理后根据视网膜血管具有区域连通性的特征,采用形态学方法分割出最终的血管。实验结果表明,该方法能有效地提取视网膜血管网络。     

Perceived Visual Aesthetics of Text-Overlaid Images: Computational Models and Experimental Research for White-Space Fraction

Text-overlaid images abound in product design and human–computer interfaces (e.g., greeting cards and photo slideshows that overlay texts on large background images). This study proposes computational models of perceived aesthetics appeal of text-overlaid images as a function of their white-space fractions. Four models are proposed, including Character-based Page White-Space Fraction (W_CP ), Character-based Background White-Space Fraction (W_CB ), Bounding Box based Page White-Space Fraction (W_BP ), and Bounding Box based Background White-Space Fraction (W_BB ). Two experiments, using single-spaced and double-spaced texts, were conducted to investigate the relationships between the model predictions and the perceived aesthetic appeal of text-overlaid images. The results show that the Bounding Box based Background White-Space Fraction (W_BB ), defined as the area ratio between the bounding rectangle of texts and the background region of image, is most valuable in modelling the subjective aesthetic appeal. The regression curves show that the optimal W_BB is close to 0.8.     

Automatic diabetic retinopathy diagnosis using adjustable ophthalmoscope and multi-scale line operator

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), the most common one of diabetic eye diseases that cause loss of vision and blindness, has become one of major health problems today. However, DR can be eased through timely treatment and periodical screening. In this paper, we proposes an automatic diabetic retinopathy diagnostic system to help patients know about their retinal conditions. We design a portable ophthalmoscope, which is composed of a retinal lens, a smartphone and a frame between them to help patients take fundus images anywhere and anytime. Then the images are transmitted to be analyzed, including localization of optic disk and macular, vessel segmentation, detection of lesions, and grading of DR. We use a multi-scale line operator to improve accuracy in segmenting small-scale vessels, a binary mask and image restoration to reduce the effect of the existence of the vessels on optic disk localization. After the analysis, the fundus image are then graded as normal, mild Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (NPDR), moderate NPDR or severe NPDR. The grading process uses region segmentation to improve the efficiency. The final grading results are tested based on the fundus images provided by the hospitals. We evaluate our system through comparing our grading result with those graded by experts, which comes out with an overall accuracy of up to 85%.     

基于DWT和形态学的眼底图像小血管检测

针对眼底图像中末端小血管检测难、细节容易丢失的问题．提出一种基于离散小波变换（DWT）和形态学滤波的检测算法。通过小波变换多尺度分析眼底图像小血管系数、背景系数的不同特征．选取分量信号的系数后重构图像。同时以自适应阈值Canny算法提取小血管边缘;然后将结合小血管宽度选择适当结构元素半径,对重构图像进行灰度膨胀,实现小血管检测。结果表明,形态学结合DWT的检测算法能够准确地检测小血管．与常见边缘检测算法相比检测成功率较高。     

基于Gabor小波的视网膜血管自动提取研究

针对视网膜血管网络灰度分布特征和区域结构特征,提出了一种基于Gabor小波的视网膜血管提取方法。采用Gabor滤波预处理以增强血管,用改进的自适应二值化方法对增强后的视网膜图像进行二值化处理,根据视网膜血管具有区域连通性的特征,并用形态学方法分割出最终的血管。为验证方法的有效性,对Hoover眼底图像库进行实验,结果表明该方法在细小血管的提取以及连续性、有效性方面都优于Hoover算法。     

Computerised approaches for the detection of diabetic retinopathy using retinal fundus images: a survey

Eye-related disease such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a medical ailment in which the retina of the human eye is smashed because of damage to the tiny retinal blood vessels in the retina. Ophthalmologists identify DR based on various features such as the blood vessels, textures and pathologies. With the rapid development of methods of analysis of biomedical images and advanced computing techniques, image processing-based software for the detection of eye disease has been widely used as an important tool by ophthalmologists. In particular, computer vision-based methods are growing rapidly in the field of medical images analysis and are appropriate to advance ophthalmology. These tools depend entirely on visual analysis to identify abnormalities in Retinal Fundus images. During the past two decades, exciting improvement in the development of DR detection computerised systems has been observed. This paper reviews the development of analysing retinal images for the detection of DR in three aspects: automatic algorithms (classification or pixel to pixel methods), detection methods of pathologies from retinal fundus images, and extraction of blood vessels of retinal fundus image algorithms for the detection of DR. The paper presents a detailed explanation of each problem with respect to retinal images. The current techniques that are used to analyse retinal images and DR detection issues are also discussed in detail and recommendations are made for some future directions.