Random walks with statistical shape prior for cochlea and inner ear segmentation in micro-CT images

A cochlear implant is an electronic device which can restore sound to completely or partially deaf patients. For surgical planning, a patient-specific model of the inner ear must be built using high-resolution images accurately segmented. We propose a new framework for segmentation of micro-CT cochlear images using random walks, where a region term estimated by a Gaussian mixture model is combined with a shape prior initially obtained by a statistical shape model (SSM). The region term can then take advantage of the high contrast between the background and foreground, while the shape prior guides the segmentation to the exterior of the cochlea and to less contrasted regions inside the cochlea. The prior is obtained via a non-rigid registration regularized by a statistical shape model. The SSM constrains the inner parts of the cochlea and ensures valid output shapes of the inner ear.     

Moment-based alignment for shape prior with variational B-spline level set

This paper presents a new shape prior-based implicit active contour model for image segmentation. The paper proposes an energy functional including a data term and a shape prior term. The data term, inspired from the region-based active contour approach, evolves the contour based on the region information of the image to segment. The shape prior term, defined as the distance between the evolving shape and a reference shape, constraints the evolution of the contour with respect to the reference shape. Especially, in this paper, we present shapes via geometric moments, and utilize the shape normalization procedure, which takes into account the affine transformation, to align the evolving shape with the reference one. By this way, we could directly calculate the shape transformation, instead of solving a set of coupled partial differential equations as in the gradient descent approach. In addition, we represent the level-set function in the proposed energy functional as a linear combination of continuous basic functions expressed on a B-spline basic. This allows a fast convergence to the segmentation solution. Experiment results on synthetic, real, and medical images show that the proposed model is able to extract object boundaries even in the presence of clutter and occlusion.     

A Variational Model for Object Segmentation Using Boundary Information and Shape Prior Driven by the Mumford-Shah Functional

In this paper, we propose a new variational model to segment an object belonging to a given shape space using the active contour method, a geometric shape prior and the Mumford-Shah functional. The core of our model is an energy functional composed by three complementary terms. The first one is based on a shape model which constrains the active contour to get a shape of interest. The second term detects object boundaries from image gradients. And the third term drives globally the shape prior and the active contour towards a homogeneous intensity region. The segmentation of the object of interest is given by the minimum of our energy functional. This minimum is computed with the calculus of variations and the gradient descent method that provide a system of evolution equations solved with the well-known level set method. We also prove the existence of this minimum in the space of functions with bounded variation. Applications of the proposed model are presented on synthetic and medical images.     

用于图像分割的局部区域一致性流形约束MRF模型

针对区域马尔可夫随机场(MRF)模型难以有效描述图像复杂先验知识的问题,提出一种基于局部区域一致性流形约束MRF(LRCMC-MRF)模型.首先,所提模型利用高维数据的低维流形分布表征图像局部区域的复杂几何结构先验,建立图像局部区域的流形先验约束;其次,基于Pairwise MRF模型,建立一种包含更多图像局部信息的局部空间自适应MRF模型;最后,基于贝叶斯理论,将复杂局部区域几何结构先验和局部空间自适应统计特征融合,利用Gibbs采样算法对所提出模型进行优化.实验结果表明,与基于常规区域的MRF模型相比,所提出的分割算法具有较好的分割效果.     

基于统计先验形状的水平集图像分割综述

对于图像分割来说,常常需要结合尽可能多的先验信息来分割感兴趣组织。对基于统计先验形状的水平集图像分割方法进行了综述。该分割模型的特点是能量函数由两部分组成:首先是基于图像的梯度或区域灰度的数据项;第二项是先验形状项,对处理因遮挡、噪声和裂口而导致的信息缺失的图像具有鲁棒性。深入讨论了如何从感兴趣组织的训练集中构建一个压缩的形状表达——隐含形状模型;如何构建既包括使全局形状一致的隐含曲面约束,又保持了水平集捕捉局部形变的能力的基于先验形状的水平集图像分割模型;介绍了形状对齐和一致性等关键问题。最后指出了目前存在的问题和进一步的发展方向。     

Shape-Based Mutual Segmentation

We present a novel variational approach for simultaneous segmentation of two images of the same object taken from different viewpoints. Due to noise, clutter and occlusions, neither of the images contains sufficient information for correct object-background partitioning. The evolving object contour in each image provides a dynamic prior for the segmentation of the other object view. We call this process mutual segmentation. The foundation of the proposed method is a unified level-set framework for region and edge based segmentation, associated with a shape similarity term. The suggested shape term incorporates the semantic knowledge gained in the segmentation process of the image pair, accounting for excess or deficient parts in the estimated object shape. Transformations, including planar projectivities, between the object views are accommodated by a registration process held concurrently with the segmentation. The proposed segmentation algorithm is demonstrated on a variety of image pairs. The homography between each of the image pairs is estimated and its accuracy is evaluated.     

参数自适应的KPCA先验形状约束目标分割

为克服固定先验形状在分割可变形目标时的困难,提出一种基于核主元分析(KPCA)的参数自适应先验形状约束水平集分割方法.首先使用KPCA变换获取目标先验形状特征空间的基底向量;其次用Parzen窗估计待分割图像的灰度分布以构造图像数据能量项;然后使用仿射变换对齐图像感兴趣区域与先验形状,从而将目标形状先验知识集成到分割模型中;最后在基于水平集方法求解演化方程时自适应地估计参数,实现形变目标的分割.实验结果表明,相比于CV (Chan-Vese)模型和单先验形状约束的水平集方法,该模型能够有效地分割不同姿态的目标形状.     

Watershed segmentation using prior shape and appearance knowledge

Watershed transformation is a common technique for image segmentation. However, its use for automatic medical image segmentation has been limited particularly due to oversegmentation and sensitivity to noise. Employing prior shape knowledge has demonstrated robust improvements to medical image segmentation algorithms. We propose a novel method for enhancing watershed segmentation by utilizing prior shape and appearance knowledge. Our method iteratively aligns a shape histogram with the result of an improved k-means clustering algorithm of the watershed segments. Quantitative validation of magnetic resonance imaging segmentation results supports the robust nature of our method.     

基于随机游走的医学超声图像分割

医学超声图像不可避免地存在斑点噪声、弱边界等问题,很难达到满意的分割效果。随机游走算法对噪声具有鲁棒性,对弱边界有良好的提取能力。将此算法应用于医学超声图像分割,通过融合区域信息与用户指定的种子点信息,借助于电路模拟以及组合Dirichlet问题,可以得到每个非种子点到标记了目标点或者背景点的概率,并对其赋予概率中最大的种子点所对应的标记,从而实现图像的分割。实验结果表明,该方法对医学超声图像的分割是有效的。此算法通过求解稀疏的、对称的、正定的线性方程的系统来获得Dirichlet问题的解,使计算速度大为提高。     

3D mesh segmentation via L0-constrained random walks

3D mesh segmentation is a challenging problem in computer graphics, computer vision, and multimedia. In this paper, we cast mesh segmentation as a L₀ minimization problem using random walks and L₀ norm. In random walks method, the probabilities of random walks change smoothly over the whole model, which may lead to inaccurate segmentation boundaries. To attain a perception-aware result, the changes of probabilities should comply with mesh geometry. That is, the changes of probabilities near region boundaries should be more drastic than those inside the regions. Therefore, we introduce a L₀ constraint to reflect the sparsity of probability changes, and identify region boundaries more precisely. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is effective, robust, and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on various 3D meshes.

     

Variational Segmentation of Image Sequences Using Region-Based Active Contours and Deformable Shape Priors

In this paper we address the problem of segmentation in image sequences using region-based active contours and level set methods. We propose a novel method for variational segmentation of image sequences containing nonrigid, moving objects. The method is based on the classical Chan-Vese model augmented with a novel frame-to-frame interaction term, which allow us to update the segmentation result from one image frame to the next using the previous segmentation result as a shape prior. The interaction term is constructed to be pose-invariant and to allow moderate deformations in shape. It is expected to handle the appearance of occlusions which otherwise can make segmentation fail. The performance of the model is illustrated with experiments on synthetic and real image sequences.     

Automatic mass segmentation on mammograms combining random walks and active contour

Accurate mass segmentation on mammograms is a critical step in computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. It is also a challenging task since some of the mass lesions are embedded in normal tissues and possess poor contrast or ambiguous margins. Besides, the shapes and densities of masses in mammograms are various. In this paper, a hybrid method combining a random walks algorithm and Chan-Vese (CV) active contour is proposed for automatic mass segmentation on mammograms. The data set used in this study consists of 1095 mass regions of interest (ROIs). First, the original ROI is preprocessed to suppress noise and surrounding tissues. Based on the preprocessed ROI, a set of seed points is generated for initial random walks segmentation. Afterward, an initial contour of mass and two probability matrices are produced by the initial random walks segmentation. These two probability matrices are used to modify the energy function of the CV model for prevention of contour leaking. Lastly, the final segmentation result is derived by the modified CV model, during which the probability matrices are updated by inserting several rounds of random walks. The proposed method is tested and compared with other four methods. The segmentation results are evaluated based on four evaluation metrics. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method produces more accurate mass segmentation results than the other four methods.     

图割与非线性统计形状先验的图像分割

提出一种图割与非线性统计形状先验的图像分割方法。首先,在输入空间对输入的形状模板进行配准,得到训练集;其次,采用非线性核函数将目标形状先验映射到特征空间进行主成分分析,获取其投影形状,将此投影形状映射回原输入空间得到目标的平均形状,构成新的能量函数;第三,通过自适应调整形状先验项的权值系数,使能量函数的形状先验项自适应于被分割的图像;最后,用Graph Cuts方法最小化能量函数完成图像分割。实验结果表明,该方法不仅能准确分割与形状先验模板有差别的图像,而且对目标有遮挡或污染的图像也有较好的分割效果,提高了分割效率。     

基于级联随机森林与活动轮廓的3D MR图像分割

针对医学磁共振（Magnetic resonance，MR）图像三维分割中随机森林（Random forest，RF）方法难以获得具有几何约束的结果以及活动轮廓模型（Active contour model，ACM）不能自动分割发生信号混叠的组织结构的问题，提出了一种整合了级联随机森林与活动轮廓模型的磁共振图像三维分割方法.该方法首先从多模态磁共振体数据中提取图像多尺度局部鲁棒统计信息，以此驱动级联随机森林对磁共振图像进行迭代的体素分类，从而获得对组织结构的初步分割结果，进一步将此结果作为初始轮廓与形状先验，整合进一个尺度可调的活动轮廓模型中，将独立的体素分类转化为轮廓曲线演化，最终得到具有几何约束的精确分割结果.在公开数据集上的实验结果表明，本文的自动化分割方法在分割精度和鲁棒性等方面，相比其他同类方法具有较大的性能提升.     

Coupled region-edge shape priors for simultaneous localization and figure-ground segmentation

We propose a new algorithm for simultaneous localization and figure-ground segmentation where coupled region-edge shape priors are involved with two different but complementary roles. We resort to a segmentation-based hypothesis-and-test paradigm in this research, where the region prior is used to form a segmentation and the edge prior is used to evaluate the validity of the formed segmentation. Our fundamental assumption is that the optimal shape-constrained segmentation that maximizes the agreement with the edge prior occurs at the correctly hypothesized location. Essentially, the proposed algorithm addresses a mid-level vision issue that aims at producing a map image for part detection useful for high-level vision tasks. Our experiments demonstrated that this algorithm offers promising results in terms of both localization and segmentation.     

基于能量最小化的星载SAR图像建筑物分割方法

针对星载合成孔径雷达 (Synthetic aperture radar, SAR) 图像信噪比低、建筑物目标几何变形大以及周围背景复杂的特点, 本文提出了一种基于能量最小化的星载SAR图像建筑物分割方法.基于星载SAR图像数据构造条件概率能量项, 推动变形曲线向建筑物目标边界演化; 在能量泛函模型中定义长度能量项以保证变形曲线的平滑; 在水平集方法获取的SAR图像初始分割结果的基础上, 以高分辨率光学遥感影像中建筑物目标的轮廓作为先验信息, 构造先验形状能量项约束曲线在第二阶段的演化, 最终实现SAR图像建筑物的分割.实验结果表明, 该方法显著提高了建筑物目标轮廓的分割精度.     

结合形状统计的水平集图像分割

给出了一种结合先验形状统计信息的Mumford-Shah模型的水平集实现方法。结合形状统计的水平集图像分割主要包括先验形状模型的构造和形状能量项的构造,针对这两个主要方面做了如下两点工作：（1）提出了一种简单可行的先验形状模型构造方法;（2）重新构造了形状能量项,它综合考虑了全局和局部形状信息,且不含形状姿态参量,使曲面演化稳定可靠。带标记线左心室核磁共振（MR）长轴图像的实验结果和合成图像的分割结果证明了该方法的有效性。     

基于边缘信息C_V模型的医学图像分割方法

图像分割是医学处理中的重要研究内容之一,提出一种基于边缘信息的改进的C_V模型的医学图像分割方法.在模型中增加了表征边界特征的项,利用图像的边界信息与区域信息为分割服务,克服了传统C_V模型不能利用图像的梯度信息的不足.并对C_V模型的区域信息项进行了改造,改变了传统C_V模型中均值取值的定义,提高了对灰度层次丰富的图像分割能力.增加了距离函数惩罚项,将距离函数重新初始化的过程并入整个水平集框架模型中,极大地提高了曲线演化与分割速度.实验表明该模型是有效的医学图像分割方法.