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.     

基于遗传模糊C-均值与概率松弛法的图像分割研究

在利用遗传模糊C-均值对图像像素进行初步分类的基础上,采用概率松弛算法对目标与背景间的疑似像素进行进一步分割和目标提取,很好地解决了目标提取不完整的问题,实验结果表明,该算法具有良好的特性.     

生物力学模型约束下的图像分割算法研究

引入基于生物力学约束的弹性可变形体模型,提出区别于传统Snake方法的内外能量构造方法,其中内能量取决于该弹性可变形体材料的物理特性,外能量是由图像等外部数据驱动,通过能量最小化过程达到平衡位置,即所要的分割结果。为了说明该算法的精确性和稳定性,分别在人工合成图上添加不同数量的噪声,并进行边界弱化。实验表明,该算法具有良好的分割效果。心脏核磁共振（MRI）图像分割的实验表明,该模型能有效地同时搜索到左心室的内外膜,解决了心外膜不易分割的难题。     

Integrated active contours for texture segmentation.

We address the issue of textured image segmentation in the context of the Gabor feature space of images. Gabor filters tuned to a set of orientations, scales and frequencies are applied to the images to create the Gabor feature space. A two-dimensional Riemannian manifold of local features is extracted via the Beltrami framework. The metric of this surface provides a good indicator of texture changes and is used, therefore, in a Beltrami-based diffusion mechanism and in a geodesic active contours algorithm for texture segmentation. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with that of the edgeless active contours algorithm applied for texture segmentation. Moreover, an integrated approach, extending the geodesic and edgeless active contours approaches to texture segmentation, is presented. We show that combining boundary and region information yields more robust and accurate texture segmentation results.     

基于光流场分割和Canny边缘提取 融合算法的运动目标检测

在摄像机运动的情况下,提出了一种基于光流场分割和Canny边缘算子融合技术的运动目标检测方法.这种方法可分为三步:第一步利用运动的内极线约束和C-均值聚类算法完成目标区域的分割,并获得分割图;第二步在分割图中利用Canny边缘算子获得细化的目标区域边缘图;第三步根据光流场中的流速值完成分割图和边缘图的融合,并检测出完整的运动目标.实验表明,这种方法可以有效地从复杂自然场景的图像序列中检测出完整的运动目标.     

一种鲁棒的非均匀灰度图像分割算法

针对非均匀灰度图像分割困难及分割效率低下的问题,该文提出了一种基于活动轮廓模型的高效图像分割算法。不同于传统水平集方法中仅用单一信息定义的能量泛函,该算法结合图像的边缘信息和区域统计信息定义了一个新的能量泛函。边缘信息的利用便于演化轮廓线快速精确地定位至物体边缘;区域统计信息由局部统计信息和全局统计信息构成,一方面,局部统计信息的利用能够有效处理图像的灰度分布不均匀现象,另一方面,全局统计信息的利用避免了轮廓线陷入局部极小值。最后,在轮廓线演化过程中,通过高斯卷积核实现快速规则化,避免了传统模型计算代价高昂的重新初始化或规则化。合成图像和真实图像的实验结果表明,该文算法不仅能够快速有效分割灰度分布不均匀的弱边缘物体,而且对于多灰阶复杂结构物体也能够精确分割;同时,该算法对噪声和初始轮廓线具有较好的鲁棒性。     

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.     

一种基于参数活动轮廓模型的高能闪光照相图像分割算法

针对高能闪光照相系统成像质量较差的特点,提出了一种基于参数活动轮廓模型(Snake模型)的闪光照相图像分割算法.该算法在传统高斯力Snake模型中引入包含图像区域信息的变力,以目标和背景两区域具有最小方差为准则,构建兼顾边缘和区域信息的外部能量函数.数值实验结果表明,该算法对初始轮廓位置不敏感,较好地解决了客体凹陷区域分割问题,能够实现对含噪声的弱边界闪光图像的自动分割.     

Shape statistics variational approach for the outer contour segmentation of left ventricle MR images.

Segmentation of left ventricles is one of the important research topics in cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The segmentation precision influences the authenticity of ventricular motion reconstruction. In left ventricle MR images, the weak and broken boundary increases the difficulty of segmenting the outer contour precisely. In this paper, we present an improved shape statistics variational approach for the outer contour segmentation of left ventricle MR images. We use the Mumford-Shah model in an object feature space and incorporate the shape statistics and an edge image to the variational framework. The introduction of shape statistics can improve the segmentation with broken boundaries. The edge image can enhance the weak boundary and thus improve the segmentation precision. The generation of the object feature image, which has homogenous "intensities" in the left ventricle, facilitates the application of the Mumford-Shah model. A comparison of mean absolute distance analysis between different contours generated with our algorithm and that generated by hand demonstrated that our method can achieve a higher segmentation precision and a better stability than various approaches. It is a semiautomatic way for the segmentation of the outer contour of the left ventricle in clinical applications.     

基于自适应扩散梯度矢量流的图像分割算法

为了提高活动轮廓分割图像的精度,解决传统活 动轮廓不能够收敛到深凹陷和弱边界对象分割效果不佳等问 题,提出了自适应扩散梯度矢量流(AD-GGVF)算法。首先,在外部力场中,使用基于分量的 归一化方法代替传统的基于矢量的归一化方 法,提高活动轮廓曲线进入深凹陷的能力;然后,将拉普拉斯算子分解为切向和法向分量, 并增加两个互相关的自适应权重 函数,使轮廓曲线能够根据图像的局部特征自适应调节扩散过程;最后,以分割结果的量化 误差为评价标准,和传统的活动 轮廓分割效果进行对比和分析。实验结果表明,本文算法针对两幅不同的弱 边界图像,量化误差分别降低到0.08和0.09,活动轮廓曲线能够收敛到深凹陷的底部;分割 效果较为准确。     

基于新的形态学梯度参数的DTI图像分割算法

为了解决传统DTI图像分割中更细致边缘信息的丢失问题,提出了新的张量形态学梯度参数,并基于张量相似性形态学梯度和各向异性形态学梯度,采用标记的分水岭算法对DTI图像进行分割.通过对人脑胼胝体图像的分割实验表明,利用新参数TMG-l2和TMG-RA能够更加快速、准确地对DTI图像进行细致边缘轮廓的定位和分割,保护了重要分割区域的边缘信息.     

基于自适应预处理的图像分割方法

为了防止分水岭算法过分割问题,该文提出了一种基于自适应预处理的图像分割算法。该方法在分水岭算法的基础上,首先结合像素点亮度特征和空间分布特性应用自适应方法对梯度图像进行预处理。通过考察各像素点邻域中像素分类后的分布情况,来判断考察点是处于区域中心还是处于边界,并据此对考察点的梯度值进行调节。然后在预处理后的梯度图像上选定标记,将预处理后的梯度图像中大于200个像素的连通区域标定为标记。最后用分水岭分割方法对带标记的参考图像进行分割。试验结果表明,该分割方法具有良好的分割效果。     

复杂背景下基于分割逼近法的抠像技术研究

论述了复杂背景下人物的抠像问题,提出一种新的抠像方法--分割逼近算法.首先使用背景更新模型建立了差分背景,然后用本文提出的分割逼近法对图像进行粗分和细分两次分割,建立了人物图像边缘连通体,最后运用Laplacian算子对勾勒出的人物轮廓提取边缘,并用替换原图像的方法实现人物的抠像.     

Robust shape regression for supervised vessel segmentation and its application to coronary segmentation in CTA

This paper presents a vessel segmentation method which learns the geometry and appearance of vessels in medical images from annotated data and uses this knowledge to segment vessels in unseen images. Vessels are segmented in a coarse-to-fine fashion. First, the vessel boundaries are estimated with multivariate linear regression using image intensities sampled in a region of interest around an initialization curve. Subsequently, the position of the vessel boundary is refined with a robust nonlinear regression technique using intensity profiles sampled across the boundary of the rough segmentation and using information about plausible cross-sectional vessel shapes. The method was evaluated by quantitatively comparing segmentation results to manual annotations of 229 coronary arteries. On average the difference between the automatically obtained segmentations and manual contours was smaller than the inter-observer variability, which is an indicator that the method outperforms manual annotation. The method was also evaluated by using it for centerline refinement on 24 publicly available datasets of the Rotterdam Coronary Artery Evaluation Framework. Centerlines are extracted with an existing method and refined with the proposed method. This combination is currently ranked second out of 10 evaluated interactive centerline extraction methods. An additional qualitative expert evaluation in which 250 automatic segmentations were compared to manual segmentations showed that the automatically obtained contours were rated on average better than manual contours.     

基于梯度的低对比度X线图像分割方法

在医学骨折诊断领域,X线图像是骨折诊断的重要手段,X线图像中骨骼组织的精确分割为后续的诊断提供了重要依据。为此,文中首先利用Sobel边缘检测算子得到X线图像的梯度图,然后利用灰度图像单目标跟踪算法,提出了一种基于梯度的多目标分割算法,经过三轮跟踪获得了骨骼组织的精确定位,实现了医学骨科X线图像的骨骼分割。最后,将分割结果与边缘检测和阈值方法的分割结果进行了比较。试验结果表明,该方法对低对比度图像能够得到好的分割效果,比较适合医学骨科X线图像的骨骼分割。     

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。     

基于多阈值归一化分割的模糊图像边缘分割算法

模糊图像边缘的像素特征较为复杂,一般需要采用多个阈值作为分隔约束条件的方法来进行图像边缘分割,但是该方法存在诸如多阈值无法形成统一标准、边缘提取过程需要多次校对,以及效率较低等缺点.提出一种基于多阈值归一化分割的模糊图像边缘分割算法,通过设计超像素网格对模糊图像边缘特征的像素进行匹配,分析模糊图像的反调张量信息,并根据不同张量信息对多阈值进行归一化,以及采用灰度窗口相关系数匹配方法,将获得的多阈值归一化结果分别覆盖图中的单一目标对象,以实现模糊图像的边缘分割.实验表明,利用该算法进行模糊图像边缘分割能较好地获取图像的边缘细节特征,使得边缘具有更好的连线段连通性和宽度一致性.     

Optic nerve head segmentation

Reliable and efficient optic disk localization and segmentation are important tasks in automated retinal screening. General-purpose edge detection algorithms often fail to segment the optic disk due to fuzzy boundaries, inconsistent image contrast or missing edge features. This paper presents an algorithm for the localization and segmentation of the optic nerve head boundary in low-resolution images (about 20 microns/pixel). Optic disk localization is achieved using specialized template matching, and segmentation by a deformable contour model. The latter uses a global elliptical model and a local deformable model with variable edge-strength dependent stiffness. The algorithm is evaluated against a randomly selected database of 100 images from a diabetic screening programme. Ten images were classified as unusable; the others were of variable quality. The localization algorithm succeeded on all bar one usable image; the contour estimation algorithm was qualitatively assessed by an ophthalmologist as having Excellent-Fair performance in 83% of cases, and performs well even on blurred images.     

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。