一种基于Hopfield网络的MRI图像分割方法

磁共振成像（ＭＲＩ）是临床中一种重要的非介入式成像诊断方法。本文提出了一种基于Ｈｏｐｆｉｅｌｄ网络的ＭＲＩ图像分割算法。在无教师监督的情况下，神经网络在其能量最小化过程中，逐渐趋于特征聚类空间的一个稳定状态，因而可以实现图像的分割。     

基于多参数配准模型的脑核磁影像分割算法

配准技术在基于多图谱的分割方法中能有效地将医学图谱的先验知识融入分割过程,再结合以高效的标记融合算法,最终实现精确地自动分割.针对图谱配准的较大误差及其对标记融合的重要影响,本文建立了一种新的概率图模型框架并以此提出了基于多参数配准模型的分割算法,将此方法与高效的标记融合算法相结合,可以提高目标图像中特定组织区域的分割精度,更使其在少量图谱分割的情形下具有重要应用.首先,使用多种配准参数对所有目标图像进行配准;然后,分别采用不同的算法对配准图像进行灰度融合和标记融合,实现训练图像的重构过程;最后,利用高效的标记融合算法对重构后的图像进行融合得到最终精确的分割结果.实验结果表明该方法均优于本文其他分割算法,能够有效提升脑部组织分割精度.     

基于标记的Watershed图像分割新算法

为了防止Watershed算法过分割问题,文中提出一种新改进的基于标记的Watershed自动图像分割方法.文中设计出一种有效的标记自动提取方法,用来从梯度图像的低频成分中提取与图像中的物体相关的极小值, 用这些极小值构成二值标记图像.根据二值标记图像,形态学的极小值标定技术被用来将这些提取的标记强制作为原始梯度图像的极小值,而屏蔽原有梯度图像的所有极小值.最后,watershed算法在修改过的梯度图像上进行图像分割.利用本文提出的图像分割算法可以获得较为理想的图像分割结果.通过对不同类型的图像进行试验,证明本文提出的图像分割算法能够获得符合人类视觉特点,具有实际意义而且均一的分割区域,以及较为准确、连续、一个像素大小的物体边界.与其它的Watershed改进方法相比,本文提出的方法要求的计算复杂度较低,具有简单的参数,同时能够更为有效地降低Watershed算法的过分割问题.     

一种用于桥梁识别的水域分割提取方法

提出一种新的水域分割提取算法.采用灰度图像减去加权梯度图像的方法拉大水域与田地的差异,利用水域平均灰度高于图像平均灰度的特点,对常规OSTU阈值分割算法进行改进,图像分割后通过水域标记排除小面积干扰区城,通过寻找组成河流的水域方法排除大面积田地干扰.仿真实验结果证明该算法可实现水域的合理有效分割提取.     

改进的分水岭算法在牛乳体细胞上的分割及应用

牛乳体细胞经常会出现重叠和粘连问题,文章针对此问题提出了一种有效可行的分割方法予以解决。在对原图像二值化的基础上,首先对灰度梯度图像进行形态学平滑滤波处理,然后提取图像的前景标记以及背景标记并对梯度图像进行修正,最后用分水岭进行分割。仿真结果表明,该算法不仅有效地抑制图像的过分割问题,而且能准确、快速地分割牛乳体细胞,同时为后续步骤牛乳体细胞计数以及诊断提供可靠依据。     

结合自适应TV模型和分水岭变换的图像分割算法

针对传统分水岭算法对噪声敏感,易出现过分割的现象,提出一种自适应全变分模型和标记分水岭算法相结合的图像分割算法。采用自适应全变分模型对原始图像进行滤波处理,平滑去噪的同时保留图像的边缘信息;求解其多尺度形态学梯度图像,并用基于最大熵的扩展极小值技术获得的前景和背景标记并对其多尺度梯度图像修改;对修改后的梯度图像进行分水岭变换,实现准确的分割。对比常用和相似的图像分割算法,实验结果表明,该算法在抗噪性、运行时间和分割交并比上有一定的优势。尤其是在噪声强、灰度值接近的医学图像上能够获得合理有意义的分割区域,效果良好。     

数据压缩的FCM算法用于人脑MRI图像的分割

针对模糊C均值聚类（Fuzzy C—means clustering，FCM）算法在人脑磁共振成像（Magnetic Resonance Imaging，MRI）图像分割中存在的计算量大、运行时间过长的问题，提出一种加速方法。首先利用边界跟踪法对人脑MRI图像进行预处理，剔除颅骨和肌肉等非脑组织；然后通过数据压缩，即通过对相近的像素进行量化并聚合来减少像素个数；最后用FCM算法对大脑结构进行分割，结果得到脑白质、灰质和脑脊液图像区域。该方法能够使数据量大为减少，从而使FCM在图像分割中更加快速有效。     

一种改进的分水岭分割的研究

用分水岭方法进行图像分割时,容易造成图像的过度分割.为了克服这种缺点,本文提出了改进的图像分水岭分割的方法.该方法先用改进的中值滤波对图像进行预处理,在去除噪声的同时很好的保持物体轮廓和细节;以传统标记提取为基础,以标记点为区域极小值对图像进行分水岭分割.实验结果显示,该方法能很好地抑制过度分割,使分割得到了较好的效果.     

改进的分水岭算法在医学图像分割中的应用

针对传统分水岭算法对噪声敏感和易于产生过分割的问题,提出了一种将同态滤波增强与控制标记符分水岭相结合的分割策略.该方法先进行同态滤波增强预处理,再采用改进控制标记符的分水岭分割算法进行分割.仿真实验表明,提出的算法很好地抑制了过分割,实现了有意义的医学图像区域分割,同时还具有较强的区域轮廓定位能力,不需要再进行后续的合并处理,算法简单,并且能够适应医学图像分类与信息提取的需求.     

基于改进Otsu方法的振动图像分割研究

在振动位移的机器视觉测量方法中,振动处标记点图像的分割作为处理过程中的关键,其分割结果直接影响最终的测量精度,但由于标记点图像中目标像素数目过小的特点及测量干扰因素,传统的Otsu阈值分割方法及相关改进算法的分割效果均不理想。为得到更优的分割算法,首先探讨了相关改进算法分割脉冲噪声、强光及阴影干扰下标记点图像时存在的问题,然后提出了一种基于阈值与目标波峰之间灰度分布信息的改进Otsu算法,在相关改进算法的基础上,将阈值与邻近目标波峰之间灰度值的差值及二者的像素数量之和在总体中的比例共同作为权重,最后进行多幅复杂干扰情况下标记点图像的分割实验和振动位移测量实验,实验结果表明,改进的算法在干扰下依然能对标记点图像进行有效分割,且目标的位置偏差值总体优于其他算法,同时准确地实现了振动位移的测量。     

Automatic detection of myocardial contours in cine-computed tomographic images

Quantitative evaluation of cardiac function from cardiac images requires the identification of the myocardial walls. This generally requires the clinician to view the image and interactively trace the contours. This method is susceptible to great variability that depends on the experience and knowledge of the particular operator tracing the contours. The particular imaging modality that is used may also add tracing difficulties. Cine-computed tomography (cine-CT) is an imaging modality capable of providing high quality cross-sectional images of the heart. CT images, however, are cluttered, i.e., objects that are not of interest, such as the chest wall, liver, stomach, are also visible in the image. To decrease this variability, investigators have developed computer-assisted or near-automatic techniques for tracing these contours. All of these techniques, however, require some operator intervention to confidently identify myocardial borders. The authors present a new algorithm that automatically finds the heart within the chest, and then proceeds to outline (detect) the myocardial contours. Information at each tomographic slice is used to estimate the contours at the next tomographic slice, thus allowing the algorithm to work in near-apical cross-sectional images where the myocardial borders are often difficult to identify. The algorithm does not require operator input and can be used in a batch mode to process large quantities of data. An evaluation and correction phase is included to allow an operator to view the results and selectively correct portions of contours. The authors tested the algorithm by automatically identifying the myocardial borders of 27 cardiac images obtained from three human subjects and quantitatively comparing these automatically determined borders with those traced by an experienced cardiologist.     

Identifying regional cardiac abnormalities from myocardial strains using nontracking-based strain estimation and spatio-temporal tensor analysis

Myocardial strain is a critical indicator of many cardiac diseases and dysfunctions. The goal of this paper is to extract and use the myocardial strain pattern from tagged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify and localize regional abnormal cardiac function in human subjects. In order to extract the myocardial strains from the tagged images, we developed a novel nontracking-based strain estimation method for tagged MRI. This method is based on the direct extraction of tag deformation, and therefore avoids some limitations of conventional displacement or tracking-based strain estimators. Based on the extracted spatio-temporal strain patterns, we have also developed a novel tensor-based classification framework that better conserves the spatio-temporal structure of the myocardial strain pattern than conventional vector-based classification algorithms. In addition, the tensor-based projection function keeps more of the information of the original feature space, so that abnormal tensors in the subspace can be back-projected to reveal the regional cardiac abnormality in a more physically meaningful way. We have tested our novel methods on 41 human image sequences, and achieved a classification rate of 87.80%. The regional abnormalities recovered from our algorithm agree well with the patient's pathology and clinical image interpretation, and provide a promising avenue for regional cardiac function analysis.     

Parametric shape representation by a deformable NURBS model for cardiac functional measurements

This paper proposes a method of parametric representation and functional measurement of 3-D cardiac shapes in a deformable nonuniform rational B-splines (NURBS) model. This representation makes it very easy to automatically evaluate the functional parameters and myocardial kinetics of the heart, since quantitative analysis can be followed in a simple way. In the model, local deformation and motion on the cardiac shape are expressed in adjustable parameters. Especially, an effective integral algorithm is used for volumetric measurement of a NURBS shape since the volume is the most basic parameter in cardiac functional analysis. This method promises the numerical computation to be very convenient, efficient, and accurate, in comparison with traditional methods. Practical experiments are carried out, and results show that the algorithm can get satisfactory measurement accuracy and efficiency. The parametric NURBS model in cylindrical coordinates is not only very suitable to fit the anatomical surfaces of a cardiac shape, but also easy for geometric transformation and nonrigid registration, and able to represent local dynamics and kinetics, and thus, can easily be applied for quantitative and functional analysis of the heart.     

Real-time monitoring of cardiac regional function using fastHARP MRI and region-of-interest reconstruction

Cardiovascular stress test imaging assists in the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular disease. The procedure can be carried out in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner using pharmacological agents that mimic the effects of natural exercise. In order to provide real time indication of ischemia, thereby assisting in diagnosis and helping to assure patient safety, it is desirable to have real time monitoring of the myocardial regional function. This paper presents an algorithm for the real time myocardium region-of-interest reconstruction and myocardial strain computation using data acquired from a real time pulse sequence that has been previously reported. The chirp Fourier transform is used for efficient computation, enabling a real-time continuous strain map at a rate of 25 frames/s. Coupled with a real time data path from the scanner to a laptop computer, this algorithm enables real time continuous monitoring of cardiac strain and is targeted for use in the early detection and quantification of ischemia during MR stress tests.     

Tracking myocardial motion from cine DENSE images using spatiotemporal phase unwrapping and temporal fitting

Displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) encodes myocardial tissue displacement into the phase of the MR image. Cine DENSE allows for rapid quantification of myocardial displacement at multiple cardiac phases through the majority of the cardiac cycle. For practical sensitivities to motion, relatively high displacement encoding frequencies are used and phase wrapping typically occurs. In order to obtain absolute measures of displacement, a two-dimensional (2-D) quality-guided phase unwrapping algorithm was adapted to unwrap both spatially and temporally. Both a fully automated algorithm and a faster semi-automated algorithm are proposed. A method for computing the 2-D trajectories of discrete points in the myocardium as they move through the cardiac cycle is introduced. The error in individual displacement measurements is reduced by fitting a time series to sequential displacement measurements along each trajectory. This improvement is in turn reflected in strain maps, which are derived directly from the trajectories. These methods were validated both in vivo and on a rotating phantom. Further measurements were made to optimize the displacement encoding frequency and to estimate the baseline strain noise both on the phantom and in vivo. The fully automated phase unwrapping algorithm was successful for 767 out of 800 images (95.9%), and the semi-automated algorithm was successful for 786 out of 800 images (98.3%). The accuracy of the tracking algorithm for typical cardiac displacements on a rotating phantom is 0.24 +/- 0.15 mm. The optimal displacement encoding frequency is in the region of 0.1 cycles/mm, and, for 2 scans of 17-s duration, the strain noise after temporal fitting was estimated to be 2.5 +/- 3.0% at end-diastole, 3.1 +/- 3.1% at end-systole, and 5.3 +/- 5.0% in mid-diastole. The improvement in intra-myocardial strain measurements due to temporal fitting is apparent in strain histograms, and also in identifying regions of dysfunctional myocardium in studies of patients with infarcts.     

Segmentation of the left ventricle of the heart in 3-D+t MRI data using an optimized nonrigid temporal model

Modern medical imaging modalities provide large amounts of information in both the spatial and temporal domains and the incorporation of this information in a coherent algorithmic framework is a significant challenge. In this paper, we present a novel and intuitive approach to combine 3-D spatial and temporal (3-D + time) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in an integrated segmentation algorithm to extract the myocardium of the left ventricle. A novel level-set segmentation process is developed that simultaneously delineates and tracks the boundaries of the left ventricle muscle. By encoding prior knowledge about cardiac temporal evolution in a parametric framework, an expectation-maximization algorithm optimally tracks the myocardial deformation over the cardiac cycle. The expectation step deforms the level-set function while the maximization step updates the prior temporal model parameters to perform the segmentation in a nonrigid sense.     

Estimation of images and nonrigid deformations in gated emission CT

In this paper, we propose and test a new iterative algorithm to simultaneously estimate the nonrigid motion vector fields and the emission images for a complete cardiac cycle in gated cardiac emission tomography. We model the myocardium as an elastic material whose motion does not generate large amounts of strain. As a result, our method is based on minimizing an objective function consisting of the negative logarithm of a maximum likelihood image reconstruction term, the standard biomechanical model of strain energy, and an image matching term that ensures a measure of agreement of intensities between frames. Simulations are obtained using data for the four-dimensional (4-D) NCAT phantom. The data models realistic noise levels in a typical gated myocardial perfusion SPECT study. We show that our simultaneous algorithm produces images with improved spatial resolution characteristics and noise properties compared with those obtained from postsmoothed 4-D maximum likelihood methods. The simulations also demonstrate improved motion estimates over motion estimation using independently reconstructed images.     

Accuracy of automatically determined borders in digital two-dimensional echocardiography using a cardiac phantom

Although two-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo) is a useful technique for evaluation of global and regional left ventricular function, the main limitation is the inability to easily extract reliable and accurate quantitative information throughout all phases of the cardiac cycle. We sought to develop suitable automated techniques for the objective determination of endocardial and epicardial borders in two-dimensional echocardiographic images. To test algorithms for the automatic detection of myocardial borders we constructed a cardiac ultrasound phantom consisting of 16 echogenic annuli of known dimensions embedded in a material of low echogenicity which allowed imaging without partial volume effects. An algorithm based on Gaussian filtering followed by a difference gradient operator was applied to detect edges in the 2-D echo images of these annuli. The radii of the automatically determined inner borders were within 0.44 mm root meansquared error over a range of 15-25 mm true radius. This lower boundary for the error in our approach to automatic placement of myocardial borders in 2-D echocardiograms suggests the potential to extract more information concerning left ventricular function than is available with current techniques.     

Estimation of deformation gradient and strain from cine-PC velocitydata [cardiac magnetic resonance imaging]

Phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide in vivo myocardial velocity field measurements. These data allow densely spaced material points to be tracked throughout the whole heart cycle using, for example, the Fourier tracking algorithm. To process the tracking results for myocardial deformation and strain quantification, the authors developed a method that is based on fitting the tracking results to an appropriate local deformation model. They further analyzed the accuracy and precision of the method and provided performance predictions for several local models. In order to validate the method and the theoretical performance analysis, the authors conducted controlled computer simulations and a phantom study. The results agreed well with expectations. Human heart data were also acquired and analyzed, and provided encouraging results. At the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) level and spatial resolution expected in clinical settings, the study predicts strain quantification accuracy and precision that may allow the technique to become a practical and powerful noninvasive approach for the study of cardiac function, although clinically acceptable data acquisition strategies for three-dimensional (3-D) data are still a challenge     

左旋氨氯地平对急性心肌梗死犬心肌细胞的超微结构影响

目的：观察左旋氨氯地平(L-Amlodipine)对急性心肌梗死犬心肌酶和心肌细胞超微结构的影响。方法：采用麻醉开胸结扎犬的冠状动脉左前降支制备急性心肌梗死模型，取静脉血检测心肌天门冬氨酸转氨酶(AST)、磷酸肌酸激酶(CPK)和乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)活性；用透射电镜观察心肌细胞超微结构的改变。结果：左旋氨氯地平可以降低心肌酶的活性，减轻缺血造成的心肌细胞损伤程度。结论：左旋氨氯地平对缺血性心肌细胞损伤具有一定的保护作用。