A fuzzy energy-based active contour model with adaptive contrast constraint for local segmentation

Image segmentation is to divide an image into different parts or extract some interested objects. Active contour model and fuzzy clustering are two widely used segmentation methods, which have been integrated into an effective model in recent years. Local segmentation is often needful in medical image processing. In view of local segmentation on inhomogeneous images, a new average fuzzy energy-based active contour model is proposed in this paper, in which the total fuzzy energy integrates the approximate weighted average and arithmetic average variances of the image. And an adaptive contrast constraint condition is introduced to prevent the curve from falling into local minimum, which further improves the robustness of the segmentation model to initial contour. Experimental results on synthetic and medical images demonstrate that the proposed model has considerable improvements in terms of segmentation accuracy and robustness compared to several existing local segmentation models.     

结合Gabor纹理特征的局域化多通道水平集分割方法

本文提出了一种局域化多通道主动轮廓模型的图像分割算法.针对纹理特征比较明显的图像,通过Gabor滤波提取纹理特征,与图像灰度信息构成多通道.考虑到演化过程中曲线内部和外部特征属性不均匀,引入局域化思想,通过计算各像素在局部区域的最小能量得到图像分割结果.最后算法结合先验形状对有遮挡目标进行分割,并能得到理想结果.大量实...     

Local morphology fitting active contour for automatic vascular segmentation

In this paper, we propose an active contour model using local morphology fitting for automatic vascular segmentation on 2-D angiogram. The vessel and background are fitted to fuzzy morphology maximum and minimum opening, separately, using linear structuring element with adaptive scale and orientation. The minimization of the energy associated with the active contour model is implemented within a level set framework. As in the current local model, fitting the image to local region information makes the model robust against the inhomogeneous background. Moreover, selective local estimations for fitting that are precomputed instead of updated in each contour evolution makes the evolution of level set robust again initial location compared to the current local model. The results on synthetic image and real angiogram compared with other methods are presented. It is shown that the proposed method can achieve automatic and accurate segmentation of vascular angiogram.     

Zernike moment and local distribution fitting fuzzy energy-based active contours for image segmentation

This paper presents a new region-based active contour model for extracting the object boundaries in an image, based on techniques of curve evolution. The proposed model introduces an energy functional that involves intensity distributions in local image regions and fuzzy membership functions. The local image intensity distribution information used to guide the motion of the contour, in the paper, is derived by Hueckel operator in the neighborhood of each image point. The parameters of Hueckel operator are estimated by a set of orthogonal Zernike moments before curve evolution. Meanwhile, the fuzzy membership functions are used to measure the association degree of each image pixel to the region outside and inside the contour. To minimize the energy functional, instead of solving the Euler–Lagrange equation of the underlying problem, the paper employs a direct method to compute the energy alterations. As a result, the model can deal with images with intensity inhomogeneity. In addition, the model effectively alleviates the sensitivity to contour initialization. Moreover, the model reduces computational cost, avoids problems associated with choosing time steps as well as allows fast convergence to the segmentation solutions. Experimental results on synthetic, real images and comparisons with other models show the desired performances of the proposed model.     

Delineation of ECT images using global constraints and dynamic programming

A model-based delineation algorithm is presented. It is a flexible model fitting algorithm, approaching contour detection as an optimization problem. An objective function is introduced, which depends not only on local contour features, but also on a global shape constraint. The latter is implemented as the similarity to the instance of a parametric shape model. The algorithm optimizes both the contour points and the parameters of the model. As a result, both global and local characteristics of the contour are determined as a compromise between photometric data and prior knowledge. The method was applied to myocardial perfusion SPECT images, to delineate the entire left ventricle (endocardium and epicardium), including possible regions of reduced perfusion. By adapting the balance between the image data and the shape model, images with different characteristics can be processed, including Thallium-201 and MIBI scans.     

利用局部离散度活动轮廓模型的强度非均匀图像分割

强度非均匀现象在真实图像中普遍存在,采用常规基于强度的分割算法会导致严重的误分割。针对强度非均匀图像分割,提出了基于局部离散度的活动轮廓模型分割算法。首先定义基于类内类间距离的离散度,然后利用核函数提取局部区域信息,同时加入边缘指示函数加权的轮廓线长度项能量,建立基于局部离散度的活动轮廓模型。最后引入水平集函数惩罚项,避免水平集方法在演化求解时需要不断初始化的问题。合成图像和真实图像实验结果证明本文算法性能稳定,适应于强度非均匀图像的分割。      

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.     

A neural network-based stochastic active contour model (NNS-SNAKE)for contour finding of distinct features

Contour finding of distinct features in 2-D/3-D images is essential for image analysis and computer vision. To overcome the potential problems associated with existing contour finding algorithms, we propose a framework, called the neural network-based stochastic active contour model (NNS-SNAKE), which integrates a neural network classifier for systematic knowledge building, an active contour model (also known as the "Snake") for automated contour finding using energy functions, and the Gibbs sampler to help the snake to find the most probable contour using a stochastic decision mechanism. Successful application of the NNS-SNAKE to extraction of several types of contours on magnetic resonance (MR) images is presented.     

Localizing region-based active contours

In this paper, we propose a natural framework that allows any region-based segmentation energy to be re-formulated in a local way. We consider local rather than global image statistics and evolve a contour based on local information. Localized contours are capable of segmenting objects with heterogeneous feature profiles that would be difficult to capture correctly using a standard global method. The presented technique is versatile enough to be used with any global region-based active contour energy and instill in it the benefits of localization. We describe this framework and demonstrate the localization of three well-known energies in order to illustrate how our framework can be applied to any energy. We then compare each localized energy to its global counterpart to show the improvements that can be achieved. Next, an in-depth study of the behaviors of these energies in response to the degree of localization is given. Finally, we show results on challenging images to illustrate the robust and accurate segmentations that are possible with this new class of active contour models.     

Active contours driven by local Gaussian distribution fitting energy

This paper presents a new region-based active contour model in a variational level set formulation for image segmentation. In our model, the local image intensities are described by Gaussian distributions with different means and variances. We define a local Gaussian distribution fitting energy with a level set function and local means and variances as variables. The energy minimization is achieved by an interleaved level set evolution and estimation of local intensity means and variances in an iterative process. The means and variances of local intensities are considered as spatially varying functions to handle intensity inhomogeneities and noise of spatially varying strength (e.g. multiplicative noise). In addition, our model is able to distinguish regions with similar intensity means but different variances. This is demonstrated by applying our method on noisy and texture images in which the texture patterns of different regions can be distinguished from the local intensity variance. Comparative experiments show the advantages of the proposed method.     

An integrated region-, boundary-, shape-based active contour for multiple object overlap resolution in histological imagery

Active contours and active shape models (ASM) have been widely employed in image segmentation. A major limitation of active contours, however, is in their 1) inability to resolve boundaries of intersecting objects and to 2) handle occlusion. Multiple overlapping objects are typically segmented out as a single object. On the other hand, ASMs are limited by point correspondence issues since object landmarks need to be identified across multiple objects for initial object alignment. ASMs are also are constrained in that they can usually only segment a single object in an image. In this paper, we present a novel synergistic boundary and region-based active contour model that incorporates shape priors in a level set formulation with automated initialization based on watershed. We demonstrate an application of these synergistic active contour models using multiple level sets to segment nuclear and glandular structures on digitized histopathology images of breast and prostate biopsy specimens. Unlike previous related approaches, our model is able to resolve object overlap and separate occluded boundaries of multiple objects simultaneously. The energy functional of the active contour is comprised of three terms. The first term is the prior shape term, modeled on the object of interest, thereby constraining the deformation achievable by the active contour. The second term, a boundary-based term detects object boundaries from image gradients. The third term drives the shape prior and the contour towards the object boundary based on region statistics. The results of qualitative and quantitative evaluation on 100 prostate and 14 breast cancer histology images for the task of detecting and segmenting nuclei and lymphocytes reveals that the model easily outperforms two state of the art segmentation schemes (geodesic active contour and Rousson shape-based model) and on average is able to resolve up to 91% of overlapping/occluded structures in the images.     

Minimization of region-scalable fitting energy for image segmentation

Intensity inhomogeneities often occur in real-world images and may cause considerable difficulties in image segmentation. In order to overcome the difficulties caused by intensity inhomogeneities, we propose a region-based active contour model that draws upon intensity information in local regions at a controllable scale. A data fitting energy is defined in terms of a contour and two fitting functions that locally approximate the image intensities on the two sides of the contour. This energy is then incorporated into a variational level set formulation with a level set regularization term, from which a curve evolution equation is derived for energy minimization. Due to a kernel function in the data fitting term, intensity information in local regions is extracted to guide the motion of the contour, which thereby enables our model to cope with intensity inhomogeneity. In addition, the regularity of the level set function is intrinsically preserved by the level set regularization term to ensure accurate computation and avoids expensive reinitialization of the evolving level set function. Experimental results for synthetic and real images show desirable performances of our method.     

Automatic segmentation of thalamus from brain MRI integrating fuzzy clustering and dynamic contours

Thalamus is an important neuro-anatomic structure in the brain. In this paper, an automated method is presented to segment thalamus from magnetic resonance images (MRI). The method is based on a discrete dynamic contour model that consists of vertices and edges connecting adjacent vertices. The model starts from an initial contour and deforms by external and internal forces. Internal forces are calculated from local geometry of the model and external forces are estimated from desired image features such as edges. However, thalamus has low contrast and discontinues edges on MRI, making external force estimation a challenge. The problem is solved using a new algorithm based on fuzzy C-means (FCM) unsupervised clustering, Prewitt edge-finding filter, and morphological operators. In addition, manual definition of the initial contour for the model makes the final segmentation operator-dependent. To eliminate this dependency, new methods are developed for generating the initial contour automatically. The proposed approaches are evaluated and validated by comparing automatic and radiologist's segmentation results and illustrating their agreement.     

Automatic tracking of SPAMM grid and the estimation of deformation parameters from cardiac MR images

Presents a new approach for the automatic tracking of SPAMM (Spatial Modulation of Magnetization) grid in cardiac MR images and consequent estimation of deformation parameters. The tracking is utilized to extract grid points from MR images and to establish correspondences between grid points in images taken at consecutive frames. These correspondences are used with a thin plate spline model to establish a mapping from one image to the next. This mapping is then used for motion and deformation estimation. Spatio-temporal tracking of SPAMM grid is achieved by using snakes-active contour models with an associated energy functional. The authors present a minimizing strategy which is suitable for tracking the SPAMM grid. By continuously minimizing their energy functionals, the snakes lock on to and follow the in-slice motion and deformation of the SPAMM grid. The proposed algorithm was tested with excellent results on 123 images (three data sets each a multiple slice 2D, 16 phase Cine study, three data sets each a multiple slice 2D, 13 phase Cine study and three data sets each a multiple slice 2D, 12 phase Cine study).     

Semiautomated segmentation of myocardial contours for fast strain analysis in cine displacement-encoded MRI

The purposes of this study were to develop a semiautomated cardiac contour segmentation method for use with cine displacement-encoded MRI and evaluate its accuracy against manual segmentation. This segmentation model was designed with two distinct phases: preparation and evolution. During the model preparation phase, after manual image cropping and then image intensity standardization, the myocardium is separated from the background based on the difference in their intensity distributions, and the endo- and epi-cardial contours are initialized automatically as zeros of an underlying level set function. During the model evolution phase, the model deformation is driven by the minimization of an energy function consisting of five terms: model intensity, edge attraction, shape prior, contours interaction, and contour smoothness. The energy function is minimized iteratively by adaptively weighting the five terms in the energy function using an annealing algorithm. The validation experiments were performed on a pool of cine data sets of five volunteers. The difference between the semiautomated segmentation and manual segmentation was sufficiently small as to be considered clinically irrelevant. This relatively accurate semiautomated segmentation method can be used to significantly increase the throughput of strain analysis of cine displacement-encoded MR images for clinical applications.      

Automated optic disk boundary detection by modified active contour model

This paper presents a novel deformable-model-based algorithm for fully automated detection of optic disk boundary in fundus images. The proposed method improves and extends the original snake (deforming-only technique) in two aspects: clustering and smoothing update. The contour points are first self-separated into edge-point group or uncertain-point group by clustering after each deformation, and these contour points are then updated by different criteria based on different groups. The updating process combines both the local and global information of the contour to achieve the balance of contour stability and accuracy. The modifications make the proposed algorithm more accurate and robust to blood vessel occlusions, noises, ill-defined edges and fuzzy contour shapes. The comparative results show that the proposed method can estimate the disk boundaries of 100 test images closer to the groundtruth, as measured by mean distance to closest point (MDCP) <3 pixels, with the better success rate when compared to those obtained by gradient vector flow snake (GVF-snake) and modified active shape models (ASM).     

可变形物体的轮廓的提取

边缘信息一直被认为是计算机视觉的重要特性。因而，边缘的检测与轮廓的提取是图象分析的重要步骤。对于边缘的检测，近年来，人们的研究兴趣更多的转向了局部能量的方法，这是一种基于局部相位的方法，它的特点是通过局部能量的最大值可以同时得到不同类型的边缘。在初步得到物体边缘后，本文应用Ｍ．Ｋａｓｓ１９８７年提出的蛇行模型的方法获取物体轮廓，蛇行模型比较适合于可变形物体的轮廓的提取，如：红血球。     

基于C-V模型的红外图像自动分割方法研究

为解决红外图像分割中背景噪声及边界轮廓的影响,引入了基于曲线演化理论、水平集方法和M-S分割函数的C-V模型。通过将图像表达为分段常量函数来建立适当的能量函数模型,引入水平集的表示方法,在整个图像域中依据最小化分割寻找全局极小值,可令活动轮廓最终到达目标边缘。由MATLAB实现的仿真结果表明采用C-V模型对红外图像进行自动分割不受边界轮廓线连续性限制,对初始轮廓线位置不敏感,对图像噪声具有很强的鲁棒性,对均匀灰度目标分割效果良好。     

ON MARKOV RANDOM FIELD MODELS FOR SEGMENTATION OF NOISY IMAGES

Markov random field(MRF) models for segmentation of noisy images are discussed. According to the maximum a posteriori criterion, a configuration of an image field is regarded as an optimal estimate of the original scene when its energy is minimized. However, the minimum energy configuration does not correspond to the scene on edges of a given image, which results in errors of segmentation. Improvements of the model are made and a relaxation algorithm based on the improved model is presented using the edge information obtained by a coarse-to-fine procedure. Some examples are presented to illustrate the applicability of the algorithm to segmentation of noisy images.