基于方向气球力活动轮廓模型的图像分割

针对传统参数活动轮廓模型存在对轮廓线初始位置敏感的缺点,提出了方向气球力活动轮廓模型并应用于MRI图像分割。该模型利用底层图像分割的结果确定外力的方向,使气球力方向始终指向目标边界,引导轮廓线变形。当轮廓线运动到目标边界附近时,在高斯势力作用下继续变形,完成图像高层分割。实验结果表明,该模型与轮廓线初始位置无关,能实现MRI图像的自动分割。     

一种心脏核磁共振图像左室壁内、外膜分割方法

为了充分利用心脏核磁共振图像(magnetic resonance image,简称MRI)中关于左心室的解剖和功能信息,必须先分割左室壁内、外膜.提出一种基于Snake模型的左室壁内、外膜分割方法.首先提出了Snake模型的卷积虚拟静电场外力模型CONVEF(convolutional virtual electric field),该外力场捕捉范围大、抗噪能力强、在C形凹陷区域等问题上性能突出,而且基于卷积运算,采用快速Fourier变换可以实时计算.就左室壁内膜的分割而言,考虑到左室壁的形状近似为圆形,引入基于圆形约束的能量项.对于左室壁外膜的分割,充分挖掘了左室壁内、外膜形状上的相似性和位置上的相关性,构造了形状相似性内能和一个新的边缘图,该边缘图用来计算新的外力场.基于所有这些策略并采用内膜的分割结果初始化,可以自动、准确地分割外膜.通过对一套活体心脏MR(magnetic resonance)图像进行分割并和手工分割结果和GGVF(generalized gradient vector flow) Snake模型的分割结果进行比较,结果表明该方法是有效的.     

WaterBalloons: A hybrid watershed Balloon Snake segmentation

In this paper, a new image segmentation technique called WaterBalloons is introduced. It combines both watershed segmentation and the active contour model known as Balloon Snake. The watershed transform has a major problem of over-segmentation. Solutions like region merging, use of markers, use of multi-scales have been proposed. These approaches led to other problems such as under-segmentation. The Balloon Snake in an innovative approach that detects salient objects in an image. But in general snakes are very sensitive to initialization and need user interactions and a priori knowledge of objects to segment. WaterBalloons provide the advantage of reducing watershed over-segmentation problems while preventing under-segmentation and ensure automatic initialization of traditional snakes. In addition, a method for parameter optimization of the proposed hybrid snake is introduced based on energy transitions tracking.     

Segmentation of the left ventricle in cardiac cine MRI using a shape-constrained snake model

Segmentation of the left ventricle (LV) is a hot topic in cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images analysis. In this paper, we present an automatic LV myocardial boundary segmentation method using the parametric active contour model (or snake model). By convolving the gradient map of an image, a fast external force named gradient vector convolution (GVC) is presented for the snake model. A circle-based energy is incorporated into the GVC snake model to extract the endocardium. With this prior constraint, the snake contour can conquer the unexpected local minimum stemming from artifacts and papillary muscle, etc. After the endocardium is detected, the original edge map around and within the endocardium is directly set to zero. This modified edge map is used to generate a new GVC force filed, which automatically pushes the snake contour directly to the epicardium by employing the endocardium result as initialization. Meanwhile, a novel shape-similarity based energy is proposed to prevent the snake contour from being strapped in faulty edges and to preserve weak boundaries. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluations on our dataset and the publicly available database (e.g. MICCAI 2009) demonstrate the good performance of our algorithm.     

Phase portrait analysis for automatic initialization of multiple snakes for segmentation of the ultrasound images of breast cancer

Segmentation of ultrasound (US) images of breast cancer is one of the most challenging problems of modern medical image processing. A number of popular codes for US segmentation are based on the active contours (snakes) and on a variety of modifications of gradient vector flow. The snakes have been used to locate objects in various applications of medical images. However, the main difficulty in applying the method is initialization. Therefore, we suggest a new method for automatic initialization of active contours based on phase portrait analysis (PPA) of the underlying vector field and a sequential initialization of trial multiple snakes. The PPA makes it possible to exclude the noise and artifacts and properly initialize the multiple snakes. In turn, the trial snakes allow us to differentiate between the seeds initialized inside and outside the desired object. While preceding methods require the manual selection of at least one seed point inside the object or rely on the particular distribution of the gray levels, the proposed method is fully automatic and robust to the noise, as can be seen from the tests with synthetic and real images.     

Isophotes Selection and Reaction-Diffusion Model for Object Boundaries Estimation

This paper investigates generic region-based segmentation schemes using area-minimization constraint and background modeling, and develops a computationally efficient framework based on level lines selection coupled with biased anisotropic diffusion. A common approach to image segmentation is to construct a cost function whose minima yield the segmented image. This is generally achieved by competition of two terms in the cost function, one that punishes deviations from the original image and another that acts as a regularization term. We propose a variational framework for characterizing global minimizers of a particular segmentation energy that can generates irregular object boundaries in image segmentation. Our motivation comes from the observation that energy functionals are traditionally complex, for which it is usually difficult to precise global minimizers corresponding to best segmentations. In this paper, we prove that the set of curves that minimizes the basic energy model under concern is a subset of level lines or isophotes, i.e. the boundaries of image level sets. The connections of our approach with region-growing techniques, snakes and geodesic active contours are also discussed. Moreover, it is absolutely necessary to regularize isophotes delimiting object boundaries and to determine piecewise smooth or constant approximations of the image data inside the objects boundaries for vizualization and pattern recognition purposes. Thus, we have constructed a reaction-diffusion process based on the Perona-Malik anisotropic diffusion equation. In particular, a reaction term has been added to force the solution to remain close to the data inside object boundaries and to be constant in non-informative regions, that is the background region. In the overall approach, diffusion requires the design of the background and foreground regions obtained by segmentation, and segmentation of the adaptively smoothed image is performed after each iteration of the diffusion process. From an application point of view, the sound initialization-free algorithm is shown to perform well in a variety of imaging contexts with variable texture, noise and lighting conditions, including optical imaging, medical imaging and meteorological imaging. Depending on the context, it yields either a reliable segmentation or a good pre-segmentation that can be used as initialization for more sophisticated, application-dependent segmentation models.     

基于块运动矢量加权的Snakes模型及在序列图像分割中的应用

经典的Snakes模型具有开放的、统一的架构，在此基础上，为了分割复杂背景的序列图像，产生了各种改进的Snakes模型，但都存在着不足：计算量大、需要先验知识、易受光流计算精度影响等。针对这些缺点，提出了块运动矢量加权的Snakes模型，可以用于复杂背景序列图像的分割。这种模型以图像中的边缘信息为分割的最终依据，结合块运动估计的结果，增强了序列图像分割的鲁棒性。根据运动场估计的结果在该模型中所起的作用，提出了边缘优先的块运动估计算法，大大减少了计算量。用块运动矢量加权的Snakes模型分割复杂背景序列图像，取得了好的分割结果。     

基于改进的snake模型的嘴唇轮廓提取

为了更好地利用snake模型来提取彩色图像中的物体轮廓,提出一种改进的snake算法。此方法首先自动生成snake的初始模型,然后在GVF-snake的基础上重新设计了snake的外部能量函数,采用色彩聚类算法对原始图像进行分割,利用像素到聚类中心的距离增强图像并进行差分运算,提取有意义区域的边缘梯度,对GVF向量场进行了归一化处理并改进了平滑因子。实验结果证明,改进后的算法,特别是在处理彩色图像时,大大优于原始方法,提高了轮廓提取的精度且有较好的鲁棒性。     

Ziplock Snakes

We propose a snake-based approach that allows a user to specify only the distant end points of the curve he wishes to delineate without having to supply an almost complete polygonal approximation. This greatly simplifies the initialization process and yields excellent convergence properties. This is achieved by using the image information around the end points to provide boundary conditions and by introducing an optimization schedule that allows a snake to take image information into account first only near its extremities and then, progressively, toward its center. In effect, the snakes are clamped onto the image contour in a manner reminiscent of a ziplock being closed.These snakes can be used to alleviate the often repetitive task practitioners face when segmenting images by eliminating the need to sketch a feature of interest in its entirety, that is, to perform a painstaking, almost complete, manual segmentation.     

Statistical region snake-based segmentation adapted to differentphysical noise models

Algorithms for object segmentation are crucial in many image processing applications. During past years, active contour models (snakes) have been widely used for finding the contours of objects. This segmentation strategy is classically edge-based in the sense that the snake is driven to fit the maximum of an edge map of the scene. We propose a region snake approach and we determine fast algorithms for the segmentation of an object in an image. The algorithms developed in a maximum likelihood approach are based on the calculation of the statistics of the inner and the outer regions (defined by the snake). It has thus been possible to develop optimal algorithms adapted to the random fields which describe the gray levels in the input image if we assume that their probability density function family are known. We demonstrate that this approach is still efficient when no boundary's edge exists in the image. We also show that one can obtain fast algorithms by transforming the summations over a region, for the calculation of the statistics, into summations along the boundary of the region. Finally, we will provide numerical simulation results for different physical situations in order to illustrate the efficiency of this approach     

Automatic initialization of active contours in ultrasound images of breast cancer

Gradient vector flow (GVF) snakes are an efficient method for segmentation of ultrasound images of breast cancer. However, the method produces inaccurate results if the seeds are initialized improperly (far from the true boundaries and close to the false boundaries). Therefore, we propose a novel initialization method designed for GVF-type snakes based on walking particles. At the first step, the algorithm locates the seeds at converging and diverging configurations of the vector field. At the second step, the seeds “explode,” generating a set of random walking particles designed to differentiate between the seeds located inside and outside the object. The method has been tested against five state-of-the-art initialization methods on sixty ultrasound images from a database collected by Thammasat University Hospital of Thailand (http://onlinemedicalimages.com). The ground truth was hand-drawn by leading radiologists of the hospital. The competing methods were: trial snake method (TS), centers of divergence method (CoD), force field segmentation (FFS), Poisson Inverse Gradient Vector Flow (PIG), and quasi-automated initialization (QAI). The numerical tests demonstrated that CoD and FFS failed on the selected test images, whereas the average accuracy of PIG and QAI was 73 and 87%, respectively, versus 97% achieved by the proposed method. Finally, TS has shown a comparable accuracy of about 93%; however, the method is about ten times slower than the proposed exploding seeds. A video demonstration of the algorithm is at http://onlinemedicalimages.com/index.php/en/presentations.     

Generalized sparse MRF appearance models

Image segmentation or registration approaches that rely on a local search paradigm (e.g, Active Appearance Models, Active Contours) require an initialization that provides for considerable overlap or a coarse localization of the object to be segmented or localized. In this paper we propose an approach that does not need such an initialization, but localizes anatomical structures in a global manner by formulating the localization task as the solution of a Markov Random Field (MRF).     

基于改进的GVF模型的CT图像分割方法

活动轮廓模型被广泛应用于医学图像分割之中．文中针对CT图像的分割方法进行了探讨，提出了一种基于GVF模型的改进的活动轮廓分割法。改进方法采用轮廓中心法及引入一作用力的方法，克服了GVF模型不能处理深度凹陷区域的问题．实验结果表明，改进后的分割方法较原Snake模型及GVF模型的效果更好．     

A snake for model-based segmentation of biomedical images

In this work we present a snake based approach for the segmentation of images of computerized tomography (CT) scans. We introduce a new term for the internal energy and another one for external energy which solve common problems associated with classical snakes in this type of images. A simplified minimizing method is also presented.     

基于snake模型的IVUS图像序列三维分割方法

针对血管内超声（Intravascular Ultrasound,IVUS）图像序列中血管壁内外膜轮廓的提取问题,提出一种基于snake模型的三维并行分割方法。首先,对原始图像进行滤除噪声和抑制环晕伪像等预处理。然后,获取IVUS图像序列的四个纵向视图,并从中提取出内腔边界和中-外膜边界。通过将这些边界曲线映射到各帧IVUS图像中,得到横向视图中的初始轮廓。最后,将该初始轮廓作为snake模型的初始形状,通过使snake能量函数最小,模型不断变形,最终得到各帧IVUS图像中的内腔和中-外膜边界。该方法可实现对IVUS图像序列的并行分割,与二维串行分割方法相比,可大大提高处理效率。采用大量临床图像数据的实验结果证明该方法可自动、快速、可靠的完成IVUS图像序列的分割。     

A snake for model-based segmentation of biomedical images

In this work we present a snake based approach for the segmentation of images of computerized tomography (CT) scans. We introduce a new term for the internal energy and another one for external energy which solve common problems associated with classical snakes in this type of images. A simplified minimizing method is also presented.     

基于运动估计的交互式医学图像序列分割

针对医学图像难以自动分割,而医学图像序列采用手工分割时工作量巨大、效率低的问题,提出了一种新的交互式图像序列分割方法.在计算机的辅助下,用手工精确地描画出第一幅图像中对象的边界轮廓.后续图像的分割曲线用运动估计的方法自动得到.每完成一幅图像的分割用户都可以检查分割效果,如果不满意则可用手工修正.这个过程重复进行,直到整个图像序列分割完毕.实验结果表明,该方法能精确、快速地实现医学图像序列的分割.     

Template-driven segmentation of confocal microscopy images

High quality 3D visualization of anatomic structures is necessary for many applications. The anatomic structures first need to be segmented. A variety of segmentation algorithms have been developed for this purpose. For confocal microscopy images, the noise introduced during the specimen preparation process, such as the procedure of penetration or staining, may cause images to be of low contrast in some regions. This property will make segmentation difficult. Also, the segmented structures may have rugged surfaces in 3D visualization. In this paper, we present a hybrid method that is suitable for segmentation of confocal microscopy images. A rough segmentation result is obtained from the atlas-based segmentation via affine registration. The boundaries of the segmentation result are close to the object boundaries, and are regarded as the initial contours of the active contour models. After convergence of the snake algorithm, the resulting contours in regions of low contrast are locally refined by parametric bicubic surfaces to alleviate the problem of incorrect convergence. The proposed method increases the accuracy of the snake algorithm because of better initial contours. Besides, it can provide smoother segmented results in 3D visualization.     

一种新的心脏核磁共振图像分割方法

心脏核磁共振图像分割一直是医学影像分析领域的研究热点和难点,文中提出了一种基于梯度矢量流Snake模型的左心室分割方法.作为对梯度矢量流(GVF)的改进,提出了退化最小曲面梯度矢量流(dmsGVF).该模型对弱边界泄漏有更好的鲁棒性;挖掘了左心室的形状特点,采用相应的形状约束,克服了由于图像灰度不均而导致的局部极小,也大大减弱了分割结果对初始轮廓的依赖;对于左室壁外膜的分割,挖掘了左室壁内、外膜的位置关系,通过重新组合梯度分量来构造新的外力场.这种外力场能够克服原始梯度矢量流的不足,使得室壁外膜边缘很弱时也能得到保持,以左室壁内膜分割结果作为初始化能够自动地分割出左室壁外膜.实验结果表明,该方法能高效准确地同时分割左室壁内、外膜.     

Optimizing Object Decomposition to Reduce Visual Artifacts in 3D Printing

We propose a method for the automatic segmentation of 3D objects into parts which can be individually 3D printed and then reassembled by preserving the visual quality of the final object. Our technique focuses on minimizing the surface affected by supports, decomposing the object into multiple parts whose printing orientation is automatically chosen. The segmentation reduces the visual impact on the fabricated model producing non-planar cuts that adapt to the object shape. This is performed by solving an optimization problem that balances the effects of supports and cuts, while trying to place both in occluded regions of the object surface. To assess the practical impact of the solution, we show a number of segmented, 3D printed and reassembled objects.