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Analysis of Scalar Maps for the Segmentation of the Corpus Callosum in Diffusion Tensor Fields

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Abstract

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a powerful technique for imaging axonal anatomy in vivo and its automatic segmentation is important for quantitative analysis and visualization. Application of the watershed transform is a recent approach for robustly segmenting diffusion tensor images. Since an important step of the watershed-based segmentation is the gradient computation, this paper investigates scalar maps from DTI and their ability to enhance borders and, therefore, their usefulness in gradient calculation. A comparison between existing scalar maps is conducted in the context of segmentation. New diffusion scalar maps, inspired by mathematical morphology concepts are proposed and included in the comparison. The watershed transform is then applied to segment the corpus callosum, based on the computed scalar maps.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Federal Agency of Support and Evaluation of Postgraduate Education (CAPES), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Campinas, 13083-852, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Leticia Rittner, Pedro F. Freitas & Roberto A. Lotufo

  2. Department of Rheumatology, University of Campinas, 13083-887, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Simone Appenzeller

  3. McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, H3A 2B4, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jennifer S. W. Campbell & G. Bruce Pike

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  1. Leticia Rittner
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  2. Jennifer S. W. Campbell
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  6. Roberto A. Lotufo
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Correspondence to Leticia Rittner.

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Rittner, L., Campbell, J.S.W., Freitas, P.F. et al. Analysis of Scalar Maps for the Segmentation of the Corpus Callosum in Diffusion Tensor Fields. J Math Imaging Vis 45, 214–226 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10851-012-0377-4

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