Bone segmentation using multiple communicating snakes

Lucia Ballerini; Leonardo Bocchi

doi:10.1117/12.481370

15 May 2003 Bone segmentation using multiple communicating snakes

Lucia Ballerini, Leonardo Bocchi

Proceedings Volume 5032, Medical Imaging 2003: Image Processing; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.481370
Event: Medical Imaging 2003, 2003, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Skeletal age assessment is a frequently performed procedure which requires high expertise and a considerable amount of time. Several methods are being developed to assist radiologists in this task by automating the various steps of the process. In this work we describe a method to perform the segmentation step, by means of a modified active contour approach. A set of separate active contours models each bone in a portion of the radiogram. Due to the complexity of the contour, and to the presence of multiple adjacent contours, we add to the commonly used energy termas a first-order derivative energy which allow to take into account the direction of the contour. Moreover, anatomical relationships among bones are modeled as additional internal elastic forces which couple together the contours. Contour energy is optimized using a genetic algorithm. Chromosomes are used to encode positions of snake points, using a polar representation. The genetic optimization overcomes the difficulties related to local minima and to the initialization criterium, and conveniently allows the addition of new energy terms. Experimental results show the method allows to achieve an accurate segmentation of the bone complexes in the region of interest.

Citation Download Citation

Lucia Ballerini and Leonardo Bocchi "Bone segmentation using multiple communicating snakes", Proc. SPIE 5032, Medical Imaging 2003: Image Processing, (15 May 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.481370

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available