Object class uncertainty induced snake with applications to medical image segmentation

Bipul Das; Punam K. Saha; Felix W. Wehrli

doi:10.1117/12.535547

12 May 2004 Object class uncertainty induced snake with applications to medical image segmentation

Bipul Das, Punam K. Saha, Felix W. Wehrli

Proceedings Volume 5370, Medical Imaging 2004: Image Processing; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.535547
Event: Medical Imaging 2004, 2004, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Object segmentation is of paramount interest in many medical imaging applications. Among others, "snake"-an "active contour"-is a popular boundary-based segmentation framework where a spline is continuously deformed to lock onto an object boundary. The dynamics of a snake is governed by different internal and external forces. A major limitation of this framework has been the difficulty in using object-intensity driven features into snake dynamics which may prevent uncontrolled expansion/contraction once the snake leaks through a weak boundary region. In this paper, object-intensity force is effectively introduced into the snake-model using class uncertainty theory. Given a priori knowledge of object/background intensity distributions, class uncertainty yields object/background class of any location and establishes the confidence level of the classification. This confidence level has previously been demonstrated to be high inside the object/background regions and low near boundaries with intermediate intensities. This class uncertainty information adds an expanding (outward) force at locations pertaining to intensity-based object class and a squeezing (inward) force inside background regions. Consequently, the method possesses potential to resist an uncontrolled expansion of the snake (for an expanding type) into the background through a weak boundary while reducing the effect of this force near the boundary using the confidence information. The theory of object class uncertainty induced snake is developed and an implementation with efficient graphical interface is achieved. Preliminary results of application of the proposed snake approach on different images are presented and comparisons with conventional snake approaches are demonstrated.

Citation Download Citation

Bipul Das, Punam K. Saha, and Felix W. Wehrli "Object class uncertainty induced snake with applications to medical image segmentation", Proc. SPIE 5370, Medical Imaging 2004: Image Processing, (12 May 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.535547

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