Automatic Segmentation of the Prostate in MR Images using Image Intensity and Gradient Information

영상의 밝기값과 기울기 정보를 이용한 MR영상에서 전립선 자동분할

  • 장유진 (서울여자대학교 컴퓨터학과) ;
  • 조현희 (서울여자대학교 컴퓨터학과) ;
  • 홍헬렌 (서울여자대학교 미디어학부)
  • Published : 2009.09.15

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an automatic prostate segmentation technique using image intensity and gradient information. Our method is composed of four steps. First, rays at regular intervals are generated. To minimize the effect of noise, the start and end positions of the ray are calculated. Second, the profiles on each ray are sorted based on the gradient. And priorities are applied to the sorted gradient in the profile. Third, boundary points are extracted by using gradient priority and intensity distribution. Finally, to reduce the error, the extracted boundary points are corrected by using B-spline interpolation. For accuracy evaluation, the average distance differences and overlapping region ratio between results of manual and automatic segmentations are calculated. As the experimental results, the average distance difference error and standard deviation were 1.09mm $\pm0.20mm$. And the overlapping region ratio was 92%.

본 논문에서는 기울기와 밝기값 분포 정보를 고려하여 전립선 객체를 분할하는 방법을 제안한다. 제안방법은 네 단계로 이루어진다. 첫째, 일정 간격으로 방사선을 생성한다. 이 때, 방사선의 시작 위치와 길이를 산정함으로써 잡음의 영향을 최소화 한다. 둘째, 방사선에서 얻은 프로파일을 기울기 기준으로 경계점 후보들을 정렬하고 정렬 된 순서에 따라 우선순위를 부여한다. 셋째, 기울기 우선순위와 자기값 분포를 사용하여 경계점을 추출한다. 마지막으로 경계점 추출 오류를 줄이기 위하여 추출된 경계점을 B-스플라인 보간으로 보정한다. 정확성 평가를 위하여 전문가가 수동 분할한 결과와 본 제안방법을 적용하여 얻은 결과간 평균거리차이 측정과 중복지역비율 측정을 수행한다. 실험결과 평균거리차이는 1.09mm, 표준편차는 $\pm0.20mm$로 측정되었고, 중복지역비율은 92%로 측정되었다.

Keywords

References

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