16 research outputs found
Extraction of Airways with Probabilistic State-space Models and Bayesian Smoothing
Segmenting tree structures is common in several image processing
applications. In medical image analysis, reliable segmentations of airways,
vessels, neurons and other tree structures can enable important clinical
applications. We present a framework for tracking tree structures comprising of
elongated branches using probabilistic state-space models and Bayesian
smoothing. Unlike most existing methods that proceed with sequential tracking
of branches, we present an exploratory method, that is less sensitive to local
anomalies in the data due to acquisition noise and/or interfering structures.
The evolution of individual branches is modelled using a process model and the
observed data is incorporated into the update step of the Bayesian smoother
using a measurement model that is based on a multi-scale blob detector.
Bayesian smoothing is performed using the RTS (Rauch-Tung-Striebel) smoother,
which provides Gaussian density estimates of branch states at each tracking
step. We select likely branch seed points automatically based on the response
of the blob detection and track from all such seed points using the RTS
smoother. We use covariance of the marginal posterior density estimated for
each branch to discriminate false positive and true positive branches. The
method is evaluated on 3D chest CT scans to track airways. We show that the
presented method results in additional branches compared to a baseline method
based on region growing on probability images.Comment: 10 pages. Pre-print of the paper accepted at Workshop on Graphs in
Biomedical Image Analysis. MICCAI 2017. Quebec Cit
Extraction of Airways using Graph Neural Networks
We present extraction of tree structures, such as airways, from image data as
a graph refinement task. To this end, we propose a graph auto-encoder model
that uses an encoder based on graph neural networks (GNNs) to learn embeddings
from input node features and a decoder to predict connections between nodes.
Performance of the GNN model is compared with mean-field networks in their
ability to extract airways from 3D chest CT scans.Comment: Extended Abstract submitted to MIDL, 2018. 3 page
Extracting Tree-structures in CT data by Tracking Multiple Statistically Ranked Hypotheses
In this work, we adapt a method based on multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT)
that has been shown to give state-of-the-art vessel segmentation results in
interactive settings, for the purpose of extracting trees. Regularly spaced
tubular templates are fit to image data forming local hypotheses. These local
hypotheses are used to construct the MHT tree, which is then traversed to make
segmentation decisions. However, some critical parameters in this method are
scale-dependent and have an adverse effect when tracking structures of varying
dimensions. We propose to use statistical ranking of local hypotheses in
constructing the MHT tree, which yields a probabilistic interpretation of
scores across scales and helps alleviate the scale-dependence of MHT
parameters. This enables our method to track trees starting from a single seed
point. Our method is evaluated on chest CT data to extract airway trees and
coronary arteries. In both cases, we show that our method performs
significantly better than the original MHT method.Comment: Accepted for publication at the International Journal of Medical
Physics and Practic
Mean Field Network based Graph Refinement with application to Airway Tree Extraction
We present tree extraction in 3D images as a graph refinement task, of
obtaining a subgraph from an over-complete input graph. To this end, we
formulate an approximate Bayesian inference framework on undirected graphs
using mean field approximation (MFA). Mean field networks are used for
inference based on the interpretation that iterations of MFA can be seen as
feed-forward operations in a neural network. This allows us to learn the model
parameters from training data using back-propagation algorithm. We demonstrate
usefulness of the model to extract airway trees from 3D chest CT data. We first
obtain probability images using a voxel classifier that distinguishes airways
from background and use Bayesian smoothing to model individual airway branches.
This yields us joint Gaussian density estimates of position, orientation and
scale as node features of the input graph. Performance of the method is
compared with two methods: the first uses probability images from a trained
voxel classifier with region growing, which is similar to one of the best
performing methods at EXACT'09 airway challenge, and the second method is based
on Bayesian smoothing on these probability images. Using centerline distance as
error measure the presented method shows significant improvement compared to
these two methods.Comment: 10 pages. Preprin
Graph Refinement based Airway Extraction using Mean-Field Networks and Graph Neural Networks
Graph refinement, or the task of obtaining subgraphs of interest from
over-complete graphs, can have many varied applications. In this work, we
extract trees or collection of sub-trees from image data by, first deriving a
graph-based representation of the volumetric data and then, posing the tree
extraction as a graph refinement task. We present two methods to perform graph
refinement. First, we use mean-field approximation (MFA) to approximate the
posterior density over the subgraphs from which the optimal subgraph of
interest can be estimated. Mean field networks (MFNs) are used for inference
based on the interpretation that iterations of MFA can be seen as feed-forward
operations in a neural network. This allows us to learn the model parameters
using gradient descent. Second, we present a supervised learning approach using
graph neural networks (GNNs) which can be seen as generalisations of MFNs.
Subgraphs are obtained by training a GNN-based graph refinement model to
directly predict edge probabilities. We discuss connections between the two
classes of methods and compare them for the task of extracting airways from 3D,
low-dose, chest CT data. We show that both the MFN and GNN models show
significant improvement when compared to one baseline method, that is similar
to a top performing method in the EXACT'09 Challenge, and a 3D U-Net based
airway segmentation model, in detecting more branches with fewer false
positives.Comment: Accepted for publication at Medical Image Analysis. 14 page
Optimal graph based segmentation using flow lines with application to airway wall segmentation
This paper introduces a novel optimal graph construction method that is applicable to multi-dimensional, multi-surface segmentation problems. Such problems are often solved by refining an initial coarse surface within the space given by graph columns. Conventional columns are not well suited for surfaces with high curvature or complex shapes but the proposed columns, based on properly generated flow lines, which are non-intersecting, guarantee solutions that do not self-intersect and are better able to handle such surfaces. The method is applied to segment human airway walls in computed tomography images. Comparison with manual annotations on 649 cross-sectional images from 15 different subjects shows significantly smaller contour distances and larger area of overlap than are obtained with recently published graph based methods. Airway abnormality measurements obtained with the method on 480 scan pairs from a lung cancer screening trial are reproducible and correlate significantly with lung function