2,765 research outputs found
Multi-Atlas Segmentation using Partially Annotated Data: Methods and Annotation Strategies
Multi-atlas segmentation is a widely used tool in medical image analysis,
providing robust and accurate results by learning from annotated atlas
datasets. However, the availability of fully annotated atlas images for
training is limited due to the time required for the labelling task.
Segmentation methods requiring only a proportion of each atlas image to be
labelled could therefore reduce the workload on expert raters tasked with
annotating atlas images. To address this issue, we first re-examine the
labelling problem common in many existing approaches and formulate its solution
in terms of a Markov Random Field energy minimisation problem on a graph
connecting atlases and the target image. This provides a unifying framework for
multi-atlas segmentation. We then show how modifications in the graph
configuration of the proposed framework enable the use of partially annotated
atlas images and investigate different partial annotation strategies. The
proposed method was evaluated on two Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) datasets
for hippocampal and cardiac segmentation. Experiments were performed aimed at
(1) recreating existing segmentation techniques with the proposed framework and
(2) demonstrating the potential of employing sparsely annotated atlas data for
multi-atlas segmentation
Automatic 3D bi-ventricular segmentation of cardiac images by a shape-refined multi-task deep learning approach
Deep learning approaches have achieved state-of-the-art performance in
cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) image segmentation. However, most approaches
have focused on learning image intensity features for segmentation, whereas the
incorporation of anatomical shape priors has received less attention. In this
paper, we combine a multi-task deep learning approach with atlas propagation to
develop a shape-constrained bi-ventricular segmentation pipeline for short-axis
CMR volumetric images. The pipeline first employs a fully convolutional network
(FCN) that learns segmentation and landmark localisation tasks simultaneously.
The architecture of the proposed FCN uses a 2.5D representation, thus combining
the computational advantage of 2D FCNs networks and the capability of
addressing 3D spatial consistency without compromising segmentation accuracy.
Moreover, the refinement step is designed to explicitly enforce a shape
constraint and improve segmentation quality. This step is effective for
overcoming image artefacts (e.g. due to different breath-hold positions and
large slice thickness), which preclude the creation of anatomically meaningful
3D cardiac shapes. The proposed pipeline is fully automated, due to network's
ability to infer landmarks, which are then used downstream in the pipeline to
initialise atlas propagation. We validate the pipeline on 1831 healthy subjects
and 649 subjects with pulmonary hypertension. Extensive numerical experiments
on the two datasets demonstrate that our proposed method is robust and capable
of producing accurate, high-resolution and anatomically smooth bi-ventricular
3D models, despite the artefacts in input CMR volumes
Multiatlas-Based Segmentation Editing With Interaction-Guided Patch Selection and Label Fusion
We propose a novel multi-atlas based segmentation method to address the segmentation editing scenario, where an incomplete segmentation is given along with a set of existing reference label images (used as atlases). Unlike previous multi-atlas based methods, which depend solely on appearance features, we incorporate interaction-guided constraints to find appropriate atlas label patches in the reference label set and derive their weights for label fusion. Specifically, user interactions provided on the erroneous parts are first divided into multiple local combinations. For each combination, the atlas label patches well-matched with both interactions and the previous segmentation are identified. Then, the segmentation is updated through the voxel-wise label fusion of selected atlas label patches with their weights derived from the distances of each underlying voxel to the interactions. Since the atlas label patches well-matched with different local combinations are used in the fusion step, our method can consider various local shape variations during the segmentation update, even with only limited atlas label images and user interactions. Besides, since our method does not depend on either image appearance or sophisticated learning steps, it can be easily applied to general editing problems. To demonstrate the generality of our method, we apply it to editing segmentations of CT prostate, CT brainstem, and MR hippocampus, respectively. Experimental results show that our method outperforms existing editing methods in all three data sets
Bayesian Spatial Binary Regression for Label Fusion in Structural Neuroimaging
Many analyses of neuroimaging data involve studying one or more regions of
interest (ROIs) in a brain image. In order to do so, each ROI must first be
identified. Since every brain is unique, the location, size, and shape of each
ROI varies across subjects. Thus, each ROI in a brain image must either be
manually identified or (semi-) automatically delineated, a task referred to as
segmentation. Automatic segmentation often involves mapping a previously
manually segmented image to a new brain image and propagating the labels to
obtain an estimate of where each ROI is located in the new image. A more recent
approach to this problem is to propagate labels from multiple manually
segmented atlases and combine the results using a process known as label
fusion. To date, most label fusion algorithms either employ voting procedures
or impose prior structure and subsequently find the maximum a posteriori
estimator (i.e., the posterior mode) through optimization. We propose using a
fully Bayesian spatial regression model for label fusion that facilitates
direct incorporation of covariate information while making accessible the
entire posterior distribution. We discuss the implementation of our model via
Markov chain Monte Carlo and illustrate the procedure through both simulation
and application to segmentation of the hippocampus, an anatomical structure
known to be associated with Alzheimer's disease.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure
Atlas-Based Prostate Segmentation Using an Hybrid Registration
Purpose: This paper presents the preliminary results of a semi-automatic
method for prostate segmentation of Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) which aims
to be incorporated in a navigation system for prostate brachytherapy. Methods:
The method is based on the registration of an anatomical atlas computed from a
population of 18 MRI exams onto a patient image. An hybrid registration
framework which couples an intensity-based registration with a robust
point-matching algorithm is used for both atlas building and atlas
registration. Results: The method has been validated on the same dataset that
the one used to construct the atlas using the "leave-one-out method". Results
gives a mean error of 3.39 mm and a standard deviation of 1.95 mm with respect
to expert segmentations. Conclusions: We think that this segmentation tool may
be a very valuable help to the clinician for routine quantitative image
exploitation.Comment: International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery
(2008) 000-99
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