1,140 research outputs found
Retinal Vessel Segmentation Using the 2-D Morlet Wavelet and Supervised Classification
We present a method for automated segmentation of the vasculature in retinal
images. The method produces segmentations by classifying each image pixel as
vessel or non-vessel, based on the pixel's feature vector. Feature vectors are
composed of the pixel's intensity and continuous two-dimensional Morlet wavelet
transform responses taken at multiple scales. The Morlet wavelet is capable of
tuning to specific frequencies, thus allowing noise filtering and vessel
enhancement in a single step. We use a Bayesian classifier with
class-conditional probability density functions (likelihoods) described as
Gaussian mixtures, yielding a fast classification, while being able to model
complex decision surfaces and compare its performance with the linear minimum
squared error classifier. The probability distributions are estimated based on
a training set of labeled pixels obtained from manual segmentations. The
method's performance is evaluated on publicly available DRIVE and STARE
databases of manually labeled non-mydriatic images. On the DRIVE database, it
achieves an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of
0.9598, being slightly superior than that presented by the method of Staal et
al.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in IEEE
Trans Med Imag; added copyright notic
Detection of curved lines with B-COSFIRE filters: A case study on crack delineation
The detection of curvilinear structures is an important step for various
computer vision applications, ranging from medical image analysis for
segmentation of blood vessels, to remote sensing for the identification of
roads and rivers, and to biometrics and robotics, among others. %The visual
system of the brain has remarkable abilities to detect curvilinear structures
in noisy images. This is a nontrivial task especially for the detection of thin
or incomplete curvilinear structures surrounded with noise. We propose a
general purpose curvilinear structure detector that uses the brain-inspired
trainable B-COSFIRE filters. It consists of four main steps, namely nonlinear
filtering with B-COSFIRE, thinning with non-maximum suppression, hysteresis
thresholding and morphological closing. We demonstrate its effectiveness on a
data set of noisy images with cracked pavements, where we achieve
state-of-the-art results (F-measure=0.865). The proposed method can be employed
in any computer vision methodology that requires the delineation of curvilinear
and elongated structures.Comment: Accepted at Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns (CAIP) 201
Combining Contrast Invariant L1 Data Fidelities with Nonlinear Spectral Image Decomposition
This paper focuses on multi-scale approaches for variational methods and
corresponding gradient flows. Recently, for convex regularization functionals
such as total variation, new theory and algorithms for nonlinear eigenvalue
problems via nonlinear spectral decompositions have been developed. Those
methods open new directions for advanced image filtering. However, for an
effective use in image segmentation and shape decomposition, a clear
interpretation of the spectral response regarding size and intensity scales is
needed but lacking in current approaches. In this context, data
fidelities are particularly helpful due to their interesting multi-scale
properties such as contrast invariance. Hence, the novelty of this work is the
combination of -based multi-scale methods with nonlinear spectral
decompositions. We compare with scale-space methods in view of
spectral image representation and decomposition. We show that the contrast
invariant multi-scale behavior of promotes sparsity in the spectral
response providing more informative decompositions. We provide a numerical
method and analyze synthetic and biomedical images at which decomposition leads
to improved segmentation.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, conference SSVM 201
Empirical Study of Vessel Extraction Algorithms
Medical imaging is a technique for creating an image of the human body in order to diagnose various diseases such as stenosis, aneurysm, arterial venous malformation, thrombus, plaque and internal bleeding. Blood vessel segmentation is critical in the diagnosis of a variety of diseases. Blood vessels that are segmented give much useful information about their anatomy and location. They are important in a variety of medical applications, including diagnostic, surgical therapy, and radiation treatments. A significant amount of research has gone into vessel segmentation, and a variety of techniques has emerged as a result. In addition, there are different segmentation techniques such as active contour segmentation technique, hybrid segmentation technique, thresholding segmentation techniques, watershed segmentation techniques, edge detection segmentation technique, etc. It is also observed that magnetic resonance images of blood vessels were exposed to noise due to selection and inappropriate techniques such poor performance invisibility. In other words, there is no single approach to follow for a perfect outcome of images. There are some of the methods that use gray-level histograms, while there are others that integrate spatial image information, and this causes noisy outcomes. Therefore, we build the medical imaging vessel visualization system using MATLAB as tool. In this study, we empirically investigate the visibility performance vessel extraction algorithm. We implement following vessel extraction algorithms: active contour algorithm and edge detection algorithm. We observed that edge detection algorithm (SOBEL) is the better in term of image clarity as compared to active contour and edge detection algorithm. This project enable IS department to do more advanced level research in medical imaging
Study of Image Local Scale Structure Using Nonlinear Diffusion
Multi-scale representation and local scale extraction of images are important in computer vision research, as in general , structures within images are unknown. Traditionally, the multi-scale analysis is based on the linear diusion (i.e. heat diusion) with known limitation in edge distortions. In addition, the term scale which is used
widely in multi-scale and local scale analysis does not have a consistent denition and it can pose potential diculties in real image analysis, especially for the proper interpretation of scale as a geometric measure. In this study, in order to overcome
limitations of linear diusion, we focus on the multi-scale analysis based on total variation minimization model. This model has been used in image denoising with the power that it can preserve edge structures. Based on the total variation model, we construct the multi-scale space and propose a denition for image local scale. The
new denition of local scale incorporates both pixel-wise and orientation information.
This denition can be interpreted with a clear geometrical meaning and applied in general image analysis. The potential applications of total variation model in retinal fundus image analysis is explored. The existence of blood vessel and drusen structures within a single fundus image makes the image analysis a challenging problem.
A multi-scale model based on total variation is used, showing the capabilities in both drusen and blood vessel detections. The performance of vessel detection is compared with publicly available methods, showing the improvements both quantitatively and
qualitatively. This study provides a better insight into local scale study and shows the potentials of total variation model in medical image analysis
Network-based features for retinal fundus vessel structure analysis
Retinal fundus imaging is a non-invasive method that allows visualizing the structure of the blood vessels in the retina whose features may indicate the presence of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and glaucoma. Here we present a novel method to analyze and quantify changes in the retinal blood vessel structure in patients diagnosed with glaucoma or with DR. First, we use an automatic unsupervised segmentation algorithm to extract a tree-like graph from the retina blood vessel structure. The nodes of the graph represent branching (bifurcation) points and endpoints, while the links represent vessel segments that connect the nodes. Then, we quantify structural differences between the graphs extracted from the groups of healthy and non-healthy patients. We also use fractal analysis to characterize the extracted graphs. Applying these techniques to three retina fundus image databases we find significant differences between the healthy and non-healthy groups (p-values lower than 0.005 or 0.001 depending on the method and on the database). The results are sensitive to the segmentation method (manual or automatic) and to the resolution of the images.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Near-Infrared Forearm Vascular Width Calculation Using Radius Estimation of Tangent Circle
Peer reviewe
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