Bayesian Transductive Markov Random Fields for Interactive Segmentation in Retinal Disorders

In the realm of computer aided diagnosis (CAD) interactive segmentation schemes have been well received by physicians, where the combination of human and machine intelligence can provide improved segmentation efficacy with minimal expert intervention [1-3]. Transductive learning (TL) or semi-supervised learning (SSL) is a suitable framework for learning-based interactive segmentation given the scarce label problem. In this paper we present extended work on Bayesian transduction and regularized conditional mixtures for interactive segmentation [3]. We present a Markov random field model integrating a semi-parametric conditional mixture model within a Bayesian transductive learning and inference setting. The model allows efficient learning and inference in a semi-supervised setting given only minimal approximate label information. Preliminary experimental results on multimodal images of retinal disorders such as drusen, geographic atrophy (GA), and choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) with exudates and subretinal fibrosis show promising segmentation performance

Learning from Labeled and Unlabeled Data: Semi-supervised Learning and Ranking

We consider the general problem of learning from labeled and unlabeled data, which is often called semi-supervised learning or transductive inference. A principled approach to semi-supervised learning is to design a classifying function which is sufficiently smooth with respect to the intrinsic structure collectively revealed by known labeled and unlabeled points. We present a simple algorithm to obtain such a smooth solution. Our method yields encouraging experimental results on a number of classification problems and demonstrates effective use of unlabeled data

Interactive Segmentation in Multimodal Medical Imagery Using a Bayesian Transductive Learning Approach

Labeled training data in the medical domain is rare and expensive to obtain. The lack of labeled multimodal medical image data is a major obstacle for devising learning-based interactive segmentation tools. Transductive learning (TL) or semi-supervised learning (SSL) offers a workaround by leveraging unlabeled and labeled data to infer labels for the test set given a small portion of label information. In this paper we propose a novel algorithm for interactive segmentation using transductive learning and inference in conditional mixture nave Bayes models (T-CMNB) with spatial regularization constraints. T-CMNB is an extension of the transductive nave Bayes algorithm [1, 20]. The multimodal Gaussian mixture assumption on the class-conditional likelihood and spatial regularization constraints allow us to explain more complex distributions required for spatial classification in multimodal imagery. To simplify the estimation we reduce the parameter space by assuming nave conditional independence between the feature space and the class label. The nave conditional independence assumption allows efficient inference of marginal and conditional distributions for large scale learning and inference [19]. We evaluate the proposed algorithm on multimodal MRI brain imagery using ROC statistics and provide preliminary results. The algorithm shows promising segmentation performance with a sensitivity and specificity of 90.37% and 99.74% respectively and compares competitively to alternative interactive segmentation schemes

Discrete-Continuous ADMM for Transductive Inference in Higher-Order MRFs

This paper introduces a novel algorithm for transductive inference in higher-order MRFs, where the unary energies are parameterized by a variable classifier. The considered task is posed as a joint optimization problem in the continuous classifier parameters and the discrete label variables. In contrast to prior approaches such as convex relaxations, we propose an advantageous decoupling of the objective function into discrete and continuous subproblems and a novel, efficient optimization method related to ADMM. This approach preserves integrality of the discrete label variables and guarantees global convergence to a critical point. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach in several experiments including video object segmentation on the DAVIS data set and interactive image segmentation