基于模糊和多分辨分析的骨肿瘤X光图像分割

根据骨肿瘤Ｘ光图像的局部区域特性,采用多分辨图像处理和模糊聚类方法对它进行分割,分割由以下几步来完成;（１）将图像分成相互交叠的子图像块;（２）采用基于模糊连接的多分辨图像处理算法对各子图像进行处理;（３）对各子图像的处理结果利用模糊聚类方法选择阈值,该方法应用于临床骨肿瘤Ｘ光图像,获得了良好的分割。     

非局部降噪快速模糊C-均值聚类算法

传统的模糊C-均值聚类算法未利用图像的空间信息,在分割迭加了噪声的MR图像时分割精度较差。采用了既能有效去除噪声又能较好地保持图像边缘特征的非局部降噪方法,结合基于图像灰度直方图聚类分析的快速模糊C-均值聚类算法,得到了一种具有较高分割精度的图像快速分割算法。通过对模拟图像、仿真脑部MR图像和临床脑部MR图像的分割实验,表明提出的新算法比已有的快速模糊C-均值聚类算法有更精确的图像分割能力。     

基于隶属度光滑约束的模糊C均值聚类算法

传统的FCM聚类算法未利用图像的空间信息,在分割叠加了噪声的MR图像时分割效果不理想。本文考虑到脑部MR图像真实的灰度值具有分片为常数的特性,按照合理利用图像空间信息的原则,对传统的FCM聚类算法进行了改进,增加了使隶属度趋向于分片光滑的约束项,得到了新的聚类算法。通过对模拟脑部MR图像和临床脑部MR图像的分割实验结果表明,本文提出的新算法比传统的FCM算法等多种图像分割算法有更精确的图像分割能力,并且运算简单、运算速度快、稳健性好。     

Automatic magnetic resonance image segmentation by fuzzy intercluster hostility index based genetic algorithm: An application

Segmentation of magnetic resonance (MR) images plays an important role in the medical science or clinical research. In this article, an application of a genetic algorithm (GA) based segmentation algorithm is presented for automatic grouping of unlabeled pixels of the MR images into different homogeneous clusters. Before the segmentation, the information about the optimal number of segments as well as the underlying pixel distribution of an image is not required in this method. The centroid of different segments is demarcated as active/inactive centroid by the fuzzy intercluster hostility index. After that, the test images are segmented by the selected active centroids. The optimal number of segments and their respective centroids are determined by this method. A performance comparison is manifested between the fuzzy intercluster hostility index based GA method and the well-known automatic clustering using differential evolution (ACDE) algorithm and one genetic algorithm based non-automatic algorithm with the help of two real life MR images. The comparison depicted the superiority of the GA based automatic image segmentation method with the help of fuzzy intercluster hostility index over other two algorithms.     

基于多分辨率分析及QFCM算法的图像分割方法研究

在图像的多分辨率小波分析的基础上,采用高斯－马尔可夫随机场模型来描述图像的局部特征,利用ＬＭＳ算法（ｔｈｅ ｌｅａｓｔ－ｍｅａｎ－ｓｑｕａｒｅ ａｌｇｏｒｉｔｈｍ）求得模型的参数估计,构造出图像的特征集,再利用快速模糊Ｃ－均值聚类方法（ＱＦＣＭ）对该特征集进行模糊划分,从而完成图像的分割,实验证明,这种方法具有较强的适应性,尤其对于景物－背景对比度差以及信噪比较低的一类图像,具有良好的分割效果。     

Multiresolution color image segmentation

Image segmentation is the process by which an original image is partitioned into some homogeneous regions. In this paper, a novel multiresolution color image segmentation (MCIS) algorithm which uses Markov random fields (MRF's) is proposed. The proposed approach is a relaxation process that converges to the MAP (maximum a posteriori) estimate of the segmentation. The quadtree structure is used to implement the multiresolution framework, and the simulated annealing technique is employed to control the splitting and merging of nodes so as to minimize an energy function and therefore, maximize the MAP estimate. The multiresolution scheme enables the use of different dissimilarity measures at different resolution levels. Consequently, the proposed algorithm is noise resistant. Since the global clustering information of the image is required in the proposed approach, the scale space filter (SSF) is employed as the first step. The multiresolution approach is used to refine the segmentation. Experimental results of both the synthesized and real images are very encouraging. In order to evaluate experimental results of both synthesized images and real images quantitatively, a new evaluation criterion is proposed and developed     

GA-based multiresolution fusion of segmented brain images using PD-, T1- and T2-weighted MR modalities

Medical image fusion has been used to derive the useful complimentary information from multimodality imaging. The proposed methodology introduces fusion approach for robust and automatic extraction of information from segmented images of different modalities. This fusion strategy is implemented in multiresolution domain using wavelet transform- and genetic algorithm-based search technique to extract maximum complementary information. The analysis of input images at multiple resolutions is able to extract more fine details and improves the quality of the composite fused image. The proposed approaches are also independent of any manual marking or knowledge of fiducial points and start the fusion procedure automatically. The performance of fusion scheme implemented on segmented brain images has been evaluated computing mutual information as similarity measuring matrix. Prior to fusion process, images are being segmented using different segmentation techniques like fuzzy C-mean and Markov random field models. Experimental results show that Gibbs- and ICM-based segmentation approaches related to Markov random field perform over the fuzzy C-mean and which are being used prior to GA-based fusion process for MR T1, MR T2 and MR PD images of section of human brain.     

A framework with modified fast FCM for brain MR images segmentation

Intensity inhomogeneity, noise and partial volume (PV) effect render a challenging task for segmentation of brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. Most of the current MR image segmentation methods focus on only one or two of the effects listed above. In this paper, a framework with modified fast fuzzy c-means for brain MR images segmentation is proposed to take all these effects into account simultaneously and improve the accuracy of image segmentations. Firstly, we propose a new automated method to determine the initial values of the centroids. Secondly, an adaptive method to incorporate the local spatial continuity is proposed to overcome the noise effectively and prevent the edge from blurring. The intensity inhomogeneity is estimated by a linear combination of a set of basis functions. Meanwhile, a regularization term is added to reduce the iteration steps and accelerate the algorithm. The weights of the regularization terms are all automatically computed to avoid the manually tuned parameter. Synthetic and real MR images are used to test the proposed framework. Improved performance of the proposed algorithm is observed where the intensity inhomogeneity, noise and PV effect are commonly encountered. The experimental results show that the proposed method has stronger anti-noise property and higher segmentation precision than other reported FCM-based techniques.     

Efficient inhomogeneity compensation using fuzzy c-means clustering models

Intensity inhomogeneity or intensity non-uniformity (INU) is an undesired phenomenon that represents the main obstacle for magnetic resonance (MR) image segmentation and registration methods. Various techniques have been proposed to eliminate or compensate the INU, most of which are embedded into classification or clustering algorithms, they generally have difficulties when INU reaches high amplitudes and usually suffer from high computational load. This study reformulates the design of c-means clustering based INU compensation techniques by identifying and separating those globally working computationally costly operations that can be applied to gray intensity levels instead of individual pixels. The theoretical assumptions are demonstrated using the fuzzy c-means algorithm, but the proposed modification is compatible with a various range of c-means clustering based INU compensation and MR image segmentation algorithms. Experiments carried out using synthetic phantoms and real MR images indicate that the proposed approach produces practically the same segmentation accuracy as the conventional formulation, but 20-30 times faster.     

Range image reconstruction based on robust multiresolution estimation of surface parameters

This paper proposes two robust multiresolution estimation methods of surface parameters for range images. Based on the robust estimation of surface parameters, the proposed methods approximate a patch to a planar surface in the locally adaptive window. Selection of resolution is made pixelwise by comparing a locally computed homogeneity measure with the global threshold obtained by the distribution of the approximation error. The proposed multiresolution surface parameter estimation methods are applied to range image reconstruction and segmentation. Computer simulation results with noisy images contaminated by additive Gaussian noise and impulse noise show that the proposed multiresolution reconstruction methods preserve step and roof edges better than the conventional methods. Also the segmentation methods based on the estimated surface parameters are shown to be robust to noise.     

Combining stationary wavelet transform and self-organizing maps for brain MR image segmentation

This study presents an image segmentation system that automatically segments and labels T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. The method is based on a combination of unsupervised learning algorithm of the self-organizing maps (SOM) and supervised learning vector quantization (LVQ) methods. Stationary wavelet transform (SWT) is applied to the images to obtain multiresolution information for distinguishing different tissues. Statistical information of the different tissues is extracted by applying spatial filtering to the coefficients of SWT. A multidimensional feature vector is formed by combining SWT coefficients and their statistical features. This feature vector is used as input to the SOM. SOM is used to segment images in a competitive unsupervised approach and an LVQ system is used for fine-tuning. Results are evaluated using Tanimoto similarity index and are compared with manually segmented images. Quantitative comparisons of our system with the other methods on real brain MR images using Tanimoto similarity index demonstrate that our system shows better segmentation performance for the gray matter while it gives average results for white matter.     

结合类内和类间距离的可能聚类分割算法

目的 为了进一步提高噪声图像分割的抗噪性和准确性,提出一种结合类内距离和类间距离的改进可能聚类算法并将其应用于图像分割。方法 该算法避免了传统可能性聚类分割算法中仅仅考虑以样本点到聚类中心的距离作为算法的测度,将类内距离与类间距离相结合作为算法的新测度,即考虑了类内紧密程度又考虑了类间离散程度,以便对不同的聚类结构有较强的稳定性和更好的抗噪能力,并且将直方图融入可能模糊聚类分割算法中提出快速可能模糊聚类分割算法,使其对各种较复杂图像的分割具有即时性。结果 通过人工合成图像和实际遥感图像分割测试结果表明,本文改进可能聚类算法是有效的,其分割轮廓清晰,分类准确且噪声较小,其误分率相比其他算法至少降低了2个百分点,同时能获得更满意的分割效果。结论 针对模糊C-均值聚类分割算法和可能性聚类分割算法对于背景和目标颜色相近的图像分类不准确的缺陷,将类内距离与类间距离相结合作为算法的测度有效的解决了图像分割归类问题,并且结合直方图提出快速可能模糊聚类分割算法使其对于大篇幅复杂图像也具有适用性。     

Image segmentation by a fuzzy clustering algorithm using adaptivespatially constrained membership functions

We present an adaptive fuzzy clustering scheme for image segmentation, the adaptive fuzzy clustering/segmentation (AFCS) algorithm. In AFCS, the nonstationary nature of images is taken into account by modifying the prototype vectors as functions of the sample location in the image. The inherent high interpixel correlation is modeled using neighborhood information. A multiresolution model is utilized for estimating the spatially varying prototype vectors for different window sizes. The fuzzy segmentations at different resolutions are combined using a data fusion process in order to compute the final fuzzy partition matrix. The results provide segmentations, having lower fuzzy entropy when compared to the possibilistic C-means algorithm, while maintaining the image's main characteristics. In addition, due to the neighborhood model, the effects of noise in the form of single pixel regions are minimized     

基于多尺度随机模型的SAR图像无监督分割

合成孔径雷达（synthetic aperture radar,SAR）是一种基于相干原理的成像系统,在SAR图像中存在严重影响图像质量的斑点噪声,使得SAR图像的可靠分割非常困难。〖BP）〗根据SAR图像的成像机理,利用两种多尺度随机模型,即多尺度自回归（Multiscale Autoregressive,MAR）模型和多尺度自回归滑动平均（Multiscale Aautoregressive Moving Average, MARMA）模型,分别来描述同一场景不同分辨率SAR图像像素间的统计相关性,并构造了相应的多分辨混合算法实现SAR图像的无监督分割。试验结果表明,提出的两种无监督分割方法是可行的,且MARMA模型比MAR模型能够更精确地捕捉SAR图像多尺度序列中不同类型地形的统计信息,使分割质量具有明显的改进。     

Study on segmentation and interpretation of multi-look polarimetric SAR images

The segmentation and interpretation of multi-look polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is studied. We first introduce a multi-look polarimetric whitening filter (MPWF) to reduce the speckle in multi-look polarimetric SAR images. Then, by utilizing the wavelet multiresolution approach to extract the texture information in different scales and the Markov random field (MRF) model to characterize the spatial constraints between pixels in each scale level, a multiresolution segmentation algorithm (MSA) to segment the speckle-reduced SAR images is presented. The MSA first segments the image at the lowest resolution level and then proceeds to progressively higher resolutions until individual pixels are well classified. An unsupervised step to estimate both the optimal number of texture classes and their model parameters is also included in the MSA so that the segmentation can be implemented without supervision. Finally, in order to interpret the results of the unsupervised segmentation and to understand the whole polarimetric SAR image, we develop an image interpretation approach which jointly utilizes the scattering mechanism identification and target decomposition approaches. Experimental results with the real-world multi-look polarimetric SAR image demonstrate the effectiveness of the segmentation and interpretation approaches.     

Intensity standardization simplifies brain MR image segmentation

Typically, brain MR images present significant intensity variation across patients and scanners. Consequently, training a classifier on a set of images and using it subsequently for brain segmentation may yield poor results. Adaptive iterative methods usually need to be employed to account for the variations of the particular scan. These methods are complicated, difficult to implement and often involve significant computational costs. In this paper, a simple, non-iterative method is proposed for brain MR image segmentation. Two preprocessing techniques, namely intensity-inhomogeneity-correction, and more importantly MR image intensity standardization, used prior to segmentation, play a vital role in making the MR image intensities have a tissue-specific numeric meaning, which leads us to a very simple brain tissue segmentation strategy.Vectorial scale-based fuzzy connectedness and certain morphological operations are utilized first to generate the brain intracranial mask. The fuzzy membership value of each voxel within the intracranial mask for each brain tissue is then estimated. Finally, a maximum likelihood criterion with spatial constraints taken into account is utilized in classifying all voxels in the intracranial mask into different brain tissue groups. A set of inhomogeneity corrected and intensity standardized images is utilized as a training data set. We introduce two methods to estimate fuzzy membership values. In the first method, called SMG (for simple membership based on a gaussian model), the fuzzy membership value is estimated by fitting a multivariate Gaussian model to the intensity distribution of each brain tissue whose mean intensity vector and covariance matrix are estimated and fixed from the training data sets. The second method, called SMH (for simple membership based on a histogram), estimates fuzzy membership value directly via the intensity distribution of each brain tissue obtained from the training data sets. We present several studies to evaluate the performance of these two methods based on 10 clinical MR images of normal subjects and 10 clinical MR images of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. A quantitative comparison indicates that both methods have overall better accuracy than the k-nearest neighbors (kNN) method, and have much better efficiency than the Finite Mixture (FM) model-based Expectation-Maximization (EM) method. Accuracy is similar for our methods and EM method for the normal subject data sets, but much better for our methods for the patient data sets.     

基于模糊马尔可夫场的脑部MR图像分割算法

在传统马尔可夫场模型的基础上,建立了模糊马尔可夫场模型。通过对模型的分析得出图像像素对不同类的隶属度计算公式,提出了一种高效、无监督的图像分割算法,从而实现了对脑部MR图像的精确分割。通过对模拟脑部MR图像和临床脑部MR图像分割实验,表明新算法比传统的基于马尔可夫场的图像分割算法和模糊C-均值等图像分割算法有更精确的图像分割能力。     

Speeding up the EM algorithm for mixture model-based segmentation of magnetic resonance images

Mixture models implemented via the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm are being increasingly used in a wide range of problems in pattern recognition such as image segmentation. However, the EM algorithm requires considerable computational time in its application to huge data sets such as a three-dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) image of over 10 million voxels. Recently, it was shown that a sparse, incremental version of the EM algorithm could improve its rate of convergence. In this paper, we show how this modified EM algorithm can be speeded up further by adopting a multiresolution kd-tree structure in performing the E-step. The proposed algorithm outperforms some other variants of the EM algorithm for segmenting MR images of the human brain.     

基于有偏场的适配模糊聚类分割算法

近年来提出了许多监督和非监督模式识别技术用于磁共振图象的组织分类和定量分析。但是，这些方法的精度受到图象灰度不均匀性的严重影响。对于那些受灰度不均匀性影响的图象，如磁共振图象（MRI），提出了一种新的基于有偏场适配模糊聚类算法（BAFCM）来产生它们的分割结果。该算法通过修改C－means模糊算法中的目标方程，引入了描述灰度不均匀性的增益场，通过将增益场经为有偏场的计算，避免了AFCM中为保证增益场平滑缓慢变化引入的第一阶和第二阶正则项空间改变的二阶差分方程的复杂计算。其不仅对图象的灰度不均匀性进行了校正，而且实现了脑组织图象的快速全自动分割。     

A Modified Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm for Brain MR Image Segmentation and Bias Field Correction

In quantitative brain image analysis, accurate brain tissue segmentation from brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) is a critical step. It is considered to be the most important and difficult issue in the field of medical image processing. The quality of MR images is influenced by partial volume effect, noise, and intensity inhomogeneity, which render the segmentation task extremely challenging. We present a novel fuzzy c-means algorithm (RCLFCM) for segmentation and bias field correction of brain MR images. We employ a new gray-difference coefficient and design a new impact factor to measure the effect of neighbor pixels, so that the robustness of anti-noise can be enhanced. Moreover, we redefine the objective function of FCM (fuzzy c-means) by adding the bias field estimation model to overcome the intensity inhomogeneity in the image and segment the brain MR images simultaneously. We also construct a new spatial function by combining pixel gray value dissimilarity with its membership, and make full use of the space information between pixels to update the membership. Compared with other state-of-the-art approaches by using similarity accuracy on synthetic MR images with different levels of noise and intensity inhomogeneity, the proposed algorithm generates the results with high accuracy and robustness to noise.