利用多模态U形网络的CT图像前列腺分割

计算机断层扫描（computed tomography,CT）可应用于前列腺癌的检查诊断,但是它对软组织结构对比度不高,因此很难从中分割病变;而核磁共振成像（nuclear magnetic resonance imaging,MRI）具有较高的对比度,能为病变提供丰富的影像信息。为了提升CT图像的前列腺分割精度,本文提出一种新的基于深度学习的多模态U形网络图像分割模型MM-unet,充分运用MRI图像与CT图像间信息互补的特点。具体地,首先运用迁移学习思想分别训练MRI与CT图像的初始分割模型,然后通过设计一种新型的多模态损失函数MM-Loss,建立不同模态分割模型之间的联系,联合训练基于MRI与CT图像的MM-unet。为验证所提模型MM-unet的有效性,我们在某合作医院提供的Prostate数据集上进行了实验,实验结果表明,与U-net方法相比,MM-unet能够获得高出3个百分点Dice的CT图像分割精度。     

基于模糊聚类的脑磁共振图像分割算法综述

磁共振成像（Magnetic resonance imaging, MRI） 技术以其非介入、无损伤以及不受目标运动影响等特点,已成为临床诊断的重要辅助手段。精确的脑MR图像分割对生物医学研究和临床应用具有重要的指导意义。在实际应用中,脑MR图像中存在的噪声、灰度不均匀性、部分容积效应和低对比度等缺陷,都给脑MR图像的 精确分割带来了巨大困难和挑战。本文基于模糊聚类模型的脑MR图像分割问题,从聚类类别数的确定、模型初始化、克服噪声、估计偏移场、克服部分容积效应、数据不确定性描述以及模型扩展7个方面深入阐述了国内外发展现状、应对技巧及改进策略,并分析存在的不足 ,指出进一步的研究方向。     

胎儿脑磁共振图像分割研究进展

医学影像是产前筛查、诊断、治疗引导和评估的重要工具,能有效避免胎儿脑的发育异常。近年来,磁共振成像在产前诊断中愈加重要,而实现自动、定量、精确地分析胎儿脑磁共振图像依赖于可靠的图像分割。因此,胎儿脑磁共振图像分割具有十分重要的临床意义与研究价值。由于胎儿图像中存在组织器官多、图像质量差及结构变化快等问题,胎儿脑磁共振图像的分割面临着巨大的困难与挑战。目前,尚未有文献对该领域的方法进行系统性的总结和分析,尤其是基于深度学习的方法。本文针对胎儿脑磁共振图像分割方法进行综述,首先,对胎儿脑磁共振图像的主要公开图谱/数据集进行详细说明;接着,对脑实质提取、组织分割和病灶分割方法进行全面的分类与分析;最后,对胎儿脑磁共振图像分割面临的挑战及未来的研究方向进行总结与展望。     

多尺度判别条件生成对抗网络的前列腺MRI图像分割方法

目的 由MRI（magnetic resonance imaging）得到的影像具有分辨率高、软组织对比好等优点,使得医生能更精确地获得需要的信息,精确的前列腺MRI分割是计算机辅助检测和诊断算法的必要预处理阶段。因此临床上需要一种自动或半自动的前列腺分割算法,为各种各样的临床应用提供具有鲁棒性、高质量的结果。提出一种多尺度判别条件生成对抗网络对前列腺MRI图像进行自动分割以满足临床实践的需求。方法 提出的分割方法是基于条件生成对抗网络,由生成器和判别器两部分组成。生成器由类似U-Net的卷积神经网络组成,根据输入的MRI生成前列腺区域的掩膜;判别器是一个多尺度判别器,同一网络结构,输入图像尺寸不同的两个判别器。为了训练稳定,本文方法使用了特征匹配损失。在网络训练过程中使用对抗训练机制迭代地优化生成器和判别器,直至判别器和生成器同时收敛为止。训练好的生成器即可完成前列腺MRI分割。结果 实验数据来自PROMISE12前列腺分割比赛和安徽医科大学第一附属医院,以Dice相似性系数和Hausdorff距离作为评价指标,本文算法的Dice相似性系数为88.9%,Hausdorff距离为5.3 mm,与U-Net、DSCNN（deeply-supervised convolutional neured network）等方法相比,本文算法分割更准确,鲁棒性更高。在测试阶段,每幅图像仅需不到1 s的时间即可完成分割,超出了专门医生的分割速度。结论 提出了一种多尺度判别条件生成对抗网络来分割前列腺,从定量和定性分析可以看出本文算法的有效性,能够准确地对前列腺进行分割,达到了实时分割要求,符合临床诊断和治疗需求。     

Medical image segmentation with transform and moment based features and incremental supervised neural network

In this study, a novel incremental supervised neural network (ISNN) is proposed for the segmentation of medical images. Performance of the ISNN is investigated for tissue segmentation in medical images obtained from various imaging modalities. Two feature extraction methods based on transform and moments are comparatively investigated to segment the tissues in medical images. Two-dimensional (2D) continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and the moments of the gray-level histogram (MGH) are computed in order to form the feature vectors of ultrasound (US) bladder and phantom images, X-ray computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) head images. In the 2D-CWT method, feature vectors are formed by the intensity of one pixel of each wavelet-plane of different energy bands. The MGH represents the tissues within the sub-windows by using the spatial variation of image intensities. In this study, the ISNN and Grow and Learn (GAL) network are employed for the segmentation task. It is observed that the ISNN has significantly eliminated the disadvantages of the GAL network in the segmentation of the medical images.     

基于小波统计特性的CT/MR医学影像优化融合方法

多模医学影像融合技术服务于临床诊断具有十分重要的意义。计算机断层摄像CT(ComputerTomography)仅能清晰显示人体骨骼组织,而磁共振成像MR(MagneticResonance)具有软组织对比分辨率高的特点。论文提出了一种基于小波统计特性的CT、MR医学颅脑部影像优化融合方法,采用信息熵和边缘保持度两项指标作为优化融合依据,获得的融合影像有效地综合CT与MR影像信息,可同时清晰地显示脑部骨组织和软组织信息。     

Multimodal image registration system for image-guided orthopaedic surgery

We present a novel multimodality image registration system for spinal surgery. The system comprises a surface-based algorithm that performs computed tomography/magnetic resonance (CT/MR) rigid registration and MR image segmentation in an iterative manner. The segmentation/registration process progressively refines the result of MR image segmentation and CT/MR registration. For MR image segmentation, we propose a method based on the double-front level set that avoids boundary leakages, prevents interference from other objects in the image, and reduces computational time by constraining the search space. In order to reduce the registration error from the misclassification of the soft tissue surrounding the bone in MR images, we propose a weighted surface-based CT/MR registration scheme. The resultant weighted surface is registered to the segmented surface of the CT image. Contours are generated from the reconstructed CT surfaces for subsequent MR image segmentation. This process iterates till convergence. The registration method achieves accuracy comparable to conventional techniques while being significantly faster. Experimental results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed approach and its application to different anatomies.     

Review of brain MRI image segmentation methods

Brain image segmentation is one of the most important parts of clinical diagnostic tools. Brain images mostly contain noise, inhomogeneity and sometimes deviation. Therefore, accurate segmentation of brain images is a very difficult task. However, the process of accurate segmentation of these images is very important and crucial for a correct diagnosis by clinical tools. We presented a review of the methods used in brain segmentation. The review covers imaging modalities, magnetic resonance imaging and methods for noise reduction, inhomogeneity correction and segmentation. We conclude with a discussion on the trend of future research in brain segmentation.     

基于对抗学习和多尺度特征融合的前列腺MR图像分割

前列腺MR图像的自动分割已被广泛应用于前列腺癌的诊断和治疗过程中,然而,由于前列腺的形状变化显著且与相邻组织的对比度低,传统的分割方法仍存在精度低、速度慢等缺点.生成对抗网络GAN在计算机视觉任务中展示出了优越的性能,因此提出了一种使用对抗学习的概念来训练分割网络的方法,实现前列腺MR图像端到端的自动分割.模型框架主要由分割网络和判别网络构成,分割网络生成分割预测图,判别网络判断输入来自真实标签还是分割预测.同时,在分割网络中集成了感受野模块RFB来获取和融合深度特征的多尺度信息,提高特征的识别率和鲁棒性,以提升网络的分割性能.在PROMISE12数据集上的验证结果显示,该模型的DSC和HD分别为89.56％ 和7.65 mm.     

肝脏肿瘤CT图像深度学习分割方法综述

肝脏肿瘤的精确分割是肝脏疾病诊断、手术计划和术后评估的重要步骤。计算机断层成像（computed tomography,CT）能够为肝脏肿瘤的诊断和治疗提供更为全面的信息,分担了医生繁重的阅片工作,更好地提高诊断的准确性。但是由于肝脏肿瘤的类型多样复杂,使得分割成为计算机辅助诊断的重难点问题。肝脏肿瘤CT图像的深度学习分割方法较传统的分割方法取得了明显的性能提升,并获得快速的发展。通过综述肝脏肿瘤图像分割领域的相关文献,本文介绍了肝脏肿瘤分割的常用数据库,总结了肝脏肿瘤CT图像的深度学习分割方法：全卷积网络（fully convolutional network,FCN）、U-Net网络和生成对抗网络（generative adversarial network,GAN）方法,重点给出了各类方法的基本思想、网络架构形式、改进方案以及优缺点等,并对这些方法在典型数据集上的性能表现进行了比较。最后,对肝脏肿瘤深度学习分割方法的未来研究趋势进行了展望。     

基于动态卷积的多模态脑MR图像生成

近年来, 通过自动生成方法获取多模态MR图像得到了广泛研究, 但仍难以通过一种模态直接生成其他各类模态的图像. 针对该问题, 本文提出了动态生成对抗网络. 新模型通过将生成对抗网络与动态卷积相结合, 同时加入任务标签这一条件, 实现从一种MR模态同时生成其他3种MR模态. 同时为了提高图像生成质量, 进一步提出了多尺度判别策略, 通过融合多个尺度来提升判别效果. 基于BRATS19数据集进行生成验证, 实验结果表明, 新方法不但可以同时生成多种模态的数据, 而且提高了生成图像的质量.     

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.     

轮廓指导的层级混合多任务全卷积网络

传统的深度多任务网络通常在不同任务之间共享网络的大部分层（即特征表示）.由于这样做会忽视不同任务各自的特殊性，所以往往会制约它们适应数据的能力.提出一种层级混合的多任务全卷积网络HFFCN，以解决CT图像中的前列腺分割问题.特别地，使用一个多任务框架来解决这个问题，这个框架包括：1）一个分割前列腺的主任务；和2）一个回归前列腺边界的辅助任务.在这里，第二个任务主要是用来精确地描述在CT图像中模糊的前列腺边界.因此，提出的HFFCN架构是一个双分支的结构，包含一个编码主干和两个解码分支.不同于传统的多任务网络，提出了一个新颖的信息共享模块，用以在两个解码分支之间共享信息.这使得HFFCN可以：1）学习任务的通用层级信息；2）同时保留一些不同任务各自的特征表示.在一个包含有313个病人的313张计划阶段图片的CT图像数据集上做了详细的实验，实验结果证明了所提的HFFCN网络可以超越现有其他先进的分割方法，或者是传统的多任务学习模型.     

Hessian based approaches for 3D lung nodule segmentation

In the design of computer-aided diagnosis systems for lung cancer diagnosis, an appropriate and accurate segmentation of the pulmonary nodules in computerized tomography (CT) is one of the most relevant and difficult tasks. An accurate segmentation is crucial for the posterior measurement of nodule characteristics and for lung cancer diagnosis.This paper proposes different approaches that use Hessian-based strategies for lung nodule segmentation in chest CT scans. We propose a multiscale segmentation process that uses the central medialness adaptive principle, a Hessian-based strategy that was originally formulated for tubular extraction but it also provides good segmentation results in blob-like structures as is the case of lung nodules. We compared this proposal with a well established Hessian-based strategy that calculates the Shape Index (SI) and Curvedness (CV). We adapted the SI and CV approach for multiscale nodule segmentation. Moreover, we propose the combination of both strategies by combining the results, in order to take benefit of the advantages of both strategies.Different cases with pulmonary nodules from the Lung Image Database Consortium and Image Database Resource Initiative (LIDC-IDRI) database were taken and used to analyze and validate the approaches. The chest CT images present a large variability in nodule characteristics and image conditions. Our proposals provide an accurate lung nodule segmentation, similar to radiologists performance. Our Hessian-based approaches were validated with 569 solid and mostly solid nodules demonstrating that these novel strategies have good results when compared with the radiologists segmentations, providing accurate pulmonary nodule volumes for posterior characterization and appropriate diagnosis.     

A method for liver segmentation in perfusion MR images using probabilistic atlases and viscous reconstruction

Magnetic resonance (MR) tomographic images are routinely used in diagnosis of liver pathologies. Liver segmentation is needed for these types of images. It is therefore an important requirement for later tasks such as comparison among studies of different patients, as well as studies of the same patient (including those taken during the diffusion of a contrast, as in perfusion MR imaging). However, automatic segmentation of the liver is a challenging task due to certain reasons such as the high variability of liver shapes, similar intensity values and unclear contours between the liver and surrounding organs, especially in perfusion MR images. In order to overcome these limitations, this work proposes the use of a probabilistic atlas for liver segmentation in perfusion MR images, and the combination of the information gathered with that provided by level-based segmentation methods. The process starts with an under-segmented shape that grows slice by slice using morphological techniques (namely, viscous reconstruction); the result of the closest segmented slice and the probabilistic information provided by the atlas. Experiments with a collection of manually segmented liver images are provided, including numerical evaluation using widely accepted metrics for shape comparison.     

MRI脑肿瘤图像分割研究进展及挑战

脑肿瘤分割是医学图像处理中的一项重要内容,其目的是辅助医生做出准确的诊断和治疗,在临床脑部医学领域具有重要的实用价值。核磁共振成像（MRI）是临床医生研究脑部组织结构的主要影像学工具,为了使更多研究者对MRI脑肿瘤图像分割理论及其发展进行探索,本文对该领域研究现状进行综述。首先总结了用于MRI脑肿瘤图像分割的方法,并对现有方法进行了分类,即分为监督分割和非监督分割;然后重点综述了基于深度学习的脑肿瘤分割方法,在研究其关键技术基础上归纳了优化策略;最后介绍了脑肿瘤分割（BraTS）挑战,并结合挑战中所用方法展望了脑肿瘤分割领域未来的发展趋势。MRI脑肿瘤图像分割领域的研究已经取得了一些显著进展,尤其是深度学习的发展为该领域的研究提供了新的思路。但由于脑肿瘤在大小、形状和位置方面的高度变化,以及脑肿瘤图像数据有限且类别不平衡等问题,使得脑肿瘤图像分割仍是一个极具挑战的课题。由于分割过程缺乏可解释性和透明性,如何将全自动分割方法应用于临床试验,还需要进行深入研究。     

血管内超声图像后处理综述

血管内超声显像是目前临床常用的诊断血管病变的介入影像手段,可在活体中观 察血管壁和管腔的形态,以及斑块的形态和成分。采用数字图像处理技术,对血管内超声图像 序列进行自动或半自动地处理和分析,对于血管病变的计算机辅助诊断和制定最佳诊疗方案具 有重要意义。本文就近年来血管内超声图像计算机后处理的研究现状进行综述,包括图像分割 和组织标定、运动伪影的抑制、血管的三维重建、血管形态和血流动力学参数的测量、组织定 征显像及与其他影像的融合等,评价了目前的研究情况,并对未来的研究提出了展望。     

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.     

磁声断层成像逆问题的研究进展*

病变组织的早期发现对病症的诊断和治疗具有重要的临床意义。生物磁声断层（Magnetoacoustic tomography, MAT）成像是一种新型的无损伤功能成像技术,它融合了电磁场技术、超声技术和多物理场探测与成像技术,同时具备电阻抗成像的高对比度以及超声扫描成像的高空间分辨率的优点。它基于生物组织电导率的变化特点,能够先于结构成像技术发现组织的早期病变情况。MAT的研究包括正问题和逆问题两方面。该文在简介MAT成像原理的基础上,对其逆问题的研究现状进行综述,对主要方法进行归纳总结,分析目前存在的问题和可能的解决方法,最后指出未来的研究趋势。     

基于主动轮廓模型的肺纹理自动提取新方法

Computed tomography (CT) is the primary imaging modality for investigation of lung function and lung diseases. High resolution CT slice images of chest contain lots of texture information, which provides powerful datasets to research computer aid-diagnosis (CAD) system. But the extraction of lung tissue textures is a challenge task. In this paper, we introduce a novel method based on level set to extract lung tissue texture tree, which is automatic and effectual. Firstly, we propose an improved implicit active contour model driven by local binary fitting energy, and the parameters are dynamic and modulated by image gradient information. Secondly, a new technique of painting background based on intensity nonlinear mapping is brought forward to remove the influence of background during the evolution of single level set function. At last, a number of contrast experiments are performed, and the results of 3D surface reconstruction show our method is efficient and powerful for the segmentation of fine lung tree texture structures.