Medical image series segmentation using watershed transform and active contour model

Abstract

In this paper, a semiautomatic algorithm based on the combination of the live wire algorithm and the active contour model is proposed for the segmentation of medical image series. First we obtain accurate segmentation of one or more slices in a medical image series by combining the livewire algorithm with the watershed method. Then the computer will segment the nearby slice using the modified active contour model. We introduce a gray-scale model to the boundary points of the active contour model to record the local region characters of the desired object in the segmented slice and replace the external energy of the traditional active contour model with the energy decided by the likelihood of the grayscale model. Moreover we introduce the active region concept of the snake to improve the segmentation accuracy. Experiment shows. that our algorithm can obtain the boundary of the desired object from a series of medical images reliably with only little user intervention.