A Seepage Flow Model for Vertebra CT Image Segmentation

A seepage flow model for medical image segmentation has been presented, which linked to the natural phenomenon of "water seeks its own level". The seepage flow to form the segmented pixel set by submerging all the pixels that are r-connected to the initial spring head pixels and also fall within the submerging threshold limits, the moving water fronts keep adding to the segmented pixel set all the pixels until no more pixels fall within the submerging criterion. Based on Mumford-Shah function. A new merit function for criterion has been produced which possess two main kind of measurement reflecting the characteristic of region and contour respectively. Examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency the model on clinical images segmentation