A non-local chan-vese model for sparse, tubular object segmentation

To deal with the issue of tubular object segmentation, we propose a new model involving a non-local fitting term, in the Chan-Vese framework. This model aims at detecting objects whose intensities are not necessarily piecewise constant, or even composed of multiple piecewise constant regions. Our problem formulation exploits object sparsity in the image domain and a local ordering relationship between foreground and background. A continuous optimization scheme can then be efficiently considered in this context. This approach is validated on both synthetic and real retinal images. The nonlocal data fitting term is shown to be superior to the classical piecewise-constant model, robust to noise and to low contrast.