Title :
Edge intensity normalization as a bias field correction during balloon snake segmentation of breast MRI
Author :
Hill, Andrew ; Mehnert, Andrew ; Crozier, Stuart
Author_Institution :
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Abstract :
Segmentation of fat suppressed dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) image data can pose significant problems because of the inherently poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and intensity variations due to the bias field. Segmentation methods such as balloon snakes, while able to operate in a poor SNR environment, are sensitive to variations in edge intensity, which are regularly encountered within DCE-MRI due to the bias field. In order to overcome the effects of the bias field, an intensity normalization based on the strength of the strongest edge, i.e. the skin-air-boundary, is proposed and evaluated. This normalization allows balloon segmentations to be run three times faster while maintaining, or even improving accuracy.
Keywords :
Active contours; Breast tissue; Deformable models; Image segmentation; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mammography; Signal to noise ratio; Surface morphology; Ultrasonic imaging; X-ray imaging; Air; Algorithms; Automatic Data Processing; Breast; Breast Neoplasms; Female; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mammography; Observer Variation; Reproducibility of Results; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Skin; Subtraction Technique;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2008. EMBS 2008. 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Vancouver, BC
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1814-5
Electronic_ISBN :
1557-170X
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4649844
