Color diffusion model for active contours - an application to skin lesion segmentation

Most of the existing diffusion models are defined for gray-scale images. We propose a diffusion model for color images to be used as external energy for active contours. Our diffusion model is based on the first-order moment of the correlation integral expressed using ΔE distances in the CIE Lab color space. We use a multi-scale approach for active contours, the diffusion being independently computed at various scales. We validate the model on synthetic images, including multi-fractal color textures, as well as medical images representing melanoma. We conclude that the proposed diffusion model is valid for use in skin lesion segmentation in color images using active contours.