Implementation and evaluation of segmentation algorithms according to multimodal imaging in personalized medicine

• Main Authors: Stich Manuel, Vogt Jeannine, Lindner Michaela, Ringler Ralf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2017-09-01
• Series: Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering
• Subjects: contextual methods; image segmentation; machine learning; medical images; radiology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2017-0178

Multimodal imaging is gaining in importance in the field of personalized medicine and can be described as a current trend in medical imaging diagnostics. The segmentation, classification and analysis of tissue structures is essential. The goal of this study is the evaluation of established segmentation methods on different medical image data sets acquired with different diagnostic procedures. Established segmentation methods were implemented using the latest state of the art and applied to medical image data sets. In order to benchmark the segmentation performance quantitatively, medical image data sets were superimposed with artificial Gaussian noise, and the mis-segmentation as a function of the image SNR or CNR was compared to a gold standard. The evaluation of the image segmentation showed that the best results of pixel-based segmentation (< 3%) can be achieved with methods of machine learning, multithreshold and advanced level-set method - even at high artificial noise (SNR< 18). Finally, the complexity of the object geometry and the contrast of the ROI to the surrounding tissue must also be considered to select the best segmentation algorithm.