S Kobashi, Y Hata, Y Tokimoto, M Ishikawa
MEDICAL IMAGING 2000: IMAGE PROCESSING, PTS 1 AND 2 3979 888-895 2000年 査読有り
This paper presents a fuzzy rule-based region growing method for segmenting two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic resonance (MR) images. The method is an extension of the conventional region growing method. The proposed method evaluates the growing criteria by using fuzzy inference techniques. The use of the fuzzy if then rules is appropriate for describing the knowledge of the legions on the MR images. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, it was applied to artificially generated images. In comparison with the conventional method, the proposed method shows high robustness for noisy images. The method then applied for segmenting the dynamic MR images of the liver. The dynamic MR imaging has been used for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), portal hypertension, and so on. Segmenting the liver, portal vein (PV), and inferior vena cava (IVC) can give useful description for the diagnosis, and is a basis work of a pre-surgery planning system and a virtual endoscope. To apply the proposed method, fuzzy if-then rules are derived from the time-density curve of ROIs. In the experimental results, the 2-D reconstructed and 3-D rendered images of the segmented liver, PV, and IVC are shown. The evaluation by a physician shows that the generated images are comparable to the hepatic anatomy, and they would be useful to understanding, diagnosis, and pre-surgery planning.