A framework for multi-threshold image segmentation of low contrast medical images

Abstract

Accurate medical images segmentation plays a vital role in contouring during diagnosis and treatment planning. To improve the segmentation accuracy in low contrast images, we propose a method by combining Hill entropy and fuzzy c-partition. Here, using membership function, an image is first transformed into fuzzy domain. Subsequently, the fuzzy Hill entropies are defined for foreground (object) and background. Next, the total fuzzy Hill entropy is maximized to compute the accurate threshold; this process is employed to calculate a proper parameter combination of membership function. This Hill entropy is then optimized to acquire an image threshold by Differential Evolution “DE” optimization algorithm. The key benefit of the presented approach is that it considers the information of background and object as well as interactions between them in threshold selection mechanism. The results and performance evaluations show the better accuracy of our technique over other existing approaches.