Framelet-based algorithm for segmentation of tubular structures

Abstract

Framelets have been used successfully in various problems in image processing, including inpainting, impulse noise removal, super-resolution image restoration, etc. Segmentation is the process of identifying object outlines within images. There are quite a few efficient algorithms for segmentation that depend on the partial differential equation modeling. In this paper, we apply the framelet-based approach to identify tube-like structures such as blood vessels in medical images. Our method iteratively refines a region that encloses the possible boundary or surface of the vessels. In each iteration, we apply the framelet-based algorithm to denoise and smooth the possible boundary and sharpen the region. Numerical experiments of real 2D/3D images demonstrate that the proposed method is very efficient and outperforms other existing methods. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.