Carotid artery ultrasound image segmentation using fuzzy region growing

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new scheme for extracting the contour of the carotid artery using ultrasound images. Starting from a user defined seed point within the artery, the scheme: uses the fuzzy region growing algorithm to create a fuzzy connectedness map for the image. Then, the fuzzy connectedness map is thresholded using a threshold selection mechanism to segment the area inside the artery. Experimental results demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed scheme in segmenting carotid artery ultrasound images, and it is insensitive to the seed point location, as long as it is located inside the artery. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.