Simplified active contour model applied to bone structure segmentation in digital radiographs

摘要

Abstract: This paper describes a segmentation technique based ona new simplified active contour scheme. The method is acompromise between dynamic programming and the original`snake' solution. It follows a two-step procedure: thefirst step moves the contour points toward imagefeatures using a new potential vector field; the secondstep smoothes out the contour using a numeric filter toimpose continuity and rigidity constraints on thecontour model. This technique allows a naturaldefinition of the active contour parameters in term oflocal curvature and rigidity of the contour. Since itperformed particularly well in very noise images, theprocedure is demonstrated for segmenting bonestructures of the human spine from sagittalradiographs.!17