Fuzzy fusion operators to combine results of complementary medical image segmentation techniques

摘要

The detection of masses and tumors in a mammogram is a difficult problem that could benefit from the use of multiple approaches. We propose an abstract concept of information fusion based on a finite automaton and fuzzy sets to integrate and evaluate results of multiple image segmentation procedures. We give examples on how the method can be applied to the problem of mam-mographic image segmentation, combining results of region growing and closed-contour detection techniques. We also propose a measure of fuzzyness to assess the agreement between a segmented region and a reference contour. Application of the fusion technique to breast tumor detection in mammograms indicates that the fusion results agree with the reference contours provided by a radiologist to a higher extent than the results of the individual methods.