Energy minimization and region growing based interactive image segmentation

In this work, two novel methods for semi-automatic image segmentation of medical images are presented. The developed techniques are applied to the problem of medical image segmentation. The two developed approaches are compared and the results are discussed. The first method is based on interactive boundary detection where the user is assisted by the computer in selection of border of the desired anatomical region. The user performs segmentation by selecting a sparse series of points along the desired region border. The optimal path (border segment) is calculated based on the minimization of the energy function. The second method is based on interactive region growing process. The algorithm computes image features along the user-defined path and the computed features are used in the region-growing process. The region selection process is repeated until the user is satisfied with the look of the segmented region. Those two methods are compared to two semi automatic edge and region based image segmentation techniques.