Unsupervised segmentation of lung fields in chest radiographs using multiresolution fractal feature vector and deformable models

作者：Lee Wen Li^*; Chang Koyin; Hsieh Kai Sheng

来源：Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 2016, 54(9): 1409-1422.

DOI：10.1007/s11517-015-1412-6

• Lung segmentation
• Texture analysis
• Gabor wavelet transform
• Deformable models
• Cardiothoracic ratio
• Fractal geometry
• Chest radiographs

Segmenting lung fields in a chest radiograph is essential for automatically analyzing an image. We present an unsupervised method based on multiresolution fractal feature vector. The feature vector characterizes the lung field region effectively. A fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm is then applied to obtain a satisfactory initial contour. The final contour is obtained by deformable models. The results show the feasibility and high performance of the proposed method. Furthermore, based on the segmentation of lung fields, the cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) can be measured. The CTR is a simple index for evaluating cardiac hypertrophy. After identifying a suspicious symptom based on the estimated CTR, a physician can suggest that the patient undergoes additional extensive tests before a treatment plan is finalized.

• 出版日期2016-9