Robust segmentation of brain structures in MRI

• Published in: 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro pp. 17 - 20
• Main Authors: Murgasova, M., Rueckert, D., Edwards, D., Hajnal, J.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.06.2009
• Subjects: Anatomy; Brain; brain MRI; Costs; Educational institutions; EM segmentation; Image segmentation; Information processing; Labeling; Magnetic resonance imaging; registration; Robustness; segmentation; structures; Voting
• ISBN: 1424439310; 9781424439317
• ISSN: 1945-7928
• DOI: 10.1109/ISBI.2009.5192972

A novel method for the segmentation of brain structures combining registration-based and EM-based approaches is proposed. To address the issue of intensity variation within brain structures, we propose a method for creating spatial prior corresponding very well with the new subject anatomy, referred to as subject-specific atlas. The subject-specific atlas is created using multiple non-rigid registrations with the new subject, and therefore a robust non-rigid alignment of the prior with the image is achieved. The final EM segmentation step ensures a good quality classification of the complicated cortical structures based on intensity. The evaluation of the proposed method shows consistent results superior to both, registration-based and EM-based approaches.