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509
International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
The image slices can then be stacked on top of one III. W ORKING COMPUTER AXIAL T OMOGRAPHY (CT)
another, creating a 3D image volume. Using physical CT or computer axial tomography uses special X-ray
spacing information inherent in the image slices, it is tube to produce image data from different angles around
possible to reconstruct the tumor from the segmented data the human body; it works in similar way to X-ray. All the
as well as estimate the tumor volume [6]. tissues that are passed by the X-ray will be overlapped on
an image. The CT scan works around this limitation by
II. LUNG IMAGING capturing one narrow slice of the scanned body at a time.
Imaging plays a vital role in the diagnosis of lung Inside the CT machine, the X-ray tube circles around the
cancer. The most common modalities including Chest patient taking pictures as it rotates. These slices can be
Radiography, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), viewed 2D images or added back together to create a 3D
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI(, Radionuclide Bone image of a body structure. A cross section of body tissues
Scanning (RBS), and the X-ray computerized axial and organs can then shown by using computer processing
tomography (CT). In this work, we have used the CT of the data. Some of the basic ideas underlying CT are
images for the detection of the lung tumors, because it has reconstructed from the projections; i.e. the patient data is
the ability to determine the tumor in the presence of lymph getting measured at many positions and angles [7].
node metastases. In fact, by the CT imaging one can easily Multiple slices which constitute a 3D volume of the patient
distinguish between the tumor and normal tissues, can be obtained using two methods: i.e. conventional CT
especially when the pathology knowledge is present. scans take pictures of slices of the body, while helical CT
Recent advances in Computed Tomography (CT) scans take pictures as the X-ray tube helically circles the
technology have enabled its use in diagnosing and patient [8], as shown in figure (1). CT modalities can show
identifying different diseases. In particular, the expanding various types of body structures; e.g. various tissues, lung,
volume of thoracic CT studies along with the increase of and bones. The images produced by CT scanner can reveal
image data bring in focus the need for Computer-Aided some body structures that cannot be seen by the utilizing of
Diagnosis (CAD) algorithms to assist the radiologists. the conventional X-rays [7].
Several lung diseases are diagnosed by investigating the
patterns of lung tissue in pulmonary CT images, therefore
segmentation and analysis is one of the important parts of
CAD systems [7].
Figure (1): illustrates the working technology of the spiral scan tomography [9]
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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
In this research the image analysis steps followed is The simple toward image interpretation and analysis is
shown in fig.(2) includes; Acquisition of a sample image segmentation process; it may be performed by utilizing
database and examination of these images for the certain image classification method (e.g. K-means) and
application is the first step in development of an imaging followed feature extraction which is a crucial step toward
solution. Image analysis represents manipulation of the identifying the image component parts. The collected
image data to determine the exact information required to features for the tumor can be used to delineating the tumor
develop the computer imaging system [2]. region, which is in turn used to extract the tumor and then
used to calculate the tumor volume parameters.
Image Segmentation by
Image acquisition Pre-processing
K-Means classification
Feature extraction
Tumor Area & Volume Calculation
by region growing
Figure (2): represents the block diagram of the processes followed in this research.
B. Image Pre-Processing Step1: The CT images have sizes 512×512 pixels, of 8-bits
The image Pre-processing stage starts with image radiometric accuracy (i.e. 512 gray level), shown in fig. (3-
enhancement which tend to improve the interpretability or a).
perception of information included in them for human Step2: Converting the gray images into binary, using
viewers, or to provide better input for other automated threshold (50< Th < 200), shown in fig (3-b).
image processing techniques. Image enhancement Step3: Labeling the binary image to define the number of
techniques can be divided into two broad categories: objects.
Spatial domain methods and frequency domain methods.
Step4: Calculating the labeled object's area, and sorts them
Unfortunately, there is no general theory for determining
in descending order.
what “good” image enhancement is when it comes to
human perception. However, when image enhancement Step5: Extract objects of largest area and eliminate the
techniques are used as pre-processing, the quantitative residual.
measures can determine which techniques are most Step6: Fill holes of the binary images, fig (3-c).
appropriate. For Lung Cancer Detection using image pre- Step7: Extract the lung's region by multiplying images of
processing as tools for other consecutive image processing, Step6×Step1.
the quantitative measures can determine which techniques
are most appropriate. Here, it is worth mentioning that the C. Segmentation Process (K-Mean Classification)
samples of images used in this research were provided by The K-Means unsupervised classification calculates
Ghazi Hariri Hospital for specialized surgery. They have initial class means evenly distributed in the data space then
been acquired in X-ray computed tomography (Siemens iteratively clusters the pixels into the nearest class using a
Soma tom definition AS/ 64 Slice CT scanning) as a series minimum distance technique. The means are recalculated
of X-ray transmission profiles through a cross-sectional in each iteration, the pixels are reclassified with respect to
plane of the patient. Every image is digitized at size the new means. All pixels are classified to the nearest class
512x512 pixels, 9-bits radiometric resolution, of 5mm unless a standard deviation or distance threshold is
slice's thickness. Each slice image experienced a pre- specified, in which case some pixels may be unclassified if
processing operation due to their features [10]; e.g. they do not meet the selected criteria. This process
utilizing linear filtration operation to remove their noise continues until the number of pixels in each class changes
and clipping out their background and normalizing their by less than the selected pixel change threshold or the
density values [11]. In this research, the pre-processing maximum number of iterations is reached.
process is performed by the steps illustrated in fig.(3):
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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
In fact, the K-means clustering algorithm is one of the By randomly selecting k feature vectors from X, and
most common used unsupervised classification methods grouping them into k clusters using a selected distance
used to determine the natural spectral groupings present in measure such as Euclidean distance;
a data set. The process involves of grouping data points
d = | xi - c j | (3)
with similar feature vectors into a single cluster and
grouping data points with dissimilar feature vectors into Figure (4) shows examples of K-means classification
different clusters. The feature vectors derived from l performed on two different lung's regions had cancer. Five
clustered data is given by [12]: classes have been assumed, including cancerous tissue. As
X = (xi| i = 1, 2, .., l) (1) is evident from the figures, the cancerous tissue (tumor) has
been featured by different class number (i.e. class number
The generalized algorithm initiates k cluster centroids C one in case1, and class number four in case2).
C = (ci| i = 1, 2, ..., k ) (2)
Case 1
Case 2
a b c d
Figure (3): illustrates the pre-processing steps performed to extract the lung's region.
D. Feature Extraction Alternatively, the mean values of the blocks can be used
Feature extraction concerns finding shape in digital to determine which blocks should be merged. However, the
images. To be able to recognize certain shape region growing process is stopped when no more pixels
automatically, one approach is to extract the component satisfy the criteria for inclusion in that region, [5]. The
features of the shape to be recognize. Shape extraction tumor region extraction by our region growing method is
implies finding their position, their orientation and their started by defining the coordinates of a point (within the
size. In this research, we present the characterization of tumor region) by clicking on it, then looking and merging
objects by utilizing region growing which is performed by the nearby points satisfying the region merging criterion
examining properties of each block and merging them with (i.e. differ by absolute value 0.2). The merging process is
adjacent blocks that satisfy some criteria. One criterion is stopped when no more points are existed that satisfy the
to look at the max-min difference and combine adjacent merging criterion. Figure (5) the tumor region extraction
regions whose max-min difference is within a tolerance of process for the two patients cases shown in fig.(4).
the seed block. The new region become the seed and the
process is repeated, examining adjacent regions, comparing
max-min differences, and adding blocks that are within the
tolerance specified by the user.
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Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
Case 1
Case 2
Figure (4): Two cases of patients, classified by utilizing K-means method of five classes each.
Case 1
Case 2
Figure (5): Tumor region extraction of the two patient cases shown in fig.(4), using region growing merging method.
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Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
F. Volume Calculation Where: h (Height) = slice thickness + slice separation,
The extracted tumor volume can be calculated using the volume of the tumor is given by the summation of
frustum model (illustrated in figure (6)), using [13]: volumes of two consecutive slices, A1 and A2 denote the
areas of the two consecutive slices having tumor.
( A1 A2 )
Volume ( h
3
( A1 A2
2
) (5)
(a) (b)
Figure (6): show (a) the frustum model, (b) the CT Slices
G. Area and Volume Calculation To provide physicians with volumetric data, the lung CT
Tables (I and II) illustrate the 3D tumor reconstruction images have been pre-processed by enhancing their
processes for the patient's cases 1&2. In table (I), the contrast to make them ready for segmentation by
reconstruction process slices number 4147, while in table implementing the K-means classification algorithm. As the
(II) the slices 4549 have been adopted for the segmentation is performed on lung region, the tumor
reconstruction processes. The tumor extracted areas by the features have been determined and isolated by performing
region growing method (represented by pixel's number and the seeded region growing algorithm. The tumor areas of
in mm2) using eq.(4). The matrix size of CT images was the image slices have been calculated and used to
512×512 elements, and the DFOVs were, respectively, determine the tumor volume by stacking the extracted
361mm and 338mm cases 1 &2. Finally, the reconstructed tumors on top of one another. Finally, using physical
volume of the tumor from the extracted consecutive slice spacing information inherent in the image slices the
areas, using frustum model eq.(5). proposed method does, efficiently, 3D visualization of the
tumor which we think it will be very useful as initial
diagnosis which assisting the physicists in testing the
V. CONCLUSIONS
response of the treatments. It is our opinion that; despite the
In this paper, a semi-automatic segmentation algorithm successful results achieved by the introduced method, it is
for lung's tumor detection and extraction is presented. The still more trends are required to make it run in fully
extracted tumor areas from the CT slice is measured by a automatic manner and in real-time by developing a
method based on the Display Field OF View (DFOV). hardware interface to analyzing and interpreting the CT
images directly on the X-ray computerized axial
tomography (CT) monitoring device.
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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
Table I
Region growing method used for tumor extraction, illustrate the 3D tumor reconstruction processes (area and volume of tumor calculation).
Volume
Sequence of segmented Image
(pixel)
(mm2)
(mm3)
Slice
Area
Area
Tumor Extraction using Region
NO.
1193.4 593.28
41023.12
41
3150.4 1566.17
42
3441.1 1710.69
43
4106.1 2041.29
44
3225.3 1603.41
45
1551.4 771.26
46
1160.9 577.12
47
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Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
Table II
Region growing method used for tumor extraction, illustrate the 3D tumor reconstruction processes (area and volume of tumor calculation).
Volume
Sequence of segmented Tumor Extraction
(pixel)
(mm)2
(mm3)
Area
Area
Image using k-mean using Region 3D View Tumor
Growing
2349.4 1023.88
45 47702.14
3714.9 1618.98
46
6918.5 3015.13
47
7308.4 3185.05
48
5797.4 2526.54
49
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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2014)
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