Diploma Thesis

Image-Based Verification of Parametric

Models in Heart-Ventricle Volumetry

Martin Urschler
Institut fr Maschinelles Sehen u. Darstellen
Techn. Universitt Graz

In Zusammenarbeit mit
Prof. Rainer Rienmller
Univ. Klinik f. Radiologie, LKH Graz


Agenda
Introduction
Medical Image Data & Problems
Volumetry
Parametric Model (2-axis-method, Greene)
Segmentation-Based Models
Implementation
Overview
LiveWire Approach
Results
Conclusion
Introduction
Goal: Measure
volume of hearts
left ventricle
Parametric vs.
Segmentation-Based
Purpose:
Heart-Disease Diagnose
stroke volume -> important function parameter
sliced heart
left ventricle
Medical Image Data
DICOM fileformat
10 Images per location
(1 Heartbeat, ECG-triggered)
1 heartbeat
10 images
8 Long-Axis image locations
8 slices
Acquisition: Ultrafast
CT Scanner
Example Image Data Set NK
Problems
Partial Volume Effect
Distinction between left
ventricle and surrounding tissue
gradient
Weak gradient
information

Volumetry (I) - Parametric Model
Locate image with max. projected ventricle
area
Calculate
volume of modi-
fied rotational
ellipsoid
V = PI/6 * width * height^2
Measure ellipse parameters
width
height
Volumetry (II) - Segmentation
Basic Methods:
Thresholding
Edge Detecting Filters (Sobel, Canny)
Region Growing
Active Contours (Snakes) [Kass et al 88]
LiveWire [Barret92][Udupa,Falcao92]

Volume by Simpson Rule:
count segmented image pixels
multiply with voxel size
Implementation (II) - Thresholding
weak performance due to
partial volume, weak contrast, non-trivial
separation of chambers
Implementation (III) Snakes
problems due to:
partial volume, weak
contrast
non-intuitive
parameterization, only
possible after minimi-
zation of contour
outliers attracted to
high gradients
heavily depending on
initial contour
Implementation (IV) - LiveWire
Seems to be very suitable for application!
Graph-theoretic,
highly interactive
approach
LiveWire Approach (I)
Segmentation consists of:
obj. recognition -> human better
obj. delineation -> machine/algorithm
better
LiveWire combines human recognition
and automatic delineation!

LiveWire (II) - Ingredients
Image pixel -> node of graph
a
b
c e
d
cost(p,q) = w1*fz + w2*fg + w3*fd
p,q ... adjacent pixels (4- or 8-neighbours)
w1,w2,w3 ... weights
fz ... Laplacian Zero Crossing
fg ... Image gradient magnitude
fd ... Image gradient direction

cost(b,e)
cost(a,e)
cost(d,e)
cost(c,e)
2 adjacent pixel -> directed arcs of graph
arcs are weighted by cost function
LiveWire (III) - Algorithm
2 steps:
1. Compute all shortest
paths in image to a
selected start-point
2. While moving mouse,
current position is end
point -> select shortest
path connecting start
and end point
Find shortest paths -> Dijkstra
Start point
End point End point
Shortest-Path map
LiveWire(V) - More Features
Path cooling for intermed. points
Real Time segmentation possible
(show demo!)

LiveWire Disadvantage:
Segmenting 16 images is faster than
manual segmentation but still time-
consuming!
Results (I)
Evaluation of 31 data sets
Volumes achieved by
Parametric model
Manually drawn contours (Prof. Rienmller)
Thresholding
Contours after Snake segmentation
Contours after LiveWire segmentation


Results (II)
LiveWire contours vs. parametric model
Similar results for Snake- and manually drawn contours
Results (III)
Comparison btw. LiveWire & manual contours
High correlation, fast & accurate reproduction of Prof.
Rienmllers contours!
Results (IV)
Summary & Conclusion
Comparison segmentation-based vs.
parametric volume estimation
Algorithms:
Thresholding, Snakes
LiveWire
LiveWire shows excellent behaviour, it
would be powerful for reducing
segmentation time in the hands of a
radiologist!

Future: 3D Region Growing?