AUTOIN: Method of Automatic Initialization of Active Contours Applied to Lungs in CT Images

In this work we present a new method of automatic initialization for the active contours method denominated AUTOIN. This method is applied in 72 computed tomography images of the lungs of healthy volunteers and ill patients. AUTOIN is compared to the method of object center localization. The accuracy obtained is calculated using the average and standard deviation of the distance (mm) between the points localized in each method. The results of AUTOIN for healthy volunteers are for the right lung mean of 12.3mm and standard deviation of 17.9mm, and for the left one mean of 11.7mm and 16.7mm of standard deviation. For the ill patients, the results are mean of 15.8mm and standard deviation of 20.4 mm for the right lung and mean of 14.6mm and 21.3mm of standard deviation for the left one. We conclude that AUTOIN enables to perform automatic definition of the initial contour inside the lungs.