A boundary extraction approach based on multi-resolution methods and the T-Snakes framework

We present a new approach which integrates the T-Snakes model and a multi-resolution method in a unified framework for segmentation and boundary extraction. In a first stage, a local scale property of the objects is used to define a triangulation of the image domain and a sampling (coarsest resolution) of the image field. The low resolution image is thresholded to get a 0-1 field which is processed by a simple continuation method to generate polygonal curves whose interior contain the desired objects. If the polygonal curve involves more than one object, then the resolution is increased in that region and the method will be applied again. This stage gives a rough approximation of the desired boundaries which will be improved by the T-Snakes to get the final result. We demonstrate the method for 2D medical imaging in the experimental results and indicate how it can be extended to 3D in future work.