Multiscale Opening of Conjoined Fuzzy Objects: Theory and Applications

Theoretical properties of a multiscale opening algorithm for two conjoined fuzzy objects are established, and its extension to separating two conjoined fuzzy objects with different intensity properties is introduced. In addition, its applications to artery/vein separation in pulmonary CT imaging and carotid vessel segmentation in CT angiograms (CTAs) of patients with intracranial aneurysms are presented. The new algorithm accounts for distinct intensity properties of individual conjoined objects by combining fuzzy distance transform, a morphologic feature, with fuzzy connectivity, a topologic feature. The algorithm iteratively opens the two conjoined objects starting at large scales and progressing toward finer scales. Results of application of the method in separating arteries and veins in a physical cast phantom of a pig lung are presented. Accuracy of the algorithm is quantitatively evaluated in terms of sensitivity and specificity on patients' CTA datasets, and its performance is compared with existing methods. Reproducibility of the algorithm is examined in terms of volumetric agreement between two users' carotid vessel segmentation results. Experimental results using this algorithm on patients' CTA data demonstrate a high average accuracy of 96.3% with 95.1% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity and a high reproducibility of 94.2% average agreement between segmentation results from two mutually independent users. Approximately, 25-35 user-specified seeds/separators are needed for each CTA data through a custom-designed graphical interface requiring an average of 30 min to complete carotid vascular segmentation in a patient's CTA dataset.