TY - GEN
T1 - Topology preserving automatic segmentation of the spinal cord in magnetic resonance images
AU - Chen, Min
AU - Carass, Aaron
AU - Cuzzocreo, Jennifer
AU - Bazin, Pierre Louis
AU - Reich, Daniel S.
AU - Prince, Jerry L.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Magnetic resonance images of the spinal cord play an important role in studying neurological diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis, where spinal cord atrophy can provide a measure of disease progression and disability. Current practices involve segmenting the spinal cord manually, which can be an inconsistent and time-consuming process. We present an automatic segmentation method for the spinal cord using a novel combination of deformable atlas based registration and topology preserving classification to address the challenges inherent to MR images of the spinal cord. Using real MR data, our method is shown to be highly accurate when compared to segmentations by manual raters. In addition, our results always maintain the correct topology of the spinal cord, therefore providing segmentations more consistent with the known anatomy.
AB - Magnetic resonance images of the spinal cord play an important role in studying neurological diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis, where spinal cord atrophy can provide a measure of disease progression and disability. Current practices involve segmenting the spinal cord manually, which can be an inconsistent and time-consuming process. We present an automatic segmentation method for the spinal cord using a novel combination of deformable atlas based registration and topology preserving classification to address the challenges inherent to MR images of the spinal cord. Using real MR data, our method is shown to be highly accurate when compared to segmentations by manual raters. In addition, our results always maintain the correct topology of the spinal cord, therefore providing segmentations more consistent with the known anatomy.
KW - Magnetic resonance imaging
KW - Magnetization transfer images
KW - Topology-preserving segmentation
KW - digital homeomorphism
KW - spinal cord segmentation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80055026255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80055026255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISBI.2011.5872741
DO - 10.1109/ISBI.2011.5872741
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 27293519
AN - SCOPUS:80055026255
SN - 9781424441280
T3 - Proceedings - International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging
SP - 1737
EP - 1740
BT - 2011 8th IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging
T2 - 2011 8th IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro, ISBI'11
Y2 - 30 March 2011 through 2 April 2011
ER -