The fuzzy Hough Transform-feature extraction in medical images

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/42.293916· OSTI ID:7172871

Philip, K P; Dove, E L; Stanford, W; Chandran, K B ^[1]; McPherson, D D; Gotteiner, N L ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)
2. Northwestern Univ., Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Internal Medicine

Identification of anatomical features is a necessary step for medical image analysis. Automatic methods for feature identification using conventional pattern recognition techniques typically classify an object as a member of a predefined class of objects, but do not attempt to recover the exact or approximate shape of that object. For this reason, such techniques are usually not sufficient to identify the borders of organs when individual geometry varies in local detail, even though the general geometrical shape is similar. The authors present an algorithm that detects features in an image based on approximate geometrical models. The algorithm is based on the traditional and generalized Hough Transforms but includes notions from fuzzy set theory. The authors use the new algorithm to roughly estimate the actual locations of boundaries of an internal organ, and from this estimate, to determine a region of interest around the organ. Based on this rough estimate of the border location, and the derived region of interest, the authors find the final estimate of the true borders with other image processing techniques. The authors present results that demonstrate that the algorithm was successfully used to estimate the approximate location of the chest wall in humans, and of the left ventricular contours of a dog heart obtained from cine-computed tomographic images. The authors use this fuzzy Hough Transform algorithm as part of a larger procedures to automatically identify the myocardial contours of the heart. This algorithm may also allow for more rapid image processing and clinical decision making in other medical imaging applications.

• OSTI ID: 7172871
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 13:2; ISSN 0278-0062; ISSN ITMID4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550601* -- Medicine-- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ALGORITHMS
BODY
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
HEART
IMAGE PROCESSING
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
MUSCLES
MYOCARDIUM
ORGANS
PROCESSING
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
TOMOGRAPHY