Interactive Segmentation of Biomedical Images and Volumes using Connected Operators

The aim of this paper is to present a new method able to convey more meaningful images to the clinician. To reach this goal a new approach to medical interactive segmentation issue is proposed. First an automatic simplification process is performed on the volume, relying on connected operator methods. Afterwards a set of descriptors of the region of interest (RoI) is acquired by means of a 2D interactive session by the clinician. These descriptors, reflecting a real diagnostic interest, work like selective criteria during the subsequent morphological segmentation process done on the whole volume. They allow to extract the desired structures avoiding a strong interaction by the user. Finally a 3D visualisation of the segmented volume of interest (VoI) is obtained, and interactive tools allow the user to adjust and improve the results until satisfaction.