Adaptive multi-objective archive-based hybrid scatter search for segmentation in lung computed tomography imaging

Abstract

This article proposes a multi-objective clustering ensemble method for medical image segmentation. The proposed method is called adaptive multi-objective archive-based hybrid scatter search (AMAHSS). It utilizes fuzzy clustering with optimization of three fitness functions: global fuzzy compactness of the clusters, fuzzy separation and symmetry distance-based cluster validity index. The AMAHSS enables the search strategy to explore intensively the search space with high-quality solutions and to move to unexplored search space when necessary. The best single solution is processed using the metaclustering algorithm. The proposed framework is designed to segment lung computed tomography images for candidate nodule detection. This candidate nodule will then be classified as cancerous or non-cancerous. The authors validate the method with standard k-means, fuzzy c-means and the multi-objective genetic algorithm with different postprocessing methods for the final solution. The results obtained from the benchmark experiment indicate that the method achieves up to 90% of the positive predictive rate.

Keywords:

• multi-objective optimization
• pattern recognition
• clustering
• image segmentation