Active contour-based ultrasound tumour segmentation with contour initialization using thresholding based on phase gradients

ABSTRACT

The non-invasive, cost-effective and radiation-free methodology of ultrasound imaging procedures makes it a convenient tool for the detection of tumours. But, usually, the diagnosis efficiency and accuracy of detection is affected by speckle, intensity inhomogeneities and low contrast. For tumour detection, identifying and segmenting the tumour region is vital. In this proposed work, active contours based segmentation is employed with the initial contour achieved using a thresholding method involving a novel concept of phase gradients. Initially, the raw US image is de-speckled and enhanced using the neutrosophic transformation concept. This pre-processed US image is then thresholded using adaptive constraints derived from the mean, texture (using Gabor filters), gradient, phase information and phase gradient of the image. Then the obtained thresholded image is used as the initial mask/contour for segmentation based on active contours using localized image energies. The proposed methodology gave improved tumour boundary delineations even for challenging tumour echogenicities.

KEYWORDS:

• Ultrasound tumour segmentation
• thresholding
• neutrosophic image
• phase
• gradient
• active contours

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Revathy Sivanandan

Revathy Sivanandan received her B.Tech degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the University of Kerala, India in the year 2011. She completed her M.Tech degree in Signal Processing from the University of Kerala, India in the year 2014. She worked as Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology, Kerala, India from 2016 to 2018. She is currently pursuing her Ph. D in Biomedical Image Processing in Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology, under APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala, India. Her research interests include biomedical signal processing, computer vision and deep learning.

J. Jayakumari

J. Jayakumari received her B.E. degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from M.S.University, Tirunelveli in 1994 and M.Tech degree in Applied Electronics and Instrumentation from the University of Kerala in 1998 and Ph.D degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the University of Kerala in 2009. She is a Fellow member of the Council of Engineering and Technology (India), Senior member of Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Fellow member of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), Fellow Member of Institution of Engineers (India) and Life Member of Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE). She is presently the Chairman of IEEE Circuits and Systems Society India chapter. She is currently working as a Professor, in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology. Her research interest includes signal processing and artificial intelligence.