Medical Image Segmentation Using Level Set Method and Digital Topology - Concepts and New Developments

Recent developments in medical imaging technologyhave changed the practice of medicine, providingphysicians with powerful, non-invasive methods forstudying the internal anatomy and function of thehuman body. These advances in imaging techniquesoffer both a great opportunity and a tremendouschallenge for the image processing community todevelop new tools to help the analysis andinterpretation of the vast amount of complex medicalimaging data. The work presented in this book ismotivated by the fascinating task of studying thestructural and functional relationship of the humanbrain, with the specific aim of developinggeometrically accurate and topologically correctmethods for automatic segmentation of 3D magneticresonance brain images. Several new methods arereported in this book, which should help provide newinsights in understanding the medical imagesegmentation problem and the challenges it poses, andhelp promote future development in the fields ofimage processing, signal processing, computer vision,and medical imaging.