3d Segmentation Of The Spinal Canal And Intervertebral Discs In Mri Data

Abstract

The concern of this work is development of the method for the spinal canal and intervertebral discs (IVD) segmentation in volume MRI data. The primary aim is to achieve the highest possible level of automation and accuracy allowing for reliable quantitative evaluation of the results. The algorithm is based on the random walk model in combination with a specific active contour method formulated through level set concept. The proposed approach is tested using a database of 3D T2-weighted MR images, which also contains referential manual segmentation of IVD.