Algorithms for image segmentation applied to DT-MR images and mammograms

An important part of object oriented image processing procedure is image segmentation which, is a method of separating an image into regions of interest. Our contributions are as follows: (i) We propose a novel method to apply the random walker method to segment non-scalar diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) data. We also extend the implementation by including a non-parametric probability density model to enable the segmentation of disconnected objects. (ii) We apply the random walker method to both second and fourth order DT-MR data and demonstrate the advantages of performing segmentations on higher order data. (iii) We use a DTI segmented atlas to investigate tissue discrimination in the brain, which serves to evaluate diffusion anisotropy measures. (iv) Finally, we propose a novel method for the segmentation of the breast from mammograms. The method automatically identifies intensity values that are used to define a probability distribution used in the segmentation.