title: A two-dimensional extension of minimum cross entropy thresholding for the segmentation of ultrasound images.
abstract: Segmentation is often an important step in medical image analysis. The local entropy is a possible variable for segmenting ultrasound images containing fluid surrounded by a soft tissue. A commonly used tool for image segmentation is thresholding. Recently, a new thresholding technique, known as "minimum cross entropy thresholding" (MCE), has been proposed. We present a multivariate extension of MCE in which the segmented variable (gray level) is replaced by a weighted combination of several image parameters. We propose to use a bivariate extension of MCE, which uses a linear combination of the gray level and the local entropy. The results obtained are demonstrated for ultrasound images of ovarian cysts.
authors.affiliation: Medical Physics Department, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zimmer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tepper
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akselrod
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019277:Entropy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010048:Ovarian Cysts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*