title: Texture-based echocardiographic segmentation using a non-parametric estimator and an active contour model.
abstract: An accurate segmentation of cardiac cavities is necessary to assess cardiac function and to determine quantitative parameters. Several semi-automatic techniques have been tested to achieve this goal. In this work we propose an algorithm to segment cardiac structures, based on a robust pre-processing step that eliminates noise and extracts an initial frontier, together with a refined deformable model, that integrates edge confidence and texture information. Results show that a combination of a mean-shift filter with an active contour model is adequate for echographic images, especially when texture information is included.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Mexico.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valdes-Cristerna
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yanez-Suarez
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lerallut
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Medina