title: Feature-based tracking of urethral motion in low-resolution trans-perineal ultrasound.
abstract: This paper describes a novel algorithm for tracking the motion of the urethra from trans-perineal ultrasound. Our work is based on the structure-from-motion paradigm and therefore handles well structures with ill-defined and partially missing boundaries. The proposed approach is particularly well-suited for video sequences of low resolution and variable levels of blurriness introduced by anatomical motion of variable speed. Our tracking method identifies feature points on a frame by frame basis using the SURF detector/descriptor. Inter-frame correspondence is achieved using nearest-neighbor matching in the feature space. The motion is estimated using a non-linear bi-quadratic model, which adequately describes the deformable motion of the urethra. Experimental results are promising and show that our algorithm performs well when compared to manual tracking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Laval University, Québec, QC, Canada. fjean@gel.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jean
authors.forename: Alexandra Branzan
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Albu
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dumoulin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009038:Motion; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*; D014521:Urethra / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy; D014741:Video Recording