title: Multiple active contours driven by particle swarm optimization for cardiac medical image segmentation.
abstract: This paper presents a novel image segmentation method based on multiple active contours driven by particle swarm optimization (MACPSO). The proposed method uses particle swarm optimization over a polar coordinate system to increase the energy-minimizing capability with respect to the traditional active contour model. In the first stage, to evaluate the robustness of the proposed method, a set of synthetic images containing objects with several concavities and Gaussian noise is presented. Subsequently, MACPSO is used to segment the human heart and the human left ventricle from datasets of sequential computed tomography and magnetic resonance images, respectively. Finally, to assess the performance of the medical image segmentations with respect to regions outlined by experts and by the graph cut method objectively and quantifiably, a set of distance and similarity metrics has been adopted. The experimental results demonstrate that MACPSO outperforms the traditional active contour model in terms of segmentation accuracy and stability.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Guanajuato, División de Ingenierías, Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, Carretera Salamanca, Valle de Santiago km 3.5+1.8, Comunidad de Palo Blanco, 36885 Salamanca, GTO, Mexico. i.cruzaceves@ugto.mx
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cruz-Aceves
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Aviña-Cervantes
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: López-Hernández
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: González-Reyna
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data