title: Automated segmentation of the incus and malleus ossicles in conventional tri-dimensional computed tomography images.
abstract: This article proposes a fully automated computational solution to segment the incus and malleus ear ossicles in conventional tri-dimensional X-ray computed tomography images. The solution uses a registration-based segmentation paradigm, followed by image segmentation refinement. It was tested against a dataset comprising 21 computed tomography volumetric images of the ear acquired using standard protocols and with resolutions varying from 0.162 × 0.162 × 0.6 to 0.166 × 0.166 × 1.0 mm(3). The images used were randomly selected from subjects who had had a computed tomography examination of the ear due to ear-related pathologies. Dice's coefficient and the Hausdorff distance were used to compare the results of the automated segmentation against those of a manual segmentation performed by two experts. The mean agreement between automated and manual segmentations was equal to 0.956 (Dice's coefficient), and the mean Hausdorff distance among the shapes obtained was 1.14 mm, which is approximately equal to the maximum distance between the neighbouring voxels in the dataset tested. The results confirm that the automated segmentation of the incus and malleus ossicles in tri-dimensional images acquired from patients with ear-related pathologies, using conventional computed tomography scanners and standard protocols, is feasible, robust and accurate. Thus, the solution developed can be employed efficiently in computed tomography ear examinations to help radiologists and otolaryngologists in the evaluation of bi-dimensional slices by providing the related tri-dimensional model.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS) and Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Francisco P M
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: HPP Medicina Molecular, SA., Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Diogo Borges
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Faria
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal tavares@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: João Manuel R S
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tavares
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D007188:Incus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008307:Malleus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Medical imaging; atlas-based segmentation; ear segmentation; image registration; imaging analysis