title: Data-driven shape parameterization for segmentation of the right ventricle from 3D+t echocardiography.
abstract: Model-based segmentation facilitates the accurate measurement of geometric properties of anatomy from ultrasound images. Regularization of the model surface is typically necessary due to the presence of noisy and incomplete boundaries. When simple regularizers are insufficient, linear basis shape models have been shown to be effective. However, for problems such as right ventricle (RV) segmentation from 3D+t echocardiography, where dense consistent landmarks and complete boundaries are absent, acquiring accurate training surfaces in dense correspondence is difficult. As a solution, this paper presents a framework which performs joint segmentation of multiple 3D+t sequences while simultaneously optimizing an underlying linear basis shape model. In particular, the RV is represented as an explicit continuous surface, and segmentation of all frames is formulated as a single continuous energy minimization problem. Shape information is automatically shared between frames, missing boundaries are implicitly handled, and only coarse surface initializations are necessary. The framework is demonstrated to successfully segment both multiple-view and multiple-subject collections of 3D+t echocardiography sequences, and the results confirm that the linear basis shape model is an effective model constraint. Furthermore, the framework is shown to achieve smaller segmentation errors than a state-of-art commercial semi-automatic RV segmentation package.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Electronic address: richard.stebbing@eng.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Richard V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Stebbing
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ana I L
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Namburete
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Upton
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leeson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J Alison
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Noble
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D056973:Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014463:Ultrasonography; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
keywords: Linear basis shape model; Segmentation; Subdivision surfaces