Medical Image Segementation using Weighted Identification Level Set Evolution based on Local Edge Features

Medical image segmentation is a fundamental task in medical image analysis, playing a crucial role in disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and clinical decision-making. Accurate segmentation of anatomical structures, such as blood vessels, organs, and lesions, is essential for reliable medical interpretations. However, existing segmentation models often face challenges in effectively capturing both local and global features within medical images. Traditional convolutional neural networks (CNNs) excel at extracting fine-grained local features but struggle to model long-range dependencies due to their limited receptive fields. Conversely, transformer-based models can capture global contextual relationships but often fail to preserve detailed local structures, leading to suboptimal segmentation performance. The purpose of this study is to develop SEFormer, a novel hybrid network that integrates SENet, ResNet, and Transformer to enhance medical image segmentation. SEFormer aims to effectively capture both local and global features, addressing the limitations of traditional CNNs and transformer-based models.SENet is incorporated to recalibrate feature maps by adaptively emphasizing informative features, thereby compensating for the global representation limitations of CNNs. Meanwhile, the ResNet backbone ensures deep feature extraction while maintaining computational efficiency. Additionally, the Transformer module is introduced to capture long-range dependencies and enhance contextual awareness, complementing the local feature extraction capabilities of CNNs. This hybrid approach allows SEFormer to balance fine-grained spatial details with broader contextual information, leading to more precise segmentation results.Furthermore, to mitigate information loss during feature extraction and ensure a more complete and hierarchical representation of image information, we introduce a feature pyramid structure inspired by multi-scale image pyramid models. By progressively increasing the receptive field across different scales and employing skip connections, SEFormer effectively fuses multi-scale local and global features at each stage of the pyramid. This hierarchical fusion mechanism ensures a richer and more robust feature representation, which is particularly beneficial for segmenting complex medical structures such as blood vessels. We evaluate SEFormer on the CHASE_DB1 dataset, a widely used benchmark for retinal vessel segmentation. Experimental results demonstrate that SEFormer outperforms existing state-of-the-art segmentation methods, achieving a 3.25% improvement in segmentation accuracy. Additionally, we conduct ablation studies to verify the contributions of different components within SEFormer. The results show that incorporating SENet enhances feature recalibration and channel attention, while the Transformer module significantly improves global context awareness. The feature pyramid structure further contributes to performance gains by ensuring a multi-scale representation of vascular structures. Compared to conventional CNN-based methods, our approach achieves better segmentation accuracy with improved robustness to variations in vessel thickness, noise, and image contrast. Furthermore, SEFormer maintains computational efficiency, making it suitable for real-world clinical applications where both accuracy and processing speed are critical. SEFormer provides an efficient and accurate approach for medical image segmentation by leveraging the complementary strengths of CNNs, SENet, and Transformers while integrating a feature pyramid structure to maximize feature representation. Future research directions include extending SEFormer to other medical imaging modalities, such as CT and MRI scans, as well as exploring further optimization techniques to reduce computational costs while maintaining high segmentation performance. Additionally, integrating SEFormer with active learning frameworks could further improve segmentation performance by leveraging expert-annotated data more efficiently.

Accurate image segmentation is crucial in medical imaging for quantifying diseases, assessing prognosis, and evaluating treatment outcomes. However, existing methods often fall short in integrating global and local features in a meaningful way, failing to give sufficient attention to abnormal regions and boundary details in medical images. These limitations hinder the effectiveness of segmentation techniques in clinical settings. To address these issues, we propose a novel deep learning-based approach, MIPC-Net, designed for precise boundary segmentation in medical images. Our approach, inspired by radiologists' working patterns, introduces two distinct modules: 1. Mutual Inclusion of Position and Channel Attention (MIPC) Module: To improve boundary segmentation precision, we present the MIPC module. This module enhances the focus on channel information while extracting position features and vice versa, effectively enhancing the segmentation of boundaries in medical images. 2. Skip-Residue Module: To optimize the restoration of medical images, we introduce Skip-Residue, a global residual connection. This module improves the integration of the encoder and decoder by filtering out irrelevant information and recovering the most crucial information lost during the feature extraction process. We evaluate the performance of MIPC-Net on three publicly accessible datasets: Synapse, ISIC2018-Task, and Segpc. The evaluation uses metrics such as the Dice coefficient (DSC) and Hausdorff Distance (HD). Our ablation study confirms that each module contributes to the overall improvement of segmentation quality. Notably, with the integration of both modules, our model outperforms state-of-the-art methods across all metrics. Specifically, MIPC-Net achieves a 2.23 mm reduction in Hausdorff Distance on the Synapse dataset, highlighting the model's enhanced capability for precise image boundary segmentation. The introduction of the novel MIPC and Skip-Residue modules significantly improves feature extraction accuracy, leading to better boundary recognition in medical image segmentation tasks. Our approach demonstrates substantial improvements over existing methods, as evidenced by the results on benchmark datasets.

Deep learning has achieved great success in the field of computer vision, and the precision in image classification and image detection has surpassed humans. Therefore, this paper combines deep learning and medical image segmentation, focusing on how to improve the accuracy and speed of segmentation algorithm of medical exercise rehabilitation image. Aiming at the shortcomings of traditional medical image recognition methods, a medical exercise rehabilitation image segmentation algorithm based on hierarchical features of convolutional neural networks is proposed, this paper calls it as hierarchical features of convolutional neural networks (HFCNN). The algorithm firstly samples the convolution output of multiple layers in the convolutional neural network to a unified scale and combines them to construct a hierarchical feature. This hierarchical feature combines the structural information of objects contained in the shallow layer of the network with the semantic information of objects contained in the deep layers of the network, so it has a strong ability to express. Secondly, the image can be segmented into multiple super pixels by the super pixel segmentation algorithm. The classifier is trained using the hierarchical features of the super pixel, and then the classification result is mapped back to the pixel. Finally, a fully connected conditional random field algorithm including one-potential potential energy and paired potential energy is constructed. The corresponding energy function is used to smooth the classification result of the pixel, and the regional consistency and continuity of the pixel mark are improved. Compared with many classical convolutional neural network algorithms, this algorithm not only accelerates the network convergence speed, shortens the training time, but also significantly improves the accuracy of segmentation algorithm of medical exercise rehabilitation image, showing good practical value.

Image segmentation is an important task in image processing, which is widely used in medical applications such as abnormality detection and after treatment progress monitoring. Conventionally, texture, region, and edge information are used for segmentation. Recently, the majority of image segmentation uses contour-based models. The problem of efficient segmentation in medical images is of great importance in disease diagnosis. Medical images suffer from weak boundaries, and placement of initial contour is a major issue. Level method is an effective method for segmentation of image as it has ability to tackle complex geometries. It helps to detect the precise location of the target region and help to prevent the boundary leakage problem. This chapter presents an overview of the advanced region and edge-based level set segmentation algorithms and their application in the dental x-ray images. Computer-aided diagnosis from x-ray images are of interest to clinicians in detection and accurate decision making. Case studies of multiple region segmentation from dental x-rays are presented.

Medical image segmentation, the process of precisely delineating regions of interest (e.g. organs, lesions, cells) within medical images, is a pivotal technique in medical image analysis. It finds widespread application in computer‐aided diagnosis, surgical planning, radiation therapy, and pathological analysis, thus playing a crucial role in enabling precision medicine and enhancing the quality of clinical care. Traditional medical image segmentation methods often rely on hand‐crafted features and rule‐based approaches, which struggle to handle the inherent complexity and variability of medical imagery, leading to limitations in segmentation accuracy and robustness. Recently, deep learning methodologies, driven by their powerful capabilities in automatic feature learning and non‐linear modelling, have overcome the limitations of traditional methods and achieved significant advancements in the field of medical image segmentation. This review provides a comprehensive overview and summary of recent progress in deep learning‐based medical image segmentation, with a particular focus on fully supervised learning paradigms leveraging convolutional neural networks, transformers, and the segment anything model. We delve into the underlying principles, network architectures, advantages, and limitations of these approaches. Furthermore, we systematically compare their performance across diverse imaging modalities, anatomical structures, and pathological targets. We also present a curated compilation of commonly used datasets, evaluation metrics, and loss functions relevant to medical image segmentation. Finally, we discuss future research directions and potential challenges, offering insights into the evolving landscape of this critical field.

DSEU-net: A novel deep supervision SEU-net for medical ultrasound image segmentation

In recent years, generative adversarial networks (GANs) have gained tremendous popularity for various imaging related tasks such as artificial image generation to support AI training. GANs are especially useful for medical imaging-related tasks where training datasets are usually limited in size and heavily imbalanced against the diseased class. We present a systematic review, following the PRISMA guidelines, of recent GAN architectures used for medical image analysis to help the readers in making an informed decision before employing GANs in developing medical image classification and segmentation models. We have extracted 54 papers that highlight the capabilities and application of GANs in medical imaging from January 2015 to August 2020 and inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. Our results show four main architectures of GAN that are used for segmentation or classification in medical imaging. We provide a comprehensive overview of recent trends in the application of GANs in clinical diagnosis through medical image segmentation and classification and ultimately share experiences for task-based GAN implementations.

Medical image segmentation serves as an important tool in the treatment of various medical diseases. However, achieving precise and efficient segmentation remains challenging due to the intricate structures and variations. Although neural network methods based on U-shaped structures have shown impressive results, they often lack effective representation of global–local features, leading to insufficient extraction of multi-scale and contextual information in medical image segmentation tasks. To tackle these challenges, we propose a novel approach: a dilated dendritic module with deep supervision, namely 3DL-Net. It integrates the flexible dilated convolution mechanism into the segmentation architecture, aiming to expand the model’s receptive field and capture richer global features. Additionally, in contrast to other segmentation architectures, we innovatively introduce the processing of local feature of shallow structures through the dendritic neuron module in medical images into 3DL-Net. This is the first time dendritic learning has been employed at the channel level and represents a pioneering approach to the local feature process. During the training process, 3DL-Net incorporates a deep supervision mechanism that utilizes our designed loss function. Due to the intermediate supervision signals at various network stages, providing feedback at multiple levels, the model refines its predictions across various scales, contributing to further enhanced segmentation outcomes. To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method, we conducted extensive experiments on three medical image datasets to demonstrate significant improvements in segmentation accuracy compared to state-of-the-art models. Our mDice metrics on three datasets achieved 86.61%, 87.87%, and 85.06%, surpassing the second-best models by 3.85%, 1.54%, and 0.95%.

Medical image segmentation is a critical task in computer-assisted diagnosis and therapy planning. Accurate and efficient fully automated segmentation methods are essential for accelerating decision-making processes. Compared with natural image segmentation methods, current deep learning–based segmentation models for medical imaging face challenges related to data scarcity, inconsistent annotations, and high computational cost. Consequently, this thesis aims to develop efficiency and generalised medical image segmentation models, which are fundamental to the clinical adoption and industrial deployment of this technology in healthcare settings. This thesis systematically addresses these challenges through a series of progressively advanced deep learning models. The foundational work, CTranS, forms a baseline medical image segmentation model that combines a convolutional neural network (CNN) based encoder with a Transformer-based decoder. This initial contribution leverages the strengths of CNNs for local feature extraction and Transformers for global contextual understanding, achieving state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance. Subsequently, to enhance the generalisability, MO-CTranS is introduced, which is capable of learning from a mixture of multiple partially labelled datasets. MO-CTranS employs a CNN encoder and Transformer decoder with task-specific tokens to handle label inconsistencies and class imbalances, tackling the challenges of training a single unified model from fragmented and heterogeneously annotated medical data. This innovation moves beyond single-task, fully-annotated model training towards a more scalable and clinically realistic approach. Despite the superior performance of CTranS and MO-CTranS, the computational efficiency of the Transformer blocks hinders their clinical application. Thus, CRFTrans is proposed to enhance the model efficiency. As a novel recursive Vision Transformer layer designed to replace the commonly used cascaded Transformer layers, this approach represents a fundamental shift from simply stacking layers to a recursive refinement process, demonstrating that comparable performance can be achieved with significantly reduced computational complexity, thus facilitating deployment in resource-constrained clinical environments. However, these methods still depend on extensive manual annotation, which remains challenging and time-consuming in clinical practice. Thus, to further enhance both efficiency and generality, a novel semi-supervised medical image segmentation framework, referred to as SSL-MedSAM2, has been developed. SSL-MedSAM2 integrates a training-free few-shot segmentation branch for pseudo labelling and a fully supervised learning branch for label refinement. This design allows the model to leverage a small fraction of labelled images together with a large unlabelled set, dramatically decreasing the annotation effort. Together, these contributions result in deep learning models that are significantly more data-efficient and broadly applicable than conventional approaches. The overall impact of this work is to facilitate the reliable and scalable deployment of segmentation models in real-world clinical settings by bridging the gap among accuracy, efficiency, and generalisability.

Intensity inhomogeneity in MR images is an undesired phenomenon, which often hampers different steps of quantitative analysis such as segmentation or registration. In this paper we propose a novel fully automated method for retrospective correction of intensity inhomogeneity. The basic assumption is that inhomogeneity correction could be improved by combining the information from multiple MR channels. Intensity inhomogeneities are simultaneously removed in a four-step iterative procedure. First, the probability distribution of intensities for two channel images is calculated. In the second step, intensity correction forces, that tend to minimize image entropies, are estimated for every image voxel. Third, inhomogeneity correction fields are obtained by regularization and normalization of all voxel forces, and last, corresponding partial inhomogeneity corrections are performed separately for each channel. The method was quantitatively evaluated on simulated and real MR brain images. The results show substantial improvement in comparison with the two state-of-the-art methods.

Since the phenomena of intensity inhomogeneity in MR images are prominent and adversely affect quantitative image analysis .In this paper ,we propose a novel magnetic resonance (MR) image segmentation approach based on the kernel graph cuts technique .Because of automatic multiregion segmentation and global energy minimization ,the kernel graph cuts method can be applied to many kinds of images segmentation ,such as MR images and so on . To reduce or eliminate intensity inhomogeneity in MR images ,we add the intensity inhomogeneity correction step which is based on fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm before the segment procedure .Firstly , the real MR image data obtained after bias corrected by FCM algorithm .Secondly ,we segment the real MR image data by kernel graph cuts method .Experiments show that the kernel graph cuts method with intensity inhomogeneity correction have a better segment result in accuracy and over-segmentation .

Early detection of cancer can increase patients' survivability and treatment options. Medical images such as Mammogram, Ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and microscopic images are the common method for cancer diagnosis. Recently, computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems have been used to help physicians in cancer diagnosis so that the diagnosis accuracy can be improved. CAD can help in decreasing missed cancer lesions due to physician fatigue, reducing the burden of workload and data overloading, and decreasing variability of inter- and intra-readers of images. In this research, a framework of CAD systems for cancer diagnosis based on medical images has been proposed. The proposed work helps physicians in detection of suspicion regions using different medical images modalities and in classifying the detected suspicious regions as normal or abnormal with the highest possible accuracy. The proposed framework of CAD system consists of four stages which are: preprocessing, segmentation of regions of interest, feature extraction and selection, and finally classification. In this research, the framework has been applied on blood smear images to diagnose the cases as normal or abnormal for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) cases. Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) has been used to select the subsets of features from the features extracted from segmented cell parts which can maximize the classification performance as possible. Different classifiers which are Decision Tree (DT), K-nearest neighbor (K-NN), Naïve Bayes (NB), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) have been applied. The framework has been yielding promising results which reached 96.25% accuracy, 97.3% sensitivity, and 95.35% specificity using decision tree classifier.

Semantic image segmentation has a wide range of applications. When it comes to medical image segmentation, its accuracy is even more important than those of other areas because the performance gives useful information directly applicable to disease diagnosis, surgical planning, and history monitoring. The state-of-the-art models in medical image segmentation are variants of encoder-decoder architecture, which is called U-Net. To effectively reflect the spatial features in feature maps in encoder-decoder architecture, we propose a spatially adaptive weighting scheme for medical image segmentation. Specifically, the spatial feature is estimated from the feature maps, and the learned weighting parameters are obtained from the computed map, since segmentation results are predicted from the feature map through a convolutional layer. Especially in the proposed networks, the convolutional block for extracting the feature map is replaced with the widely used convolutional frameworks: VGG, ResNet, and Bottleneck Resent structures. In addition, a bilinear up-sampling method replaces the up-convolutional layer to increase the resolution of the feature map. For the performance evaluation of the proposed architecture, we used three data sets covering different medical imaging modalities. Experimental results show that the network with the proposed self-spatial adaptive weighting block based on the ResNet framework gave the highest IoU and DICE scores in the three tasks compared to other methods. In particular, the segmentation network combining the proposed self-spatially adaptive block and ResNet framework recorded the highest 3.01% and 2.89% improvements in IoU and DICE scores, respectively, in the Nerve data set. Therefore, we believe that the proposed scheme can be a useful tool for image segmentation tasks based on the encoder-decoder architecture.

In recent days, deep learning is on rage and is gaining a huge amount of popularity due to its supremacy in terms of accuracy. Deep learning is being used for a vast number of applications out of which healthcare is an important category. In this paper, we discuss the role of deep learning in medical image segmentation. It is also known as the automated or semi-automated detection of edges within various medical image modalities so as to identify the region of interest. Furthermore, we also explore the various deep learning networks that are widely preferred for medical image segmentation along with the architecture and overview of each network. This paper covers the most recent and widely preferred deep learning networks such as Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and other related networks such as Alexnet, Resnet, U-net and V-net. The challenges and limitations of the emerging DL networks is also studied.KeywordsDeep learningImage segmentationCNNAlexnetResnetU-netV-net

Cold SegDiffusion: A novel diffusion model for medical image segmentation