A review on the current segmentation algorithms for medical images

Abstract

This paper makes a review on the current segmentation algorithms used for medical images. Algorithms are divided into three categories according to their main ideas: the ones based on threshold, the ones based on pattern recognition techniques and the ones based on deformable models. The main tendency of each category with their principle ideas, application field, advantages and disadvantages are discussed. For each considered type some typical algorithms are described. Algorithms of the third category are mainly focused because of the intensive investigation on deformable models in the recent years. Possible applications of these algorithms on segmenting organs and tissues contained in the pelvic cavity are also discussed through several preliminary experiments.