Automatic organ segmentation on torso CT images by using content- based image retrieval

This paper presents a fast and robust segmentation scheme that automatically identifies and extracts a massive-organ region on torso CT images. In contrast to the conventional algorithms that are designed empirically for segmenting a specific organ based on traditional image processing techniques, the proposed scheme uses a fully data-driven approach to accomplish a universal solution for segmenting the different massive-organ regions on CT images. Our scheme includes three processing steps: machine-learning-based organ localization, content-based image (reference) retrieval, and atlas-based organ segmentation techniques. We applied this scheme to automatic segmentations of heart, liver, spleen, left and right kidney regions on non-contrast CT images respectively, which are still difficult tasks for traditional segmentation algorithms. The segmentation results of these organs are compared with the ground truth that manually identified by a medical expert. The Jaccard similarity coefficient between the ground truth and automated segmentation result centered on 67% for heart, 81% for liver, 78% for spleen, 75% for left kidney, and 77% for right kidney. The usefulness of our proposed scheme was confirmed.