Automatic Couinaud Liver and Veins Segmentation from CT Images

This paper presents an algorithm to segment the liver structures on computed tomography (CT) images according to the Couinaud orientation. Our method firstly separates the liver from the rest of the image. Then it segments the vessels inside the liver area using a region growing technique combined with hysteresis thresholding. It separates the vessels in segments without any bifurcation, and using heuristics based on anatomy, it classifies all vessel segments as hepatic or portal vein. Finally, the method estimates the planes that best fit each of the three branches of the segmented hepatic veins and the plane that best fits the portal vein. These planes define the subdivision of the liver in the Couinaud segments. An experimental evaluation based on real CT images demonstrated that the outcome of the proposed method is generally consistent with a visual segmentation.