Intensity-Based Object Extraction from 3D Medical Images Including a Correction of Partial Volume Errors

Feature extraction by applying a threshold window to image intensity values is a simple and common image processing technique. We consider the case of 3D images where intensity based feature extraction is used to determine the volume of objects of interest. We show that the accuracy of volume determination is limited by partial volume (PV) effects. We outline a new method for correcting for PV effects based on object geometry and object intensity. Although this PV correction has been developed with respect to a specific application in magnetic resonance imaging, it is applicable to volume extraction by thresholding in any image and can possibly be extended to other intensity-based extraction techniques.