Model-Based Brain and Tumor Segmentation

Combining image segmentation based on statistical classification with a geometric prior has been shown to significantly increase robustness and reproducibility. Using a probabilistic geometric model of sought structures and image registration serves both initialization of probability density functions and definition of spatial constraints. A strong spatial prior, however, prevents segmentation of structures that are not part of the model. In practical applications, we encounter either the presentation of new objects that cannot be modelled with a spatial prior or regional intensity changes of existing structures. Our driving application is the segmentation of brain tissue and tumors from three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We aim at both obtaining a high-quality segmentation of healthy tissue and a precise delineation of tumor boundaries. We present an extension to an existing expectation maximization segmentation (EM) algorithm that modifies a probabilistic brain atlas with individual subject’s information about tumor location. This information is obtained from subtraction of postand pre-contrast MRI and calculation of a posterior probability map for tumor. The new method handles both phenomena, space-occupying mass tumors and infiltrating changes like edema. Preliminary results on five cases presenting tumor types with very different characteristics demonstrate the potential of the new technique for clinical routine use for planning and monitoring in neurosurgery, radiation oncology, and radiology.