Multi-organ segmentation of CT images using statistical region merging

Segmentation is one of the key steps in the process of developing anatomical models for calculation of safe medical dose of radiation for children. This study explores the potential of the Statistical Region Merging segmentation technique for tissue segmentation in CT images. An analytical criterion allowing for an automatic tuning of the method is developed. The experiments are performed using a data set of 54 images from one patient, demonstrating the validity of the proposed criterion. The results are evaluated using the Jaccard index and a measure of border error with tolerance which addresses, application-dependant, acceptable error. The outcome shows that the technique has a great potential to become a method of choice for segmentation of CT images with an overall average boundary precision, for six representative tissues, equal to 0.937