Assessment of the Log-Euclidean Metric Performance in Diffusion Tensor Image Segmentation

Document Type : Original Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran,

2 Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept., Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Appropriate definition of the distance measure between diffusion tensors has a deep impact on Diffusion Tensor Image (DTI) segmentation results. The geodesic metric is the best distance measure since it yields high-quality segmentation results. However, the important problem with the geodesic metric is a high computational cost of the algorithms based on it. The main goal of this paper is to assess the possible substitution of the geodesic metric with the Log-Euclidean one to reduce the computational cost of a statistical surface evolution algorithm.
Materials and Methods: We incorporated the Log-Euclidean metric in the statistical surface evolution algorithm framework. To achieve this goal, the statistics and gradients of diffusion tensor images were defined using the Log-Euclidean metric. Numerical implementation of the segmentation algorithm was performed in the MATLAB software using the finite difference techniques.
Results: In the statistical surface evolution framework, the Log-Euclidean metric was able to discriminate the torus and helix patterns in synthesis datasets and rat spinal cords in biological phantom datasets from the background better than the Euclidean and J-divergence metrics. In addition, similar results were obtained with the geodesic metric. However, the main advantage of the Log-Euclidean metric over the geodesic metric was the dramatic reduction of computational cost of the segmentation algorithm, at least by 70 times.
Discussion and Conclusion: The qualitative and quantitative results have shown that the Log-Euclidean metric is a good substitute for the geodesic metric when using a statistical surface evolution algorithm in DTIs segmentation.

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Iranian Journal of Medical Physics
Volume 7, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
May and June 2010
Pages 21-39

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History

  • Receive Date: 09 March 2010
  • Revise Date: 19 May 2010
  • Accept Date: 26 May 2010

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