Segmentation of prostate boundaries in transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images plays a great role in prostate cancer diagnosis. Due to the low signal to noise ratio and existence of the speckle noise in TRUS images, prostate image segmentation has proven to be an extremely difficult task. In this thesis report, a fast fully automated hybrid segmentation method based on probabilistic approaches is presented. First, the position of the initial model is automatically estimated using prostate boundary representative patterns. Next, the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm and Markov Random Field (MRF) theory are utilized in the deformation strategy to optimally fit the initial model on the prostate boundaries. A less computationally EM algorithm and a new surface smoothing technique are proposed to decrease the segmentation time. Successful experimental results with the average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) value 93.9±2.7% and computational time around 9 seconds validate the algorithm.
A Fast, Fully Automated Prostate Boundary Segmentation Using Probabilistic Approaches In Ultrasound Images