PRECISE SEGMENTATION OF THE LATERAL VENTRICLES AND CAUDATE-NUCLEUS INMR BRAIN IMAGES USING ANATOMICALLY DRIVEN HISTOGRAMS

This paper demonstrates a time-saving, automated method that helps to segment the lateral ventricles and caudate nucleus in T1-weighted coro nal magnetic resonance (MR) brain images of normal control subjects. T he method involves choosing intensity thresholds by using anatomical i nformation and by locating peaks in histograms. To validate the method , the lateral ventricles and caudate nucleus were segmented in three b rain scans by four experts, first using an established method involvin g isointensity contours and manual editing, and second using automatic ally generated intensity thresholds as an aid to the established metho d. The results demonstrate both time savings and increased reliability .