A queue-based region growing algorithm for accurate segmentation of multi-dimensional digital images

An algorithm for automatic and accurate segmentation of multi-dimensional images is presented in this paper. It improves the classical watershed transform whose results are inaccurate when applied on noisy or anisotropic data. This algorithm combines a watershed-like region growing with a very simple marker selection step. It is particularly well suited for accurate segmentation of complex objects, such as the brain in 3D Magnetic Resonance (MR) images of the head since it provides an accurate and fully 3D segmentation in a reasonable computation time. Comparative results of the segmentation obtained by this algorithm and by the classical watershed transform are shown in the case of 3D MR images. Applications of this technique to 3D visualisation and brain sulcii identification are also presented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.