Performance Evaluation of Contour Based Segmentation Methods for Ultrasound Images

Active contour methods are widely used for medical image segmentation. Using level set algorithms the applications of active contour methods have become flexible and convenient. This paper describes the evaluation of the performance of the active contour models using performance metrics and statistical analysis. We have implemented five different methods for segmenting the synovial region in arthritis affected ultrasound image. A comparative analysis between the methods of segmentation was performed and the best segmentation method was identified using similarity criteria, standard error, and F-test. For further analysis, classification of the segmentation techniques using support vector machine (SVM) classifier is performed to determine the absolute method for synovial region detection. With these results, localized region based active contour named Lankton method is defined to be the best segmentation method.