Deformable associate net approach for chest CT image segmentation

We propose a new deformable model Deformable Associate Net (DAN). It is represented by a set of nodes which are associated by deformation constrains such as topology association, inter-part association, intra-part association, and geometry to atlas association. Each node in the model is given a priority, and hence DAN is a hierarchical model in which each layer is decided by nodes with same priority. Directional edges and dynamic generated local atlases are used in energy function to incorporate knowledge about tissue and image acquisition. A fast digital topology based method is designed to check whether topology of the model is changed under deformation. The deformation procedure hierarchically combines global and local deformations. Layers with high priority deform first. Once a higher layer is deformed to its target position in an image, the nodes in this layer are fixed, and then used as reference to help lower layers deform to their initial positions. At a particular layer, the model is first deformed by using global affine transformation to fit the image roughly, and then is warped by using a local deformation to fit the image better. The proposed method has been used to segment chest CT images for thoracic surgical planning, and it is also promising for other medical applications, such as model based image registration, and model-based 3D modeling.