Watershed Segmentation of Dermoscopy Images Using a Watershed Technique
Abstract
Background/purpose: Automatic lesion segmentation is an important part of computer-based image analysis of pigmented skin lesions. In this research, a watershed algorithm is developed and investigated for adequacy of skin lesion segmentation in dermoscopy images. Methods: Hair, black border and vignette removal methods are introduced as preprocessing steps. The flooding variant of the watershed segmentation algorithm was implemented with novel features adapted to this domain. An outer bounding box, determined by a difference function derived from horizontal and vertical projection functions, is added to estimate the lesion area, and the lesion area error is reduced by a linear estimation function. As a post-processing step, a second-order B-Spline smoothing method is introduced to smooth the watershed border. Results: Using the average of three sets of dermatologist-drawn borders as the ground truth, an overall error of 15.98% was obtained using the watershed technique. Conclusion: The implementation of the flooding variant of the watershed algorithm presented here allows satisfactory automatic segmentation of pigmented skin lesions.
Recommended Citation
H. Wang and X. Chen and R. H. Moss and R. J. Stanley and W. V. Stoecker and M. E. Celebi and T. M. Szalapski and J. M. Malters and J. M. Grichnik and A. A. Marghoob and H. S. Rabinovitz and S. W. Menzies, "Watershed Segmentation of Dermoscopy Images Using a Watershed Technique," Skin Research and Technology, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 378 - 384, John Wiley & Sons, Aug 2010.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0846.2010.00445.x
Department(s)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Second Department
Chemistry
Keywords and Phrases
Algorithms; Dermatology; Image Analysis; Imaging Systems; Landforms; Oncology; Splines; Watersheds; Automatic Segmentations; B-spline; Bounding Box; Dermoscopy Images; Difference Functions; Ground Truth; Linear Estimation; Malignant Melanoma; Pigmented Skin Lesions; Post Processing; Pre-processing Step; Removal Method; Second Orders; Segmentation; Skin Lesion; Smoothing Methods; Vertical Projection; Water-shed Algorithm; Watershed Segmentation; Watershed Segmentation Algorithm; Image Segmentation; Algorithm; Epiluminescence Microscopy; Esthetic Surgery; Image Analysis; Measurement Error; Skin Defect; Vignette; Watershed Management; Algorithm; Biological Model; Computer Program; Human; Image Processing; Melanoma; Procedures; Skin Neoplasms; Skin Pigmentation; Algorithms; Dermoscopy; Humans; Image Processing; Computer-assisted; Melanoma; Models; Biological; Skin Neoplasms; Skin Pigmentation; Software
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0909-752X
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Aug 2010
