1 - Medical image segmentation in oral-maxillofacial surgery

Abstract

This chapter first gives an introduction of various medical image segmentation algorithms and their roles in modern computer-aided diagnosis and treatment systems. Each algorithm is introduced in a way that enables easy comprehensibility and references to various use cases of each algorithm are also provided. Then, the segmentation algorithms that are used specifically in oral-maxillofacial surgery are elaborated through a comprehensive review of publications in this field. For the introduction of these algorithms, we choose the mandible, that is, the lower jaw bone as the anatomy of reference among other bony structures considering that the mandible is among the most common targets in oral-maxillofacial surgery and the largest bone in the facial area. The goal of this chapter is that readers can not only get a systematic understanding of the commonly used segmentation algorithms and their common use scenarios, but also get to know, with comprehensiveness, the state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithms that are currently used in oral-maxillofacial surgery.