Optimization of automated segmentation of monkeypox virus-induced lung lesions from normal lung CT images using hard C-means algorithm

Abstract

Monkeypox virus is an emerging zoonotic pathogen that results in up to 10% mortality in humans. Knowledge of clinical manifestations and temporal progression of monkeypox disease is limited to data collected from rare outbreaks in remote regions of Central and West Africa. Clinical observations show that monkeypox infection resembles variola infection. Given the limited capability to study monkeypox disease in humans, characterization of the disease in animal models is required. A previous work focused on the identification of inflammatory patterns using PET/CT image modality in two non-human primates previously inoculated with the virus. In this work we extended techniques used in computer-aided detection of lung tumors to identify inflammatory lesions from monkeypox virus infection and their progression using CT images. Accurate estimation of partial volumes of lung lesions via segmentation is difficult because of poor discrimination between blood vessels, diseased regions, and outer structures. We used hard C-means algorithm in conjunction with landmark based registration to estimate the extent of monkeypox virus induced disease before inoculation and after disease progression. Automated estimation is in close agreement with manual segmentation.