UTILIZATION OF FRACTAL IMAGE MODELS IN MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING

Abstract

One of the more successful engineering applications of fractal geometry has been the utilization of fractal image models in medical image processing. These applications have included tissue characterization studies, textural image segmentation, and image restoration using fractal constraints. The class of fractal models used in medical image processing and the techniques used to estimate the fractal dimension associated with these models will be reviewed. An image segmentation algorithm that utilized a fractal textural feature and formulated the segmentation process as a configurational optimization problem is presented. The configurational optimization method allows information about both, the degree of correspondence between a candidate segment and an assumed textural model, and morphological information about the candidate segment to be used in the segmentation process. To apply this configurational optimization technique with a fractal textural model however, requires the estimation of the fractal dimension of an irregularly shaped candidate segment. The potential utility of a discrete Gerchberg-Papoulis bandlimited extrapolation algorithm to the estimation of the fractal dimension of an irregularly shaped candidate segment is also discussed.