Authors:
Marco Carletti
1
;
Diego Dall'Alba
1
;
Marco Cristani
2
and
Paolo Fiorini
1
Affiliations:
1
University of Verona, Italy
;
2
University of Verona and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
Keyword(s):
Medical Image Applications, Ultrasound Tracking, Particle Filtering, Template Selection, Motion Flow.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Applications and Services
;
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
Medical Image Applications
;
Motion, Tracking and Stereo Vision
;
Tracking and Visual Navigation
Abstract:
Tracking moving organs captured by ultrasound imaging techniques is of fundamental importance in many
applications, from image-guided radiotherapy to minimally invasive surgery. Due to operative constraints,
tracking has to be carried out on-line, facing classic computer vision problems that are still unsolved in the
community. One of them is the update of the template, which is necessary to avoid drifting phenomena in
the case of template-based tracking. In this paper, we offer an innovative and robust solution to this problem,
exploiting a simple yet important aspect which often holds in biomedical scenarios: in many cases, the target
(a blood vessel, cyst or localized lesion) exists in a semi-static operative field, where the unique motion is due
to organs that are subjected to quasi-periodic movements. This leads the target to occupy certain areas of the
scene at some times, exhibiting particular visual layouts. Our solution exploits this scenario, and consists into
a template-ba
sed particle filtering strategy equipped with a spatially-localized vocabulary, which in practice
suggests the tracker the most suitable template to be used among a set of available ones, depending on the
proposal distribution. Experiments have been performed on the MICCAI CLUST 2015 benchmark, reaching
an accuracy (i.e. mean tracking error) of 1.11 mm and a precision of 1.53 mm. These results widely satisfy the
clinical requirements imposed by image guided surgical procedure and show fostering future developments.
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