Stochastic Modeling for Medical Image Analysis

This book provides a brief introduction to medical imaging, stochastic modeling, and model-guided image analysis. It presents the latest state of the art in stochastic modeling for medical image analysis while incorporating fully tested experimental results throughout. This valuable resource details efficient stochastic modeling techniques, including shape models of objects of interest; shape and visual appearance models based on analytic learning of 2nd- or higher-order non-parametric Markov-Gibbs random fields; and appearance models based on precise unsupervised learning of a mixture of pseudo-distributions approximating an empirical marginal probability distribution of pixel/voxel intensities.

Stochastic Modeling for Medical Image Analysis provides a brief introduction to medical imaging, stochastic modeling, and model-guided image analysis.

Today, image-guided computer-assisted diagnostics (CAD) faces two basic challenging problems. The first is the computationally feasible and accurate modeling of images from different modalities to obtain clinically useful information. The second is the accurate and fast inferring of meaningful and clinically valid CAD decisions and/or predictions on the basis of model-guided image analysis.

To help address this, this book details original stochastic appearance and shape models with computationally feasible and efficient learning techniques for improving the performance of object detection, segmentation, alignment, and analysis in a number of important CAD applications.

The book demonstrates accurate descriptions of visual appearances and shapes of the goal objects and their background to help solve a number of important and challenging CAD problems. The models focus on the first-order marginals of pixel/voxel-wise signals and second- or higher-order Markov-Gibbs random fields of these signals and/or labels of regions supporting the goal objects in the lattice.

This valuable resource presents the latest state of the art in stochastic modeling for medical image analysis while incorporating fully tested experimental results throughout.