Title:Segmentation of Ocular Thermogram Using Level-set Algorithm for Analysis of
Contralateral Portions in Healthy Eyes
Volume: 20
Author(s): Josephine Selle Jeyanathan, Nagaraj Palanigurupackiam, Muneeswaran Vasudevan, Barrak Alsomaie and Ahmed Almazroa*
Affiliation:
- Department of Imaging Research, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Keywords:
Image segmentation, Anisotropic filter, Edge detection, Ocular surface temperature, IR Thermography, Eye disease classification, Anisotropic diffusion filter.
Abstract:
Objective:
This work aimed to evaluate the level set segmentation algorithm on ocular surface thermograms. In addition, the vascularity functioning between
the contralateral portions of two eyes (right and left) was identified using statistical analysis methods.
Methods:
A total of 25 healthy participants with an average age of 35 years (20 men and 5 women) were selected in April 2022. Thermogram images were
captured using a FLIR T series thermal camera. Conventional image processing techniques, such as filtering and edge detection, were used to
preprocess thermograms. Next, the level set approach was used with the edge-detected pattern as an input to an automated segmented region of
interest (ROI).
Results:
Five metrics, namely Dice Coefficient, Tanimoto Index, Jaccard Index, Volume Similarity, and Structural Similarity, were used to assess the
performance of the segmentation technique compared to ground truth, which showed 97.5%, 92.5%, 94.5%, 96.5%, and 96.5% correlation,
respectively, between the segmented and the ground truth images with average values for both the eyes. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the
contralateral portions of the ocular thermograms were significantly different in terms of vascular distribution between the left and right eyes (p <
0.005).
Conclusion:
The level set method efficiently segmented the ROI in ocular thermograms with maximum correlation. According to the segmentation’s results, the
model showed the dissimilarity between the contralateral parts of the left and right eyes in healthy cases.
