Systems and methods for automated segmentation of individual skeletal bones in 3d anatomical images

Abstract

Presented herein, in certain embodiments, are approaches for robust bone splitting and segmentation in the context of small animal imaging, for example, microCT imaging. In certain embodiments, a method for calculating and applying single and hybrid second-derivative splitting filters to gray-scale images and binary bone masks is described. These filters can accurately identify the split lines/planes of the bones even for low-resolution data, and hence accurately morphologically disconnect the individual bones. The split bones can then be used as seeds in region growing techniques such as marker-controlled watershed segmentation. With this approach, the bones can be segmented with much higher robustness and accuracy compared to prior art methods.