Retina Blood Vessel Segmentation

Roma Vardiyani[1] Roma Vardiyani[1] Sheeba Pradhan[1]

Rekh Ram Janghel[2] Lokesh Kumar[3]

1
Undergraduate, National Institute of Technology Raipur, G.E. Road Raipur, C.G.
2
Assistant Professor, National Institute of Technology Raipur, G.E. Road Raipur, C.G.
3
Post Graduate, National Institute of Technology Raipur, G.E. Road Raipur, C.G.

Abstract. Medical image segmentation is a sub-part of computerized picture preparation

division with numerous critical uses in the region of understanding and diagnostics of clinical
pictures. Here, various approaches to the segmentation of medical photos together with their
subfields and sub methods would be classified. A comparison of the new strategies proposed in
- category would also be discussed.We have applied the Artificial Neural Network Dependent
Segmentation in the retinal fundus photos to segment blood vessels. The DRIVE database is
used to evaluate the performance of this neural network. The proposed model was trained on
the DRIVE dataset on U-Net architecture and model accuracy came out to be 95.598%. The
performance parameter of the model is AUC ROC Curve which resulted in 0.9790.

Keywords: Medical Image Segmentation, Artificial Neural Network and Retina Blood Vessel.

1 Introduction
Medical image segmentation is the process of segmenting items of significance in a
medical image - for example organs or lesions. It is a cycle in which a picture is
partitioned into a few sub locales dependent on a particular component to get an area
of interest. It helps in distinguishing the pixels of organs or lesions from context
medical images such as CT or MRI images, one of the most difficult tasks of medical
image processing that is to deliver crucial knowledge regarding the shapes and
volumes of these organs. Many researchers have suggested different automatic
segmentation systems by implementing accessible technologies [1].

Prior arrangements depended on traditional methodologies, for example, edge

identification channels and numerical strategies. In any case, with the guidance of AI
procedures, extricating hand-created highlights have been an overarching strategy for
quite a while now. Notwithstanding that the promising limit of profound learning
approaches has set them as an essential option for picture division, and specifically for
clinical picture division. In numerous different areas of clinical picture examination
like grouping, recognition, and enrollment is additionally covered which makes it a
clinical picture investigation audit not a particular clinical picture division study.
 2

Fig 1. Medical Image Segmentation of Large Brain Lesions

This is an example of the different transitions in medical image segmentation which

includes subcortical gray matter structures. This field has colossal applications in the
clinical field. In the field of innovative work a lot of work has been done to defeat the
issues looked at by the division cycle but there is a requirement for more viable and
effective work. Portrayal of the retinal veins [2] can be utilized to analyze different
eye infections. By utilizing appropriate imaging procedures and information
examination strategies, portrayal can be extricated.

In this paper, retina blood segmentation using deep learning architecture based on
U-net is performed. We used ANN methodology for segmentation. Retinal vessel
division has an extraordinary clinical application esteem for diagnosing
cardiovascular illness, arteriosclerosis, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy,
hypertension. For image classification, recognition, and segmentation, CNNs were
widely used and presented improved architectures in recent years.

We examined various research papers and learned that U-net can improve division
precision of retinal vessels by the fix based preparation and testing procedure, we
proposed a retinal vessel division system on Dense U-net and fix based learning
methodology. In this division design, retinal vessel pictures were isolated into picture
patches as preparing information by arbitrary extraction methodology. Thick U-net
was utilized as an organization model, and the model boundaries were found out via
preparing information. The proposed technique was applied on DRIVE (public
information base), and retinal vessel division was performed.
 3

2 Literature Review
Until profound deep learning had been actualized broadly, scientists proposed a few
methodologies zeroed in on model-driven division of the clinical pictures.

In [1] different strategies were found for the examination of various procedures like
thresholding, locale developing, grouping, classifiers, edge-based, pressure-based and
different techniques, and so on existing for Medical Image Segmentation. A locale
developing calculation has been recognized by S. A. Hojatoleslami and F. Kruggel in
[2],for the division of expansive attractive reverberation (MR) in weighted injuries of
the head. The algorithm incorporated a basis of dim level likeness to expand the field,
and a standard of scale to forestall excess outside of the injury. The productivity of the
calculation is tried and checked with an assortment of 3-dimensional obsessive MR
head pictures. In [3] an automated vascular network segmentation system in retinal
pictures. The calculation starts with the extraction of the centerlines of the vessels,
which are utilized for the following filling measure. To this end, the yield is prepared
by four direct differential administrators to pick related arrangements of applicant
focuses that are additionally marked by methods for vessel-inferred functionalities as
centerline pixels. The final segmentation is accomplished through an iterative area
increasing process, which combines the contents of multiple binary images resulting
from morphological philtres based on vessel diameter. [4] did research studies for the
hypothesis of the usage of a completely automated segmentation atlas system in
regular subjects and persistent alcohols to measure atrophy indexes resulting from
brain and cerebellum volumes. In [5] and [6] Improvements have been made in the
watershed algorithm. In [5] they converted the algorithm that requires previous
knowledge to be used in the estimation. They considered incorporating this detail by
utilising a prior estimate of probabilities. In addition they presented a tool to integrate
the transition of the watershed and the registration of the atlas with markers. Two
demanding applications were added in their latest algorithm: knee cartilage and
gray/white matter segmentation in MR photos. [7] fix helplessness for over-division
and division of clinical pictures by sifting the inclination size picture and
consolidating post-division on the first division diagram. While in [8 9] Rule-based
Methods and Supervised Methods were executed giving the best outcome to the
DRIVE set (with a precision of 0.9633) while the most noticeably awful outcome for
the DRIVE set (with an exactness of 0.9336) . [10] presented a strong vein division
framework reliant on nearby depictions of fortification. Another line-based usefulness
was first settled to gather data on neighborhood state of vessels by using vessels'
length before every vessel, which is tough to force.

After that for every pixel the neighborhood force work is resolved, and the
morphological angle included is extricated to help the nearby edge of the more
modest vessel. At long last, the line-setting capacity, neighborhood strength and
morphological slope converged to get nearby clarifications of fortification. Compared
to current local descriptions, the new local improvement definition provides more
 4

robust local details on the shape, strength and edge of vessels. After extraction, SVM
is trained to segment the blood vessel.

They also established a morphologic reconstruction-based post-processing approach

for the attachment of certain discontinuous vessels and obtained more detailed
segmentation performance. [11] is an automatic segmentation system which was
developed for the extraction of retinal blood vessels. The approach uses
morphological structure components and simple preprocessing philtres. The
preprocessing phase improves the retinal images and renders them more appropriate
for vessel removal. The thresholding procedure is used to remove from the context
representation of the blood vessels. This approach is tested on the two databases,
STARE and Move, which are open to the public. This approach is contrasted with the
corresponding philtre method for segmentation and kirsch template and ought to be
better then both of them. [12] used the morphological operators to suggest an
incredibly less complicated and more efficient retinal blood vessel segmentation
process. Colorful retinal pictures were separated into channels red, green and blue.
For segmentation, the green channel was chosen because of the specific information
surrounding retinal vessels. In order to achieve clean vessel geometry, the adaptive
threshold with 5 to 5 Gaussian windows wass then added. The next step was to
sharpen the retinal picture and then add a 3 Timothy 3 Wiener filtre. After the wiener
filter, the picture reduces any noise but softens the retinal pixels. The Otsu threshold
is then applied to soft pictures. Finally, morphological procedure on grey images was
carried out. [13] is more efficient to reliably classify retinal disorders. It uses
Gaussian Filter to segment blood vessels on retinal images as it is successful in the
reduction of noise and in the clarity of blood vessels on images. These approaches are
applied to Move database colour fundus pictures. [14] proposed automated systems to
segment the retinal vessel by the creation of large, completely convolutional neural
networks (FCN), integrating modern data preprocessing techniques, data
improvements and complete neural networks. It was an end-to-end system that
conducts retinal vessel segmentation automatically and efficiently. Three freely
accessible Standard Datasets, DRIVE, STARE and CHASE DB1 respectively, were
used to test the framework. The research findings show that in all three benchmark
measures, their proposed system achieves state-of-the-art vessel segmentation
efficiency.

3 Literature Gaps
From the above writing survey to address some examination holes to plan and study
clinical picture division. According to the advancement of examination in this space,
we recorded the exploration issues.

1. In the algorithm of threshold, limit is computationally low and quick,

however the division result is frail because of clamor, fractional volume
impacts and subsequently edge preservation.
2. Algorithms focused on regions function well for well-defined regions, but
the collection of seed points is essential and time-consuming.
 5

3. The edge-based algorithms are simple to apply, but not ideal for extracting
the required ROI area .
4. In deformable models, selection of parameters is necessary and takes time,
requiring manual intervention.
5. The clustering algorithms are simple to apply since they do not need a
training process, but must integrate prior knowledge on local pixel statistics
to avoid noise.
6. However the classifiers are decently parallel, the spatial model is bad, and
therefore the segmentation of MR images with strength inhomogeneity
creates problems.
7. There is no widespread calculation for clinical picture division, wherein, the
decision relies on the picture methodology, attributes of locale of interest and
application.

4 Methodologies

Fig 2. Different Methodologies for Medical Image Segmentation

4.1 Thresholding Based Segmentation

In this method/strategy, the limit esteem is utilized to choose the region of premium.
The edge worth can be chosen by utilizing earlier information or from picture data.
 6

Further limit approach can be edge based, locale based or half breed. Here, an image
is converted from color or grayscale into a binary image, i.e., one that is simply black
and white [15].

Fig 3. Flowchart of Thresholding Based Segmentation

Thresholding is the simplest segmentation method. It can be categorized as :

a) Local thresholding

b) Edge thresholding

c) Threshold using averaging

d) Gradient Detectors [16]

Fig 4. Thresholding based Image Segmentation

 7

This method/technique can be expressed mathematically as:

T = T[x, y, p(x, y), f(x, y]

where f(x, y) is the gray level and p (x, y) is some local property.

In the above equation if (F(x, y)) > T then it is called an object point otherwise
the point is referred to as background point [16 17].

4.2 Clustering Based Segmentation

Strategies are based on a combination of techniques, which divide the image into
clusters with exactly the same pixels features. There are two basic types of
integration.

Hard integration : Hard integration is an easy way to combine an image into

similar clusters the pixel can only be in one collection.

Soft integration : Soft integration is a characteristic type of mix in light of the fact
that, all things considered, direct partition is unimaginable because of where there
is commotion. So delicate mixing procedures are extremely valuable in picture
detachment i.e image segmentation when partition is deficient with regards to
strength.

Fig 5. Results of Clustering Based Segmentation

 8

Fuzzy c-means (FCM) is another normal bunching calculation/algorithm utilized

principally for image division/classification. FCM [18] procedures bring the fluffy
idea into picture division issues with the goal that an article can have a place with a
few classes at same time.

Fig 6. Flowchart of Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering

4.3 Artificial Neural Network Based Segmentation

Methods of classifying network components designed to mimic the human brain

learning methodologies with the end goal of dynamic. These days this strategy is
utilized for the characterization of clinical pictures. Utilized for apportioning the
necessary picture out of sight. The neural organization is composed of countless
associated hubs and every association has a specific weight. This strategy is
autonomous of PDE. For this situation the issue is changed over into issues that are
settled utilizing neural organizations. This methodology has two fundamental
advances: eliminating highlights and isolating the neural organization[19].
 9

Fig 7. Algorithm for ANN based Segmentation

Algorithm of Artificial Neural Network Based Segmentation:

Step I : Average character size for the current word is determined, by filtering for
isolated characters and noticing their width and tallness

Step II : If a column of pixels exists, check its properties. Else go to Step IX

Step III : If the pixel density is equal to zero, then the segmentation point is
detected. Goto Step II

Step IV : Check either side of the point to verify whether it is located in a valley
or minima. If so, go to Step V. Else go to Step II

Step V : Calculate the number of columns crossed since the previous

segmentation point

Step VI : If the number of columns crossed is greater than the average size of the
character, go to Step VII. Else go back to Step II

Step VII : Verify whether the point is part of a partially or totally enclosed
character

Step VIII : If Step VII is false, then the segmentation point is found. Repeat by
going to Step II

Step IX : End of segmentation method

4.4 Edge Based Segmentation

These methods are all around created picture handling strategies all alone. Edge-put
together division techniques are based with respect to the fast change in the level of
 10

solidness in the picture on the grounds that a solitary level of firmness doesn't give
great outcome subtleties on the edges.Edge acquisition strategies find margins where
the initial strength is found to be greater than a certain limit [19].

Fig 8. Edge Based Segmentation

In the portioned areas dependent on the edges, first the edges are found and
connected together to shape object limits to isolate required locales. Two
fundamental limits based characterization techniques are: Gray histograms and
Gradient-based strategies. Discovering edges is one of the fundamental
boundaries Acquisition systems, for example, sobel administrator, shrewd
administrator and Robert's administrator and so on can be utilized. The
consequence of these techniques is essentially a parallel picture. These are
underlying techniques dependent on the securing of a truce [19-20].

4.5 Region Based Segmentation

Regional-based segregation methods are image-splitting methods of different regions

with similar features.
 11

Fig 9. Steps involved in Region Based Segmentation

This method can be further classified as :

1) Growing regional approaches : A growing regional approach to segmentation

are ways that divide the image into different regions based on seed growth (early
pixels).

2) Regional division and integration methods : A region that divides and

combines based classification methods uses two basic methods techniques that
mean separation and integration of image separation in different regions [19-20].
 12

Fig 10. Flowchart of Region Based Segmentation

4.6 Graph Based Method

Segmentation of medical photos is a significant and difficult issue for the study of
medical images. Among numerous methods of segmentation of medical images,
graphical techniques are relatively recent and display strong clinical features. Pixels
or regions in the initial picture are translated in the graph-based approach into nodes
in a graph. Through considering the random field of Markov in the background
knowledge modelling of the scene, the problem of segmentation might turn into a
problem of graphic energy minimisation. The minimum s-t cut/maximum flow
algorithm should solve this problem. New methods for the integration of shape-based
information, significant improvement of processing speed and interactive
segmentation will be created. We hypothesize that by representing the segmentation
problem in an arc-weighted graph the 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional surfaces of
multiple object optimal graph searching will offer significantly increased
segmentation accuracy and robustness in volumetric image data from a variety of
medical imaging sources, offering flexibility and higher processing speed, leading to
real-time interactivity and practical applicability [20].
 13

Fig 11. Graph based method for Image Segmentation

a) Develop and validate a single- and multiple-surface n-D graph-based optimal

segmentation method that uses arc-based graph representation, incorporates a
priori shape knowledge using hard and soft constraints, and provides shape
guidance while utilizing weighted combinations of edge-, region-, and
shape-based costs.
b) Develop an approach for parallel (multi-core, multi-threaded) optimal graph
search to significantly increase the processing speed and thus improving the
method's applicability to higher-dimensional, multiply interacting, and overall
larger problems.
c) Develop and evaluate an efficient real-time approach for interactive use of
single- and multiple surface segmentations incorporating expert-user guidance
while maintaining highly automated character of 3-D or 4-D segmentation.
The developed methods will be evaluated to demonstrate statistically significant
performance improvements in a variety of tasks with data samples of sufficient
sizes [20].

4.7 Watershed Based Methods

This method utilizes the idea of ecological definition. For this situation the weight
speaks to the dishes they have an opening in its minutes where the water spills. At the
point when the water arrived at the limit of the valley the close by lakes were
covered.Maintaining the separation between lubrication dams is also required by the
boundaries of the separation zone. These dams formed using dilation.
 14

Fig 12. Flowchart of Watershed Based Method

Water channels view the image gradient as the surface area. It is observed that the
pixels having more gradient are marked by continuous boundaries [21].
 15

Fig 13. Visualization of Watershed Algorithm

4.8 Deformable Methods

This method adequately handles the topological changes and guarantees the piecewise
coherence. These techniques are clamor harsh and give sub-pixel exactness. It works
exceptionally good with measurable provincial data of the picture and has medium
level memory use.

It analyses noisy images and provides a coherent representation for variable

structure shapes. It consists of curves within a field of images that can pass under
the control of internal and external powers. The internal forces are built to
smoothly sustain the model during deformation, while the external forces are
specified to transfer the model to an object border or to other required features in
a picture.

These methods can be further categorised as:

- Explicit deformable models (parametric)

- Implicit deformable models (non-parametric)

Fig 14. Architecture of Deformable Methods

Closed curves and forms are used to describe the limits of objects. The procedure of
drawing the constraint of an item is a shut arch or plane which is first put close to the
favored edge and later makes an iterative movement of decrease. To keep the division
cycle smooth inward powers are inferred inside the picture. The fundamental
favorable position of these strategies is the piecewise progression [21].
 16

4.9 Partial Differential Equation Based Segmentation

This method is dependent on separation and is the quickest technique for

segmentation. This is proper at crucial time applications. There are two essential
strategies for PDE: isotropic channel dissemination (non-straight (used to improve
edges) and arched substitution of quadratic variety (utilized for clamor expulsion).
The impacts of the PDE strategy are obscured edges and limits can be changed
utilizing nearness administrators. The fourth PDE technique is utilized to diminish
clamor from the picture and the second PDE orders are utilized to all the more likely
distinguish edges and limits[22].

Fig 15. Flowchart: Partial Differential Equation Based Segmentation a) Isotropic filter diffusion
b)convex replacement of quadratic variation

4.10 Learning Based Segmentation

In learning based methodology, there might be utilization of measurable learning,

administered, unaided, can be feebly directed moreoverNon-unimportant picture
 17

division is perhaps the most basic picture preparing exercises. It's straightforward for
people yet inconceivably trying for machines [23].

Fig 16. Flowchart of active learning algorithm

4.10 Model Based Segmentation

Model dependent segmentation is characterised as the assigning of labels to pixels or

voxels by referring to a previously established image data object model. Labels could
be likely to express confusion. We equate optimization approaches with the
knowledge-based framework methodology in particular. Nowadays, model-based
segmentation approaches have proven more successful than others.
 18

Fig 17. Flowchart for Model Based Segmentation

Anyway this technique is helpless against blunder engendering if an image is

amazingly troublesome and keeps on slanting the discoveries generously by
thinking little of the structure's movement . Instead of preparing the pictures in a
steady progression, 3D+T deformable models can be utilized to deal with
constant arrangement on the double (on the off chance that they can fit in the
memory of the PC).[23 24 25].

5 Proposed Methodology

This application is carried out utilising a CNN in the blood vessels in photographs of
the retina fundus. DRIVE database is used to check the proposed neural network
performance. Segmentation of the retina's retinal blood vessels is a crucial phase in
diagnosing diabetic retinopathy. There are several approaches to the segmentation but
we have chosen artificial neural network based segmentation. The retinal blood vessel
which is segmented is the key work in analysis of retinal fundus because of the
essential disease signs in some characteristics of retinal blood vessels, including
duration, tortuosity and branching patterns. For some CAD programmes it is the first
stage, not only to diagnose eye disease, including diabetic retinopathy (DR), but also
for non-ocular disorders such as stroke, cardiovascular diseases, asthma. It is also an
important function of any automated diagnostic device for ophthalmic disorders. The
anatomical variations in these vessels can signify serious conditions like
cardiovascular, stroke, arteriosclerosis, glaucoma, hypertension, age-related macular
degeneration (AMD) and many others. Standard U-net architecture [26] is used in
this paper with some modifications.

5.1 Dataset Details

The DRIVE database [27] images were taken from a screening programme of diabetic
retinopathy . The number of subjects in community screening content of 400 subjects
 19

who are diabetic aged 25-90. Forty pictures were chosen on a random basis, 33
displayed no evidence of diabetic retinopathy and the number of evidence showing
signs of moderate early diabetic retinopathy is 7. Each picture has been compressed
with JPEG. The photos were taken with a 45 degree field-of-view non-mydriatic
Canon CR5 3CCD camera (FOV). Each picture was recorded by 8 bits of 768 by 584
pixels per colour plane. The picture has a FOV circular in shape and of around 540
pixels in diameter. The photographs were cropped around the FOV for this database.
A mask image is also given for each and every image that delineates the (Field of
View) FOV.

The pictures (40 pictures) have been split into a preparation and a test collection of 20
pictures. A single segmentation (done manually) of the vasculature is required for
training photos. Two segmentations (manually done) are required for the test cases,
one to be the gold standard and the other to be a computer-generated contrast
between the segmentations of an objective human observer. In addition, a mask
picture for each retinal image is accessible showing the field of concern.

5.2 Pre-processing of Dataset

Beforehand, the images (20 in number) of the DRIVE training datasets are needed to
be pre-processed with the following transformations:

i. Conversion to Gray-scale

ii. Working on standardization

iii. Doing Contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE)

iv. Adjustment of Gamma settings

On sub-images or patches of the images that are fully pre-processed, the neural
network’s training has been performed .Dimension of each patch is 32x32 which is
obtained by randomly selecting the center inside the full pictures. Also, the patches
which are partially or completely not inside the Field Of View (FOV) are selected, in
this way the neural network works to learn - how to differentiate the FOV border from
blood vessels.

A set of 190000 patches has been obtained by randomly extracting 9500 patches in
each of the training images 20 DRIVE. For training, we used the first 90% of the
images from the dataset while we used the last 10% for validation of our proposed
model. The linear rectifier unit (ReLU) is used as activation feature after each
 20

convolutional layer and between two successive convolutional layers a dropout of 0.2
is used.

5.4 U-Net Architecture

U-Net is considered one of the typical CNN frameworks for image classification as
we need to describe not just the entire picture by class but also the segmental areas of
a picture by class [26].

Fig 18. U-Net Architecture

In Fig 18, each bluebox indicates a feature map of a multi-channel .On top, number of
channels is indicated. In the lower edge of the box, xy size is given. Whiteboxes
indicate feature maps that are copied. The arrows show different
procedures(operations).

The design consists of a contracting direction for context capture and a path which is
symmetrically expanding for correct localization. The patches not inside the Field Of
View (FOV) are generally chosen, in part or in whole, to differentiate the FOV
boundary from blood vessels[27].

The loss function can also be said to be the cross-entropy loss function.
 21

(
𝐿𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠−𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑦 𝑦, 𝑦 =) − ∑ 𝑦𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔 𝑦𝑖
𝑖
()
(1)

The optimizer employed is stochastic gradient descent for optimization.

𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 (𝑚) :

( )
𝑖
𝑖 𝑖
θ𝑗 = θ𝑗 − α 𝑦 − 𝑦 𝑥𝑗
(2)

After each convolutional layer, the activation mechanism that has been applied -
linear corrective unit (ReLU) and among two consecutive convolutional layers a
dropout of 0.2 is applied.
𝑅𝐸𝐿𝑈(𝑥) = { 0 𝑖𝑓 𝑥<0
𝑥 𝑖𝑓 𝑥>=0 } (3)

5.5 Proposed Architecture

Fig 19. The proposed architecture of the CNN network.

 22

The proposed CNN architecture used for the blood vessel segmentation is presented
in Fig 19. The idea for our proposed architecture is taken from the U-Net [26]
network presented in Figure 18. The U-Net represents the architecture of
encoder-decoder where the decoder recovers gradually. As a consequence, instead of
classifying an input picture as a whole, a pixel-specific probability map is generated.
The U-Net does not need a lot of training samples as compared to other CNN
architectures, and can be trained easily with just a few photos [26].

First, the downscaling of the network is performed. In fact, the depth of the network
was decreased by eliminating two (out of five) layers of pooling operations and the
resulting convolution. In comparison, the

At each step, the number of feature vectors was halved. The number of filters at the
input ranges between 32 and 128 in the lowest resolution. Drop out layers were added
between the convolutionary layers to increase the training efficiency.
 23

6 Experimental Results

We have explored numerous approaches to the segmentation of medical pictures, their

subfields and submethods. A contrast of these techniques was also addressed in recent
techniques proposed in each group. During the research of the artificial neural
network segmentation into blood vessels segment in the retina fundus images, the
gold standard was used as the basis for 20 images of the DRIVE test data set (as
stated above). Just FOV pixels are taken into consideration. The FOV is identified by
the masks in the DRIVE database. The accuracy of the model came out to be
95.599% and the performance of the model is measured using the Area Under the
Receiver Operating Characteristics which ought to be 0.9790. More the area
approaches to be more accurate is the classification.

Area under the ROC curve: 0.97903342097

 24

Area under Precision-Recall curve: 0.91033576859

Fig 20. Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics Graph

a. b. c.

Fig 21. Column (a) Input Images (b) Masked Ground truth of input Images (c) Result

Performance Measurements

Confusion Matrix True Positive True Negative

Predicted Positive 3895256 65238

Predicted Negative 134513 443136

 25

Precision = TP/(TP+FP)

Recall = TP/(TP+FN)

Specificity = TN/(TN/FP)

F1 = 2x(Precision x Recall)/(Precision + Recall)

Jaccard Score = TP/(TP+FP+FN)

Where,

TP = True Positive TN = True Negative

FP = False Positive FN = False Negative

Table 1. Performance Measurement and Different Scores of U-NET on Retina Blood Vessel
Dataset.

ACCURACY 0.955983978469

RECALL 0.767137136912

SPECIFICITY 0.98352781244

PRECISION 0.871673216962

JACCARD SIMILARITY SCORE 0.955983978469

F1 SCORE (F-MEASURE) 0.816071114516

The table contrasts the approaches that have been applied with other recent strategies,
reported in the DRIVE dataset in terms of region under the ROC curve (AUC ROC).
 26

Table 2. Comparison of Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics Graph of Different
Methods

S.No Name of Author of Paper using U-net for retina AUC ROC
. blood vessel segmentation

1. Garg et al. [28] .9271

2. Kande et al. [29] .9518

3. Al-Rawi and Karajeh [30] .9582

4. MCinsdikici and Aydin [31] .9407

5. Proposed method .9790

Our model has the accuracy of 95.598% with a precision of 87.167% and recall of
76.713%. But for our model we considered the area under AUC ROC curve as a
performance parameter. For our model which ought to be 0.9790. Also we compared
it from various methods implemented before and has the same performance
measurement parameter. From table 2, we can confer that method which we proposed
gives the best result with AUC ROC .9790.

7 Conclusion

We studied and analysed the various techniques used in Medical Image Segmentation.
Then we experimented with Medical Image Segmentation with a deep learning model
with U-Net architecture. It has been found that this approach works very well with the
Biomedical Image Segmentation. The model was trained for a considerable and
justified amount of time of 20 hours on GeForce Gtx Gpu using several epochs with a
minimum batch size of 32. The performance of the model is measured using the Area
Under the ROC curve i.e., precision of the model which ought to be 0.970 and it
outperforms the methods mentioned in table 2 whose performance is measured using
the same performance measuring parameter.

References
1. Begum, Shaik Salma. “A Review of Current Methods in Medical Image Segmentation.”
IEEE 31 Dec 2019,
2. Cascio, D. “Mammogram Segmentation by Contour Searching and Mass Lesions
Classification With Neural Network.” IEEE Oct 2006.
3. Grau, V. “Improved watershed transform for medical image segmentation using prior
information.” IEEE 05 April 2004
 27

4. Hartmann, S.L. “Automatic 3-D segmentation of internal structures of the head in MR

images using a combination of similarity and free-form transformations. II. Validation on
severely atrophied brains.” IEEE Oct 1999
5. Hojjatoleslami, S. A. Hojjatoleslami. “Segmentation of Large Brain Lesions.”
Segmentation of Large Brain Lesions, no. 07 July 2001,
6. Kotropoulos, Constantine. “Segmentation of Ultrasonic Images Using Support Vector
Machines.” ResearchGate Feb 2003
7. Ng, H.P. “Medical Image Segmentation Using Watershed Segmentation with
Texture-Based Region Merging.” IEEE August 2008
8. A.M. Mendonca; A. Campilho “Segmentation of retinal blood vessels by combining the
detection of centerlines and morphological reconstruction.”, IEEE 21 Aug 2006
9. Meng Li, Zhenshen Ma, Chao Liu, Guang Zhang , and Zhe Han, “Robust Retinal Blood
Vessel Segmentation Based on Reinforcement Local Descriptions”, Hindawi, 18 Jan 2017.
10. B. Sumathy. and S. Poornachandra, "Retinal blood vessel segmentation using
morphological structuring element and entropy thresholding," 2012 Third International
'Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT'12),
Coimbatore, 2012, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/ICCCNT.2012.6396076.
11. U. Ozkava, S. Ozturk, B. Akdemir and L. Sevfi, "An Efficient Retinal Blood Vessel
Segmentation using Morphological Operations," 2018 2nd International Symposium on
Multidisciplinary Studies and Innovative Technologies (ISMSIT), Ankara, 2018, pp. 1-7,
doi: 10.1109/ISMSIT.2018.8567239.
12. Maison. “Retinal Blood Vessel Segmentation using Gaussian Filter.”
Conference Series 2019.
13. Yun Jiang, Hai Zhang, Ning Tan and Li Chen, “Automatic Retinal Blood Vessel
Segmentation Based on Fully Convolutional Neural Networks”, : 24 July 2019; Accepted:
27 August 2019; Published: 3 September 2019
14. Warfield, S.K. “Improved watershed transform for medical image segmentation using prior
information.” IEEE 05 April 2004
15. “Medical image segmentation.” Medical Image Segmentation, vol. 1, no. 2008, p. 300.
16. Tobias, and Hervé Delingette. “Model-based segmentation.” Model-based segmentation,
vol. 1, 2014, p. 100
17. Ahmed, Imran, and Misbah Ahmad. “Comparison of Deep-Learning-Based Segmentation
Models: Using Top View Person Images.” vol. 1, no. 10.11.09, 2009, p. 13,
18. Dilpreet, Dilpreet, and Yadwinder Kaur. “International Journal of Computer Science and
Mobile Computing.” Various Image Segmentation Techniques: A Review, vol. 3, no. 5,
May 2014, p. 6,
19. Heimann, Tobias, and Hervé Delingette. “Model-based segmentation.” Model-based
segmentation, vol. 1, 2013, p. 33
20. McInerney, Tim, and Demetri Terzopoulos. Deformable Models. Toronto, Deformable
Models, 2000.
21. “Neutrosophic sets in dermoscopic medical image segmentation.” Medical Image
Segmentation, vol. 1, no. 2019, p. 200. Medical Image Segmentation.
22. Nnolim, Uche A. “Partial Differential Equation-Based Enhancement and Crack
Detection.” Edited by Pablo Lopez-Crespo. Partial Differential Equation-Based
Enhancement and Crack Detection, vol. 1, 2019, p. 17.
23. Patalano, Stanislao. “A graph-based method and a software tool for interactive tolerance
specification.” vol. 1, no. 2018, p. 6
24. C. Kotropoulos, “SEGMENTATION.” SEGMENTATION, August 2018
25. Unay, Devrim, and Bernard Gosselin. “Artificial neural network-based segmentation and
apple grading by machine vision.” vol. 2, no. January 2005, p. 5.
 28

26. Demetri Terzopoulos. Deformable Models. Toronto, 2001.

27. https://drive.grand-challenge.org/, DRIVE Database
28. S. Garg, J. Sivaswamy, and S. Chandra, ―Unsupervised curvature-based retinal vessel
segmentation,‖ in 2007 4th IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From
Nano to Macro, 2007, pp. 344–347.
29. G. B. Kande, P. V. Subbaiah, and T. S. Savithri, ―Unsupervised Fuzzy Based Vessel
Segmentation In Pathological Digital Fundus Images,‖ J. Med. Syst., vol. 34, no. 5, pp.
849–858, Oct. 2010.
30. M. Al-Rawi and H. Karajeh, ―Genetic algorithm matched filter optimization for
automated detection of blood vessels from digital retinal images,‖ Comput. Methods
Programs Biomed., vol. 87, no. 3, pp. 248– 253, Sep. 2007.
31. M. G. Cinsdikici and D. Aydın, ―Detection of blood vessels in ophthalmoscope images
using MF/ant (matched filter/ant colony) algorithm,‖ Comput. Methods Programs Biomed.,
vol. 96, no. 2, pp. 85–95, Nov. 2009.