A Comparative Study of Digital Image Segmentation Algorithms for Acute Myeloid Leukemia M1 White Blood Cells Images

Abstract

Various types of algorithms have been widely used for image segmentation in digital image processing. Every algorithm has features that make it unique to be applied to specific cases. One of the applications of image segmentation is to detect white blood cells. Certain objects such as blood cells must be able to be well segmented because their existence is very crucial to support the accuracy of disease detection related to haematology or the branch of medical science that studies the morphology of blood and blood-forming tissues. Three image segmentation algorithms were compared through this study: Seed Region Growing, Otsu Thresholding and Active Contour Without Edge. Comparative analysis of the three algorithms was done by counting the number of white blood cell objects that were successfully segmented with the actual number of cells that were counted manually. A total of 30 images of blood smears were taken from people suffering from acute myeloid leukemia M1. The average accuracy values from each algorithm were used to determine which image segmentation algorithm is the most suitable for application in the case of white blood cells segmentation. The results showed that Active Contour Without Edge is the most appropriate among the other algorithms

Keywords

• acute myeloid leukemia, active contour without edge, otsu thresholding, seed region growing