Image transformation from polar to Cartesian coordinates simplifies the segmentation of brain images

A new image transformation has been designed to simplify the segmentation of the MR and CT brain images. This transformation supposes that the head is a cylindrical object and can be modeled more efficiently in polar coordinates, which gives a new set of geometrically constant image features. For example, the air-skin surface can be modeled with a one-dimensional function. An imagt transformation from the polar coordinate system to the Cartesian coordinate system has been used, because the algorithm rea ization and the actual image processing are easier and faster in Cartesian coordinates and the results equal to polar coordinate processing.