Automatic object detection using shape information in ultrasound images

A method is presented for segmentation of anatomical structures that incorporates prior information about shape. The method iteratively applies steps, which find object\´s border considering its properties independently from shape. The boundary is regularized taking in account the shape being extracted. Detection is not directly performed in the image but in a "shape space" referred to the shape in each step. The problem is reduced to work in this new coordinate system where the border is approximately a horizontal line. Shape information is introduced through a higher dimensional map similar to a distance map of a mean shape. Segmentation results are demonstrated on ultrasound imagery to measure meat quality of bovine and ovine livestock.