Proper ordered meshing of complex shapes and optimal graph cuts applied to atrial-wall segmentation from DE-MRI

Segmentation of the left atrium wall from delayed enhancement MRI is challenging because of inconsistent contrast combined with noise and high variation in atrial shape and size. This paper presents a method for left-atrium wall segmentation by using a novel sophisticated mesh-generation strategy and graph cuts on a proper ordered graph. The mesh is part of a template/model that has an associated set of learned intensity features. When this mesh is overlaid onto a test image, it produces a set of costs on the graph vertices which eventually leads to an optimal segmentation. The novelty also lies in the construction of proper ordered graphs on complex shapes and for choosing among distinct classes of base shapes/meshes for automatic segmentation. We evaluate the proposed segmentation framework quantitatively on simulated and clinical cardiac MRI.