Optic Disc Segmentation based on Template Matching and Active Contour Method

Abstract

This paper proposes a hybrid method that is capable of automatically implementing the Optic Disc (OD) segmentation. In the hybrid method, two steps were performed. First, the location of the OD was determined by template matching. Second, the OD location coordinates obtained in the first stage were given as inputs to the Active Contour Method applied to complete the OD segmentation. Furthermore, as part of this study, Android based a program was developed to allow physicians the ability to independently access the proposed hybrid method results from anywhere and to add comments. Thus, the physician would be able to instantly track the patient. Performance evaluation of the proposed hybrid method was done separately for both localization and segmentation. The success of localization was confirmed on the basis of whether the determined coordinates corresponded to the OD. The segmentation process was assessed according to the parameters, as derived from a confusion matrix. The average Dice coefficient obtained for all images was 0.943, while the average values of accuracy, specificity and sensitivity parameters for all images were calculated as 0.90, 0.961 and 0.931, respectively. The final results obtained from the proposed hybrid method were checked by a physician, who observed that the OD was successfully segmented.