Bioinspired Inference System for MR Image Segmentation and Multiple Sclerosis Detection

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune and inflammatory disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides sufficient imaging contrast to visualize and detect MS lesions, particularly those in the white matter (WM). A robust and precise segmentation of WM lesions from MRI provide essential information about the disease status and evolution. The proposed FPSOPCM segmentation algorithm included an initial segmentation step using fuzzy particle swarm optimization (FPSO). After extraction of WM, atypical data (outliers) is eliminated using possibilistic C-means (PCM) algorithm, and finally, a Mamdani-type fuzzy model was applied to identify MS. The objective of the work presented in this paper is to obtain an improved accuracy in segmentation of MR images for MS detection.