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Link to original content: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-006-0141-2
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Segmentation of retinal blood vessels using a novel clustering algorithm (RACAL) with a partial supervision strategy

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Abstract

In this paper, segmentation of blood vessels from colour retinal images using a novel clustering algorithm with a partial supervision strategy is proposed. The proposed clustering algorithm, which is a RAdius based Clustering ALgorithm (RACAL), uses a distance based principle to map the distributions of the data by utilising the premise that clusters are determined by a distance parameter, without having to specify the number of clusters. Additionally, the proposed clustering algorithm is enhanced with a partial supervision strategy and it is demonstrated that it is able to segment blood vessels of small diameters and low contrasts. Results are compared with those from the KNN classifier and show that the proposed RACAL performs better than the KNN in case of abnormal images as it succeeds in segmenting small and low contrast blood vessels, while it achieves comparable results for normal images. For automation process, RACAL can be used as a classifier and results show that it performs better than the KNN classifier in both normal and abnormal images.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their comments which have helped to improve the presentation of our results and A. Hoover for making the retinal images publicly available. S. A. Salem and N. M. Salem would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Higher Education, Egypt, for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Signal Processing and Communications Group, Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, The University of Liverpool, Brownlow Hill, L69 3GJ, Liverpool, UK

    Sameh A. Salem, Nancy M. Salem & Asoke K. Nandi

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  1. Sameh A. Salem
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  2. Nancy M. Salem
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  3. Asoke K. Nandi
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Correspondence to Asoke K. Nandi.

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Salem, S.A., Salem, N.M. & Nandi, A.K. Segmentation of retinal blood vessels using a novel clustering algorithm (RACAL) with a partial supervision strategy. Med Bio Eng Comput 45, 261–273 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-006-0141-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-006-0141-2

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