Docteur de l'université Automatic Segmentation and Shape Analysis ...

Chapter 6
Conclusions
Topics in medical image analysis including image segmentation and shape analysis
are explored in this thesis, with special applications to hippocampus in the context
of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As the conclusion of the thesis, we first summarize
the contributions presented in the previous chapters, and then possible future
developments based on the current state-of-the-art and the continuation of the
current work are outlined.
6.1 Contributions of this thesis
The main contributions presented in this thesis lie in the segmentation and shape
analysis of human hippocampi, especially those of AD patients, which is becoming
of growing interest in the investigations into the neurodegenerative disease. We
presented the work in the segmentation of hippocampus using multiple atlases, the
construction of statistical shape models (SSMs), the establishment of correspon-
dence across the shape data, and the detection shape changes of hippocampus in
AD.
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