Automatic segmentation of seeds and fluoroscope tracking (FTRAC) fiducial in prostate brachytherapy x-ray images.

C-arm X-ray fluoroscopy-based radioactive seed localization for intraoperative dosimetry of prostate brachytherapy is an active area of research. The fluoroscopy tracking (FTRAC) fiducial is an image-based tracking device composed of radio-opaque BBs, lines, and ellipses that provides an effective means for pose estimation so that three-dimensional reconstruction of the implanted seeds from multiple X-ray images can be related to the ultrasound-computed prostate volume. Both the FTRAC features and the brachytherapy seeds must be segmented quickly and accurately during the surgery, but current segmentation algorithms are inhibitory in the operating room (OR). The first reason is that current algorithms require operators to manually select a region of interest (ROI), preventing automatic pipelining from image acquisition to seed reconstruction. Secondly, these algorithms fail often, requiring operators to manually correct the errors. We propose a fast and effective ROI-free automatic FTRAC and seed segmentation algorithm to minimize such human intervention. The proposed algorithm exploits recent image processing tools to make seed reconstruction as easy and convenient as possible. Preliminary results on 162 patient images show this algorithm to be fast, effective, and accurate for all features to be segmented. With near perfect success rates and subpixel differences to manual segmentation, our automatic FTRAC and seed segmentation algorithm shows promising results to save crucial time in the OR while reducing errors.