Evaluation of segmentation algorithms for extraction of RNFL in OCT images

The thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RFNL) has become a diagnose measure for glaucoma assessment. To measure this thickness, accurate segmentation of the RFNL in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images is essential. Identification of a suitable segmentation algorithm will facilitate the enhancement of the RNFL thickness measurement accuracy. This paper investigates the performance of six algorithms in the segmentation of RNFL in OCT images. The algorithms are: normalised cuts, region growing, k-means clustering, active contour, level sets segmentation: Piecewise Gaussian Method (PGM) and Kernelized Method (KM). The performance of the six algorithms are determined through a set of experiments on OCT retinal images. An experimental procedure is used to measure the performance of the tested algorithms. The measured segmentation precision-recall results of the six algorithms are compared and discussed.