ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613

ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

Efficiency of Fuzzy C Means algorithm for

Brain Tumor segmentation in MR Brain
Images
T.Velmurugan1,S. Mahalakshmi2
1
Associate Professor, 2Research Scholar,
PG and Research Department of Computer Science, D. G. Vaishnav College,Chennai-600106, India.
E-Mail: [email protected],[email protected]

Abstract: Background and Objective: Image processing is a technique or set of operations to get
meaningful information from an image for the usefulness and effectiveness of images. Image
segmentation is an efficient technique in extracting and separating some of the features in the images.
Methods: The main objective of this research work is to find the best fit of FCM algorithm over finding
the axial and coronal plane of MRI brain imagesvia its accuracy and computational time.In the
preprocessing, brain images of MRI have been converted from the DICOM format into standard image.
Preprocessing is carried out by Gaussian filter technique to remove the noises in the images. The Fuzzy C
Means (FCM) algorithm is implemented to segment the tumor affected region in the MR images. Results:
By comparing the histogram values of the images (before and after segmentation) with the cluster center
values by the FCM algorithm, the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm is evaluated. Conclusion: The
best fit of FCM algorithm into the axial and coronal plane is identified based on the computational time
in this work.
Keywords: Brain tumor, image segmentation, Fuzzy C Means algorithm, Magnetic Resonance Image.
1. Introduction
Image processing is a new methodology which converts image into a digital form and perform some
operation on it in order to get an enhanced image or to extract some meaningful and useful information from it.
Image processing is basically of two aspects: one is improving the visual appearance of images to a human
viewer and the secondmeasuring some of the features and structures present in the images. The digital image
can be optimized for the application by segmenting or altering the appearance of structures within it based on
the body part, diagnostic task, viewing preferences etc. Analyzing the images in the computer will help the
radiologists and to detect the important or suspicious region in the image to diagnose the disease.
An exciting source of images is the medical field. Imaging plays a unique importance practically in the
medical informatics. The field of biomedical analysis is rapidly evolved with the last two decades. Over the
years crossed, the major technical challenge in the images is increase in size and its dimensionality. In medical
scenario, we have so many algorithms which automatically or semi-automatically detect lesion, diseases and
tumors and enhance some of the locations in the images. The research process of medical image analysis has
two dimensions one with the patient-centered medical world and the second one is computer-centered medical
world.There different imaging modalities such as CT-Computed Tomography, PET-Positron Emission
Tomography, MRI-Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Ultrasound and X-Ray[15]. The efforts of the research in the
medical field is mainly devoted on processing and analyzing medical image to segment the meaningful data
such as shape, to detect abnormalities, quantifying the changes in the position and growth of the suspected
regions, motion of organs and its volume.
In the medical domain the MRI evolution creates a huge revolution. In 1971, Prof. Raymond
Damadianinitials the first concept of MRI. From the day of invention, researchers and doctors keep on
improvising and using the MRI scans not only to assist in medical diagnose but also in the research area. An
MRI scanner is an important tool to analyze patients and produces the MRI images. The scanner is developed
with two powerful magnets, the first magnet aligns the water molecules in one direction either north or south
and second one is to generate the quick pulses series in turn on and off.The magnets should be cooled constantly
in the temperature of absolute zero (-459.67°F). By traditionally liquid helium is act as cooling agents for the
magnets.The MRI scan images are useful to predict uterine abnormalities in women for the treatment of
infertility, some types of heart problems, injuries and abnormal behaviors of bone joints, detect the lumps in the
liver and abdominal organs, abnormalities in the brain and spinal cord, pelvic pain for women and etc.
Image segmentation is the process of partitioning an input image into set of connected pixels.
Technically, image segmentation is refers to the decomposition of a scene into different meaningful regions.
Scientifically, the image segmentation is a vision task of hypothetical middle-level. The aim of the image
segmentation is to identify the region of interest i.e., to locate tumor and radiation dose calculation in radiation

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2979

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

therapy in automatic segmentation of medical images [8]. The segmentation is based on the measurements taken
from the images based on the texture, color, depth, motion or intensity values of an image. In general, image
segmentation is a step by step process to study all the image regions in depth. One of the major applications of
image segmentation is to identify the objects in the scene and measuring its shape and size. In this research
work, the MRI brain images are analyzed with the FCM algorithm and the results are verified with the
histograms values of the images to evaluate the accuracy of the results. This article is organized as
follows.Section II deals with the literature review of the variousrelated works, section III discusses about the
materials and methods applied in this research work.The results and its discussion are explained in section IV
and finally section V concludes the research work.
2. Literature Survey
There are many researchers performing research to find the efficiency of tumor affected region to help
the radiologists. In particularly, MRI brain image the performance of the FCM is highly important clustering
algorithm for its efficiency and effectiveness. Some of the research works for different persons are discussed
here from which gives a different perspective of FCM. 3D brain tumor segmentation in MRI using fuzzy
classification, symmetry analysis and spatially constrained deformable models discussed about the segmentation
of brain tumor. Fuzzy classification and approximate brain asymmetry plane based on these two different
approaches the tumor detection is carried out and its effective for all different types of tumor[10]. M.N. Ahmed
etal. are carried out in their research work in bias field estimation and adaptive segmentation of MRI data using
a modified fuzzy c-means algorithm. They proposes a novel algorithm to segment the MRI data and evaluate the
inhomogeneities intensity of fuzzy logic[1]. Current Methods in the Automatic Tissue Segmentation of 3D
Magnetic Resonance Brain Images they provide the current methods in the tissue segmentation with the detailed
study of each method with the mathematical representation and advantages and disadvantages of the methods.
They provide the conventional fuzzy c-means with the two ideas intensity nonuniformity INU and spatial
context with the pixel values in clustering process [12].
Automatic Tumor Segmentation Using Knowledge-Based Techniques is research work done by
Matthew C. Clarkand etal. The suspected tumor is identified by multispectral histogram analysis and region
analysis is used for the intracranial region. They generated a system that automatically identifies tumor
segments and labels of glioblastoma-multiforme tumors in the human brain with the help of magnetic resonance
images [6]. Discrete dynamic contour model with adjacent vertices consists of vertices and edges is the main
evaluation criteria to segment thalamus from MRI brain images which is an important neuro-anatomic structure
in brain is the research work discussed by LadanAmini and et.al [4]. Intensity space map(ISM) is combined with
the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm to segment the color MRI images for tumor detection work. Though the
manual segmentation of MRI data is possible, this algorithm segments the muscle regions and its time
consuming[19].
Keh-Shih Chuang, Hong-Long Tzeng, Sharon Chen, Jay Wu and Tzong-Jer Chen carried their research
work in Fuzzy c-means clustering with spatial information for image segmentation. The spatial information
incorporates with the fuzzy c-means algorithm for clustering into the membership function. Each pixel is taken
consideration with the summation of spatial function with the neighborhood membership function[5]. Another
research work proposes a new automatic clustering approach with a hybrid algorithm in the combination of
Artificial Bee colony with fuzzy c-means to determine the tumor region. The hybridization of (FCMAB), to
segment the MRI brain image extracts abnormal cell growth with the cluster centers [3]. The log bias field is
stack of spline surfaces, that reduces the spline coefficients of 3- bias field reduces in finding the spline
coefficients is effective two-stage algorithm. They proposed algorithm inorder to account the spatial continuity
constraints between image volume element. The MR imaging signal is formulated by a multiplicative bias field
with INU artifact [11].A Modified Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm for Bias Field Estimation and Segmentation of
MRI Data is a research work carried by Mohamed N. Ahmed. The objectivefunctions of the standard fuzzy c-
means algorithm for inhomogeneities and allow voxel the volume element of an image is influences the adjacent
neighborhood. Theregularize and biases of the neighborhood pixels leads towards the homogeneous labeling in
the piecewise information [2].
Brain Tumor Detection Using MRI Images is done by the research authors of PranitaBalaji Kanade1
and P.P Gumaste. They proposed algorithm which consists of six stage process which includes test
images,preprocessing, denoising and SWT, segmentation, feature extraction and SVM/PNN. The algorithm is
have higher accuracy and low error rates. The image segmentation algorithm will have following features
accuracy, reliability, repeatability, robustness and least dependency[8]. Ming Zhao and etal.carried their research
work titled as Automatic Threshold Level Set Model Applied on MRI Image Segmentation of Brain Tissue [20].
A mathematical representation and proof for Chan and Vese model for the different mean and variance for
automatic threshold level set for the image segmentation. The extraction of MR images was developed by
threshold level set without edges for the tissues in brain.Dzung L. Pham and Jerry L. Prince evaluated a novel
algorithm with the multiplicative intensity inhomogeneities for the obtaining the fuzzy segmentation of images.
An iterative algorithm is developed to minimize the objective function of fuzzy c-means [13].

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2980

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

3.Materials and Methods

Dunn was the first person to introduce the Fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm and it’s extended by
Bezdek.Duun Clustering is a widely used technique to classify images, that pixels of same group are belongs to
one group and differentiated pixels are belongs to some other groups [15].The MRI scans has been taken for the
patients for many reasons. To detect and identify bleeding, injury, blood vessels, tumors in brain area. MRI also
diagnoses more problem than on X-ray, ultrasound scan or CT scan. Brain is the main central nervous unit
which connects all the nerves of the body. It’s very important for the patients to diagnose the various problems
in the brain. So the detection and prediction of the brain tumor affected region is must and it should be precise
for the radiologists to produce accurate results to the physicians. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is a
commonly used in image segmentation, to assigns pixels of the images into distinct classes based on the features
of the image.One of the important domains of Fuzzy C Means is medical image analysis. This paper analysis
and detect brain tumor affected region separately with the help of the FCM in the coordination of histogram
values of the image. The MRI scanner scans the brain and produces the resultant image in three different planes
for the detailed description. The magnetic resonance scanner provides various scanning images of the brain from
different directions. Figure 1 shows the different planes of the MRI brain images. One is axial plane which
slices the brain and provides the information, the second one is the coronal plane shows the information from
the back with the spinal cord and the last one is the sagittal plane. The sagittal plane describes the brain image
from the left and right side of the brain anatomy shows in the Fig. 1.

Fig.1. Different planes of MRI brain image.

The FCM clustering algorithm is an iterative process to produce the cluster centers partition by
minimizing the weighted group of squared error objective functions summation. The MRI brain image is
segmented by FCM algorithm is carried by many researchers. In this paper, the segmented region pixel values is
verified with the histogram of the resultant images. The histogram values of the resultant image is been
analyzed. The research methodology of this research work includes four modules. The first module is converting
the DICOM images in to some real world images which can be easily handled by any software. The second
module is preprocessing the input image by removing noise. The third module is applying the traditional FCM
algorithm to the preprocessed images and finding the cluster values to the resultant images and the last module
is generation of histogram values and cross examining with the results from the third module to find the
accuracy with the coordination of pixels intensity. The resultant images produce the segmented region of the
input MRI brain images based on the evaluation of the intensity values of the images. By segmenting the image
the cluster center values are been recorded with the help of FCM algorithm.
3.1 Gaussian filter
The MRI input brain imagenoises areremoved with the Gaussian filter in the preprocessing stage. The
Gaussian noise is an form of white noise. It is caused due to the signals random fluctuations. The white noise is
a random signal with spectral densities flat power and it is also called as additive noise [9]. An simple and
important filtering techniques for images is the Gaussian filtering which is a subtitle of bilateral filtering. In the
Gaussian filtering function both the closeness function and similarity function are the Gaussian function

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2981

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

arguments of the Euclidean distance. The closeness function is described in the equation 5 and the similarity
function is illustrated in the equation 6 [14].
2
1  d ( , x ) 
  
2   d 
c( , x)  e (5)
where d( ,x) = d( -x) = ‖ ‖ is the Euclidean distance between and x.
2
1   ( f ( ), f ( x )) 
  
d
s( , x)  e
2 
(6)
Where (∅, = (∅ =‖∅ ‖is a suitable measure of distance between the intensity values of ∅ and f.
The geometric spread d is the domain is chosen based on the desired amount of low-pass filtering. The
Gaussian range filter is insensitive to the overall filters and additives changes are subjected to image intensity.
3.2 The Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm
Fuzzy c-means is clustering algorithm to classify the pixels into two or more groups. FCM is mainly
used to segment the images. Though, several approaches are exists in the real world for MRI brain image the
FCM produces more efficient and effective results than the others. The FCM clustering algorithm works on the
image based on some features like intensity values, texture, and pixels regions etc. In this approach, we cluster
the image by taking the intensity of the pixels. The merely same intensity values of the pixels will belongs to
one cluster and other pixels which may have the same intensity values form the next cluster. FCM clustering
algorithm is based on minimizing the weighted square mean error of the objective function
c
Ym   uijm X i  C j
2
(1)
i 1
The above equation is the weighting function of the FCM clustering algorithm. Centroids cluster of I is
in Ci and the u value is the range of between 0 and 1; Euclidean distance between the ith centroids and jthdata
joint is represented by dij and weighting function is m£(1,∞) [7].
Objective function of FCM
The procedure convergesthe saddle point of Ym or minimizes the local minima.The fuzzy segmentation
of image data is done by the iterative process by optimizing the objective function is carried as follows
1. C and q values are to be set.
2. Initialize the matrix M=M(Mij)
3. Loop counter b=0.
4. Center vectors calculation is done by
n

M
j 1
m
x
ij i

Rij  n
(2)
M j 1
m
ij

5. and are to updated.

1
uij  2 /( m1)
(3)
 xi  c j 
c
 
  x  c 
k 1
 i k 
6. max M k 1  M k  is the termination condition
ij

This iteration process is stop when it meets the following condition. The termination criterion with the
range between 0 and 1, and k is the number of iteration steps. In the above equations m>1 and xi is data
measured in d-dimensional, Mijis the X membership degree in the j cluster and center of the cluster is in the d
dimension of Rj[7]. The‖∗‖ is expressing the similarity between center and the measured data. The optimization
of the objective function is carried out in the segmentation of fuzzy, with the update of the cluster centers and
objective functions of the equation(1) [17].The above equations 2 and 3 are the FCM to create clusters of the
MRI brain image to segment and separated the tumor affected region based on the intensity values of the
image.In the, FCM the C represents the clustering which means creating group of objects which are similar
belongs to one group and dissimilar are belongs to different group.

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2982

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

Application Areas of FCM

The applications of clustering techniques are document categorization, customer/market segmentation,
scientific data analysis, city planning, land use and in earthquake studies [16]. Fuzzy, hard, remote sensing,
satellite signal receiving, are the broad classification area of clustering algorithms. The clustering is widely used
in many research areas such as data mining, artificial intelligence, fuzzy systems, pattern recognition, machine
learning etc. The application of cluster analysis is widely used in chemistry, the systematize chemical and
physical properties are analyzed and give detailed report in the field of analytical chemistry. The FCM is been
applied in the data mining domain widely. The comparative analysis of FCM with k Medoids for the statistical
data points are analysis in the research work and the results are discussed. The experimental results are
discussed and effectiveness of the FCM is shown clearly for the distributed data points [18].
3.3 Histograms
Histogram is a graphical representation of an image based on the intensity distribution of an image and
quantifies the each intensity values based on the number of pixels considered. In this work the detection of
affected region is identified based on the intensity level of images using FCM [10]. If f be a image it is been
represented by mrand mc matrix of pixel integer intensities ranging from 0 to L-1. The set of possible intensity
value is 0 to 255.
pn  (number of pixels with the intensity n)/(total number of pixels) (4)
The value of n is starts from 0 to L-1. To obtain the appropriate segmented results and to cross-checking the
FCM we coordinate the histogram values with the cluster centers of the FCM.
3.4. Proposed Method
The main goal of this research work is to diagnose and detect the tumor affected region of brain with
the Fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. The structured methodology for this research work is discussed as
follows:
Step1: In the MRI scan, the imaging results are the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine)
image format which is unreadable format by many software. The imagesare converted into standard
image file formats .jpg or .gif. Since, the conversion of the images is necessary for further analysis.
Step 2: The preprocessing is done by removing the noise with the Gaussian filter to remove the white noise.
Since, the clustering is based on the pixels values.
Step 3: Implementing the traditional fuzzy c-means algorithm to segment the images and to detect the tumor
affected region of the axial and coronal side of the MRI brain slices.
Step 4: Generating the histograms values before and after for the images and record the computational time.
Since comparing the histogram values with the cluster center values of the images.
The MRI brain image taken in this research work is real time data collected from Swami Vivekananda
Diagnostic Center scan center in Chennai. Different patient’s data from different age and places are taken and
the proposed approach has been analyzed. The MRI brain images has three different planes in this work we have
taken only two planes axial and coronal plane and comparing the performance of each plane for the FCM. The
research work is to find the best fit of the FCM algorithm over the axial and coronal plane of MRI brain slices
based on the computational time. Since, timely detection and prediction of any diseases is a highly critical area
in all the diagnosis. However, the time taken for an algorithm to complete its evaluation is also important in the
resource utilization.
The sample dataset consists of 40 MR images 20 from axial plane and 20 from coronal plane are taken
to detect the tumor affected region. The sample images are 3D truecolor images i.e. the intensity range is
between 0 and 255. To implement the FCM algorithm for the sample images noise removal plays an important
role. Since, the segmentation is based on the intensity values of the images; the noise removal improves the
quality of the image. The image noises are removed with the help of the Gaussian filter. The Gaussian filter is
the simple and important technique for images to remove the white from the images. Since, the tumor affected
region is been highlighted by white color in the image, so the removal of white noise helps a lot for the further
implementation of images. The preprocessed images are undergone with the traditional objective function of
FCM algorithm and results with the tumor affected region in the coordination of cluster center values. The
histogram values of before and after segmentation with the FCM of the images are analyzed.
4. Results and Discussion
The main aim of this research work is to detect the tumor affected region separately from the MRI brain
images and finding the best suitability of the algorithm in order to find axial and coronal plane extraction. The
comparative analysis of FCM algorithm for the axial and coronal plane is carried out based on the computational
time and its efficiency. Everything is possible with the images with the help of human vision. But, we may not
sure, that all the radiologists have good vision and always detect the tumor correctly. Computerization of some
of the practices in the medical area will help them to diagnose the disease in fast and effective manner. The
FCM algorithm is one of technique to detect the tumor affected region separately from the brain for further
studies. The best suitability of the FCM algorithm over the axial plane and coronal plane are calculated based on

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2983

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

the computational time and the visibility of the images. This research work, the images of the brain are taken
and analysis, it with the help of FCM algorithm. The results are cross examined with the histograms values to
maintain the accuracy of the results.The first step is to convert the DICOM file format of the MRI brain image
into some standard image file format. In this work, we converted the entire file in .jpg format. The images of the
MRI brain are in three different planes. The axial transversal plane gives the slices of the brain in detail, from
which we can see the center and interior part of the brain. The coronal plane show the back side of brain with
the some spinal cord region and the last one is sagittal plane describes the left and right side of the brain in
detail. In this study, we worked on the axial plane and coronal plane image in order to find, which plane the
FCM algorithm is more suitable based on the computational time. As an example 3 images from both the axial
and coronal plane are taken and Fig. 2 shows three sample images of the axial plane.

Fig.2.Input abnormal images of the axial plane.

The second step is preprocessing starts with 3 MRI image for three different persons AXI_IMG_01 by
removing the noise. The noises in the images are removed with the gaussian filtering techniques. Some of the
pixels could be affected some form of white or some other noise so the removal of noise by gaussian technique
will produce more standard resultant image. Since, the MRI images are black and white the gaussian filterin
gtechnique might be correct choice inorder to get a clartity of the image. The results of the preprocessing
module is shown in the Fig. 3. The third step is implementing the fuzzy c-means algorithm with the steps are
evaluated as in the objective function of FCM. The equations of the FCM are implemented IBM machine with
intel®core @ Duo processor and 8 GB RAM, running Windows7 operating system. The algorithm was
developed via Matlab (R2008a). In this work, the segmentation of images is based on the intensity values of
pixels in the imaging plane. The FCM is a clustering algorithm which gives the resultant images or values based
on the cluster center of the pixels. The default segmentation level of the FCM algorithm set as n=2 are shown in
the Fig. 3(b) and 3(c). The images are been segmented based on the intensity values of pixels; however the
cluster center produces the highest point of intensity values of the image. The last level, separate the brain
tumour affected region shown in the Fig. 3(d).

Fig.3. Preprocessing and FCM result of AXI_IMG_01.

The last step in this research work is cross-examing the cluster centers of FCM algorithm with the
intesnity values of the resultant image with the histogram graph. The diagnoziation of brain tumor is highly
important. We are segmenting the MRI brain images based on the pixels intensity values, so on reexaming the
resultant values with the histogram graph give more adequate results. The resultant image of the FCM is
compared with the histogram values of the image before and after segmentation. Since, the segmentation is
based on the intensity values, the cluster values gives the intensity range of the image. With this, the histogram
graph are been compared to achieve the correctness of the image. the validation of the resultant image is been

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2984

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

analysed with the histogram graph vlaues for more accuracy. The cluster centers of the AXI_IMG_01 are
c1=101.2571 and c2=6.6779.
The cluster center values obtained in the FCM algorithm is matches with the histogram graph values
which shows its efficiency and correctness of the algorithm. The segmentation of images through the FCM
algorithm is achieved by the intensity values of the images. The FCM algorithm segments the images and
produces the cluster center values of the images and resultant images. However, in the first level of
segmentation the cluster center values produces the highest intensity values of the images and in the next level it
again segments the image and produces the cluster center values.After receiving the resultant images the
histogram graph for both the image i.e. before and after segmentation is been analyzed with the cluster center
values of the images. The segmentation is based on the intensity values of the pixels it has been cross examined
with the histogram graph of the images. Fig. 4(a) shows the histogram value of AXI_IMG_01 before FCM, and
its value is peaks at 100 which are same as the cluster center c1 of the image in the FCM clustering algorithm
and the Fig. 4(b)depicts the tumor affected region separately with the same histogram values as with cluster
center c2 of the AXI_IMG_01.

Fig.4.Histograms of FCM forAXI_IMG_01

The axial plane image AXI_IMG_02 sample data is implemented as same as the AXI_IMG_01. The
FCM clustering algorithm produces the same result as with the coordination of histogram. The cluster center
values of AXI_IMG_02 is c1=109.0320 and c2=10.330. Fig. 5 shows the preprocessing and various steps of
AXI_IMG_02 and separated brain tumor affected region separately. Cluster center values are compared with the
histogram graph intensity of the AXI_IMG_02 before and after segmentation are shown in the Fig. 6. The
process is implemented for AXI_IMG_03 with the cluster centers c1=128.5591 and c2=13.4650 and the results
are shown in the Fig. 7. andFig. 8.

Fig.5. Preprocessing and FCM results of AXI_IMG_02.

Fig.6. Histograms of AXI_IMG_02

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2985

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

Fig.7. Preprocessing and FCM results of AXI_IMG_03.

Fig.8. Histograms of AXI_IMG_03.

Table I: Computational time of the axial plane.

MRI IMAGE DATA SET CLUSTER CENTER – C1 CLUSTER CENTER – C2 RUN TIME (sec)
AXI_IMG_01 101.2571 6.6779 40.492280
AXI_IMG_02 109.0320 10.330 26.659561
AXI_IMG_03 128.5591 13.4650 39.257596

The table I shows the computation time values of AXI_IMG_01, AXI_IMG_02 and AXI_IMG_03.
The computation time is the CPU execution time of FCM algorithm which not includes the preprocessing time.
The computation time is calculated in seconds. Fig. 4(a) shows before segmentation with the full intensity value
is peak at the somewhere between 120 and 130. The value is equal to cluster center c1=128.559. After the
segmentation the histogram value is peak at the point 10. Fig. 4(b) segmented region intensity value is equal to
the cluster center value c2=10.330 of FCM algorithm which shows the accuracy of the segmented region.
The cluster centers of c1 and c2 of the sample data are shown in the table. The table shows the cluster
center values of the image before and after segmentation of images. This value is approximately equal to the
histogram peak point values for the corresponding images to maintain the accuracy and to achieve adequate
results. Diagnosing tumor plays an important role in patients to produce accurate results is a highly an important
criteria. The coronal plane is another plane in the MRI brain image which shows some tumor affected region
with the back plane of the human. In the axial plane we can detect some types of tumor. The coronal plane
sample MRI data set is shown in the Fig. 9. COR_IMG_01 data is also preprocessed with the Gaussian filter
technique. The cluster values of COR_IMG_02 is c1=40.0859 and c2=182.6475 and the results are shown in the
Fig. 10.and histogram graph of the image are shown in the Fig. 11.

Fig.9. Input abnormal images of the coronal plane.

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2986

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

Fig.10. Preprocessing and FCM results of COR_IMG_01.

Fig.11. Histograms of COR_IMG_01

Fig. 12. Preprocessing and FCM results of COR_IMG_02.

Fig.13. Histograms of COR_IMG_02

In the coronal plane nearly 20 images are taken as input among that 3 image with their results are
discussed here. The COR_IMG_02 is done with the preprocessing module and the traditional fuzzy c-means
clustering algorithm is applied and the results are compared with the histogram values which are shown in the
figures Fig. 12and Fig. 13 with the two cluster center values as c1= 26.7629 and c2=138.3620. The
COR_IMG_03 has undergone the same step of process as in the structured approach and produces the results as
shown in the Fig. 14. and Fig. 15. With the cluster center values in the coordination of the histogram. The
computation time for the three image of the coronal plane with their cluster center values obtained from the
proposed approach is shown in the Table II.

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2987

 ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

Fig. 14. Preprocessing and FCM resultsof COR_IMG_03.

Fig.15. Histograms of COR_IMG_03

Table II: Computational time of the coronal plane

MRI IMAGE DATA SET CLUSTER CENTER – C1 CLUSTER CENTER – C2 COMPUTATION TIME
COR_IMG_01 182.6475 40.0859 15.625922
COR_IMG_02 138.3620 26.7629 18.734068
COR_IMG_03 117.7723 19.6129 12.997683

45 40.49228 39.257596
40
35
30 26.659561
25 18.734068
20 15.625922
12.997683
15
10
5
0

COMPUTATION TIME

Fig. 16: Axial plane and coronal plane computational time comparison.

Fig. 16shows the comparative computational time of the axial and coronal plane for the three image
data set. The computational time is calculated to discuss about the more efficiency of the FCM clustering
algorithm in the real world over the axial and coronal plane. The computational time may differ based on the
system specification. The time calculated is depends on the CPU evaluation time of only the fuzzy c means
clustering algorithm. The axial plane has taken more time than the coronal plane. The elapsed time is calculated
in seconds. In the real world, on diagnosis tumor to the large amount of patient the time consumption is an
important criterion. On using the fuzzy c means for coronal plane it require only adequate time, so the FCM is
well suitable for the coronal plane than the axial plane.

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2988

ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613
ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 T.Velmurugan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET)

5. Conclusion
The prediction of brain tumor is a critical problem in the medical field. The tumor affected region is
separated from the MRI brain images by comparing the computational time of the axial and coronal plane and
also finding the best fit of the FCM algorithm over the two planes. The structured approach discusses so far will
help the physicians to detect the tumor affected region very easily. The preprocessing of images is carried out
byGaussian filter method to remove the noisesfrom the images. After preprocessing, the traditional FCM is
applied to segment the tumor affected region. The affected region is cross examined with the cluster center
values of FCM. A physician can detect the tumor affected region very straightforwardly with the help of result
of FCM algorithm. But, the FCM algorithm alone cannot diagnose the tumor for some type brain images. It
helps the doctors or radiologists in finding the affected region perfectly to detect the tumor. The proposed
approach is more suitable and robust for the coronal plane rather than the axial plane based on the computational
time when comparing with the axial plane. The future work is to calculate the area of the tumor affected region
by means of intensity based pixel values.
References
[1] Ahmed, M. N., Yamany, S. M., Farag, A. A., & Moriarty, T. (1999). Bias field estimation and adaptive segmentation of MRI data
using a modified fuzzy C-means algorithm. In Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 1999. IEEE Computer Society Conference
on. (Vol. 1). IEEE.
[2] Ahmed, M. N., Yamany, S. M., Mohamed, N., Farag, A., & Moriarty, T. (2002). A modified fuzzy c-means algorithm for bias field
estimation and segmentation of MRI data. Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on, 21(3), 193-199.
[3] Alsmadi, M. K. (2015). MRI Brain Segmentation Using a Hybrid Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm with Fuzzy-C Mean
Algorithm. Journal of Applied Sciences, 15(1), 100.
[4] Amini, L., Soltanian-Zadeh, H., Lucas, C., &Gity, M. (2004). Automatic segmentation of thalamus from brain MRI integrating fuzzy
clustering and dynamic contours. Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, 51(5), 800-811.
[5] Chuang, K. S., Tzeng, H. L., Chen, S., Wu, J., & Chen, T. J. (2006). Fuzzy c-means clustering with spatial information for image
segmentation.computerized medical imaging and graphics, 30(1), 9-15.
[6] Clark, M. C., Hall, L. O., Goldgof, D. B., Velthuizen, R., Murtagh, F. R., &Silbiger, M. S. (1998). Automatic tumor segmentation
using knowledge-based techniques. Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on, 17(2), 187-201.
[7] Jose, A., Ravi, S., &Sambath, M. (2014). Brain Tumor Segmentation Using K-Means Clustering And Fuzzy C-Means Algorithms And
Its Area Calculation. Brain, 2(3).
[8] Kanade, P. B., &Gumaste, P. P. (2015). Brain Tumor Detection Using MRI Images. Brain, 3(2).
[9] Kaur, M., Gupta, S., &Bhushan, B. (2015). An Improved Adaptive Bilateral Filter to Remove Gaussian Noise from Color
Images. International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, 8(3), 49-64.
[10] Khotanlou, H., Colliot, O., Atif, J., & Bloch, I. (2009). 3D brain tumor segmentation in MRI using fuzzy classification, symmetry
analysis and spatially constrained deformable models. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 160(10), 1457-1473.
[11] Liew, A. W. C., & Yan, H. (2003). An adaptive spatial fuzzy clustering algorithm for 3-D MR image segmentation. Medical Imaging,
IEEE Transactions on, 22(9), 1063-1075.
[12] Liew, A. W. C., & Yan, H. (2006). Current methods in the automatic tissue segmentation of 3D magnetic resonance brain
images. Current Medical Imaging Reviews, 2(1), 91-103.
[13] Pham, D. L., & Prince, J. L. (1999). An adaptive fuzzy C-means algorithm for image segmentation in the presence of intensity
inhomogeneities. Pattern recognition letters, 20(1), 57-68.
[14] Tomasi, C., &Manduchi, R. (1998, January). Bilateral filtering for gray and color images. In Computer Vision, 1998. Sixth
International Conference on(pp. 839-846). IEEE.
[15] Vasuda, P., &Satheesh, S. (1713). Improved Fuzzy C-Means algorithm for MR brain image segmentation. International Journal on
Computer Science and Engineering, 2(5), 2010.
[16] Velmurugan, T. (2014). Performance based analysis between k-Means and Fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithms for connection
oriented telecommunication data. Applied Soft Computing, 19, 134-146.
[17] Velmurugan,T. Performance Comparison between k-Means and Fuzzy C-Means Algorithms using Arbitrary Data Points. ." Wulfenia
journal, Vol. 19, No. 8 (2012):234-241.
[18] Velmurugan, T., &Santhanam, T. (2011). A comparative analysis between k-medoids and fuzzy c-means clustering algorithms for
statistically distributed data points. Journal of Theoretical & Applied Information Technology, 27(1).
[19] Wei, Y., & Brown, H. K. (2015). A Novel Segmentation Approach For Brain Tumor in MRI.
[20] Zhao, M., Lin, H. Y., Yang, C. H., Hsu, C. Y., Pan, J. S., & Lin, M. J. (2015). Automatic threshold level set model applied on MRI
image segmentation of brain tissue. Appl. Math, 9(4), 1971-1980.

DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2016/v8i6/160806261 Vol 8 No 6 Dec 2016-Jan 2017 2989