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Citation:
Moore C, Feger J, Otsu's method. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 28 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-188842
Otsu’s method, also known as Otsu's threshold algorithm, is an automatic thresholding algorithm used in image processing.
The method separates pixels or voxels from an image into groups based on where their values lie in relation to the image histogram. The method finds threshold values that create a separation to minimize intraclass pixel/voxel value variance or conversely, maximize the interclass variance of values.
Many image processing libraries have built-in implementations (pre-made functions) of Otsu’s method that will return the threshold value computed with this method and there are many variations and extensions of Otsu’s method that have been applied to radiological images 2,3.
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1. Ornowski J, Dziesinski L, Hess M et al. Thresholding Approaches for Estimating Paraspinal Muscle Fat Infiltration Using T1- and T2-Weighted MRI: Comparative Analysis Using Water-Fat MRI. JOR Spine. 2024;7(1):e1301. doi:10.1002/jsp2.1301 - Pubmed
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2. Chang Y. Improving the Otsu Method for MRA Image Vessel Extraction via Resampling and Ensemble Learning. Healthc Technol Lett. 2019;6(4):115-20. doi:10.1049/htl.2018.5031 - Pubmed
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3. Lee I, Im H, Solaiyappan M, Cho S. Comparison of Novel Multi-Level Otsu (MO-PET) and Conventional PET Segmentation Methods for Measuring FDG Metabolic Tumor Volume in Patients with Soft Tissue Sarcoma. EJNMMI Phys. 2017;4(1):22. doi:10.1186/s40658-017-0189-0 - Pubmed
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