Medical image segmentation approach based on hybrid adaptive differential evolution and crayfish optimizer

Image segmentation plays a pivotal role in medical image analysis, particularly for accurately isolating tumors and lesions. Effective segmentation improves diagnostic precision and facilitates quantitative analysis, which is vital for medical professionals. However, traditional segmentation methods often struggle with multilevel thresholding due to the associated computational complexity. Therefore, determining the optimal threshold set is an NP-hard problem, highlighting the pressing need for efficient optimization strategies to overcome these challenges. This paper introduces a multi-threshold image segmentation (MTIS) method that integrates a hybrid approach combining Differential Evolution (DE) and the Crayfish Optimization Algorithm (COA), known as HADECO. Utilizing two-dimensional (2D) Kapur's entropy and a 2D histogram, this method aims to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of subsequent image analysis and diagnosis. HADECO is a hybrid algorithm that combines DE and COA by exchanging information based on predefined rules, leveraging the strengths of both for superior optimization results. It employs Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) to generate a high-quality initial population. HADECO introduces an improved DE algorithm (IDE) with adaptive and dynamic adjustments to key DE parameters and new mutation strategies to enhance its search capability. In addition, it incorporates an adaptive COA (ACOA) with dynamic adjustments to the switching probability parameter, effectively balancing exploration and exploitation. To evaluate the effectiveness of HADECO, its performance is initially assessed using CEC'22 benchmark functions. HADECO is evaluated against several contemporary algorithms using the Wilcoxon signed rank test (WSRT) and the Friedman test (FT) to integrate the results. The findings highlight HADECO's superior optimization abilities, demonstrated by its lowest average Friedman ranking of 1.08. Furthermore, the HADECO-based MTIS method is evaluated using MRI images for knee and CT scans for brain intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Quantitative results in brain hemorrhage image segmentation show that the proposed method achieves a superior average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and feature similarity index (FSIM) of 1.5 and 1.7 at the 6-level threshold. In knee image segmentation, it attains an average PSNR and FSIM of 1.3 and 1.2 at the 5-level threshold, demonstrating the method's effectiveness in solving image segmentation problems.