How to perform skull stripping using matlab?

manasa · Apr 1, 2022 · 2.3K views
Question
I would like to do a project on skull stripping. What is the effective method to perform skull stripping/removal? Could anyone help me in getting code for that?   This is my image sir.
Expert Answer
Profile picture of Prashant Kumar
Prashant Kumar PhD Expert
Answered Nov 20, 2025
Try this code:

skull

 
clc;    % Clear the command window.
close all;  % Close all figures (except those of imtool.)
clear;  % Erase all existing variables. Or clearvars if you want.
workspace;  % Make sure the workspace panel is showing.
format long g;
format compact;
fontSize = 24;

% Check that user has the Image Processing Toolbox installed.
hasIPT = license('test', 'image_toolbox');
if ~hasIPT
  % User does not have the toolbox installed.
  message = sprintf('Sorry, but you do not seem to have the Image Processing Toolbox.\nDo you want to try to continue anyway?');
  reply = questdlg(message, 'Toolbox missing', 'Yes', 'No', 'Yes');
  if strcmpi(reply, 'No')
    % User said No, so exit.
    return;
  end
end

%===============================================================================
% Read in a standard MATLAB gray scale demo image.
folder = 'D:\Temporary stuff';
baseFileName = 'Jones-54-1-jan10-f3.jpg';
% Get the full filename, with path prepended.
fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName);
% Check if file exists.
if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file')
  % File doesn't exist -- didn't find it there.  Check the search path for it.
  fullFileNameOnSearchPath = baseFileName; % No path this time.
  if ~exist(fullFileNameOnSearchPath, 'file')
    % Still didn't find it.  Alert user.
    errorMessage = sprintf('Error: %s does not exist in the search path folders.', fullFileName);
    uiwait(warndlg(errorMessage));
    return;
  end
end
grayImage = imread(fullFileName);
% Get the dimensions of the image.
% numberOfColorBands should be = 1.
[rows, columns, numberOfColorBands] = size(grayImage);
if numberOfColorBands > 1
  % It's not really gray scale like we expected - it's color.
  % Convert it to gray scale by taking only the green channel.
  grayImage = grayImage(:, :, 2); % Take green channel.
end
% Display the original gray scale image.
subplot(2, 3, 1);
imshow(grayImage, []);
axis on;
title('Original Grayscale Image', 'FontSize', fontSize);
% Enlarge figure to full screen.
set(gcf, 'Units', 'Normalized', 'OuterPosition', [0 0 1 1]);
% Give a name to the title bar.
set(gcf, 'Name', 'Demo by ImageAnalyst', 'NumberTitle', 'Off')

% Let's compute and display the histogram.
[pixelCount, grayLevels] = imhist(grayImage);
subplot(2, 3, 2);
bar(grayLevels, pixelCount);
grid on;
title('Histogram of original image', 'FontSize', fontSize);
xlim([0 grayLevels(end)]); % Scale x axis manually.

% Crop image to get rid of light box surrounding the image
grayImage = grayImage(3:end-3, 4:end-4);
% Threshold to create a binary image
binaryImage = grayImage > 20;
% Get rid of small specks of noise
binaryImage = bwareaopen(binaryImage, 10);
% Display the original gray scale image.
subplot(2, 3, 3);
imshow(binaryImage, []);
axis on;
title('Binary Image', 'FontSize', fontSize);

% Seal off the bottom of the head - make the last row white.
binaryImage(end,:) = true;
% Fill the image
binaryImage = imfill(binaryImage, 'holes');
subplot(2, 3, 4);
imshow(binaryImage, []);
axis on;
title('Cleaned Binary Image', 'FontSize', fontSize);

% Erode away 15 layers of pixels.
se = strel('disk', 15, 0);
binaryImage = imerode(binaryImage, se);
subplot(2, 3, 5);
imshow(binaryImage, []);
axis on;
title('Eroded Binary Image', 'FontSize', fontSize);

% Mask the gray image
finalImage = grayImage; % Initialize.
finalImage(~binaryImage) = 0;
subplot(2, 3, 6);
imshow(finalImage, []);
axis on;
title('Skull stripped Image', 'FontSize', fontSize);

msgbox('Done with demo');

 

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