In order to improve connexity and accuracy in skeletonization

a new skeletonization method using template and neighborhood information is proposed. Firstly

we smooth the bilevel image and calculate the neighborhood sum of every point in vein line to differentiate fringe points and medial axis points

then find some medial axis points through the template matching and obtain some discontinuous axle wires by deleting all isolated points；finally

we obtain the vein skeleton by using algorithm of maximal neighborhood point tracking from the ending points of the axle wires. Experimental results show that vein skeleton extracted by the algorithm is smooth and stable

and superposes on actual axle wires. At the same time

the algorithm is provided with scale and rotation invariance，and strong anti-noise ability

so it is effective to extract vein skeleton.