MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING
IMAGE ENHENCEMENT
CHAPTER 3
MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING
- Several practical factors often lead to the acquisition of
images with less than the desired levels of contrast
visibility of detail or overall quality
- The understanding of the exact cause of the loss of
quality is limited or nonexistent
➔ investigator is forced to attempt to improve or
enhance the quality of the image on hand using several
techniques applied in an ad hoc manner
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MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING
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- In some applications a nonspecific improvement in the
general appearance of the given image may suffice
- A few biomedical imaging situations and applications
where enhancement of the feature of interest would be
desirable
+ Microcalcifications in mammograms
+ Lung nodules in chest Xray images
+ Vascular structure of the brain
+ Hairline fractures in the ribs
MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING
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MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING
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- Some of the features listed above could be difficult to
see in the given image due to their small size, subtlety,
small differences in characteristics with respect to their
surrounding structures, or low contrast;
Others could be rendered not readily visible due to
superimposed structures in planar images
➔ Enhancement of the contrast edges and general detail
visibility in the images without causing any distortion or
artifacts would be desirable