Medical Image

Enhancement
Medical Image Enhancement
Dr. Monica Trifas
Department of Mathematical,
Computing and Information Sciences
Jacksonville State University
atrifas@jsu.edu
 Outline

• Image Enhancement Approaches

• Spatial Domain Methods
• Filtering in the Frequency Domain
• Multiscale Methods for Contrast Enhancement
• Conclusion
• Future work
 Image Enhancement Approaches
 Objective : to process an image so that it has a
better presentation than the original image for a
specific application.
 Subjective area of image processing
 Two categories of enhancement:

-Spatial domain: direct manipulation of pixels in

an image
-Frequency domain: modifying the Fourier
transform of an image
Spatial Domain Methods
 Gray level transformations: linear, logarithmic,
power-law and piecewise-linear transformation
functions
 Histogram processing: histogram equalization,
histogram matching
 Enhancement using arithmetic/logic operations
 Smoothing spatial filters
 Sharpening spatial filters
 Power-Law Transformations
•Form: s  cr  or s  c(r   ) 

•Gamma correction: the process used to correct power-law

response phenomena
•Power-law transformations are useful for general-purpose
contrast manipulation.
-For a dark image, an expansion of gray levels is accomplished
using a power-law transformation with a fractional exponent.
-For an image having a washed-out appearance, a compression
of gray levels is obtained using a power-law transformation with γ
greater than 1.
Magnetic Resonance Image of a Head
Result of Applying the Power-Law Transformation
Magnetic Resonance Image of Human Brain
Result of Applying the Power-Law Transformation
 Histogram Processing
 The histogram is a discrete function: h(r )  n
k kwhere rk is the
k th gray level and nk is the number of pixels in the image having
gray level rk .
nk
p (rk ) 
 A normalized histogram is: where p(rk ) is an estimate
n
of the probability of occurrence of gray level rk .
 Dark image: the components of the histogram are concentrated on
the lower part of the gray scale.
 Bright image: the components of the histogram are biased toward
the higher part of the gray scale.
 Low-contrast image: histogram will be narrow and centered
toward the middle of the gray scale.
 High-contrast image: components of the histogram cover a broad
range of the gray scale and its distribution of pixels is close to
uniform.
A Low-Contrast Image and Its Histogram
A High-Contrast Image and Its Histogram
Result of Histogram Equalization
Properties of the Frequency Domain
 The frequency domain is defined by values of the
Fourier transform and its frequency variables.
 The frequencies in the Fourier transform can be associated
with patterns of intensity variations in an image.
 The low frequencies correspond to the slowly varying
components of an image.
 The higher frequencies begin to correspond with faster and
faster gray-level changes in the image.
Filtering in the Frequency Domain (cont.)

 Low frequencies in the Fourier transform give the

gray-level appearance of a smooth image
 High frequencies show detail, such as edges and
noise.
 A filter that attenuates high frequencies while
“passing” low frequencies is called a lowpass filter.
 A filter with the opposite characteristics is called a
highpass filter.
The Magnitude of the Fourier Transform for a Clear
Medical Image
The Magnitude of the Fourier Transform for the
Blurred Version of the Same Medical Image
The Magnitude of the Fourier Transform the Sharpened
Version of the Same Medical Image
Multiscale Methods for Contrast
Enhancement
 Multiscale methods can decompose an image into
components, which can be used to improve contrast
in the image.
 The Laplacian Pyramid and the Fast Wavelet
Transform (FWT) are both multiscale methods.
 Modelling vision as a parallel, multiple-scale process
has been popular since the work of Marr et al. (1979)
and of Burt and Adelson (1983)
Pyramid Representations
 A pyramid is a multiscale representation that is built with
a recursive method that leads naturally to self-similarity.
 Pyramid is built by using multiple copies of image.
 Each level of the pyramid is ¼ of the size of previous
level.
 The lowest level is the highest resolution.
 The highest level is the lowest resolution.
 An image pyramid is formed by repeated smoothing and
subsampling of an image.
 First Levels of Gaussian and Laplacian Pyramids
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2

Level 1

Level 0
Multiresolution Encoding
 Basic idea: encode an image as a sequence of error images:
L0,L1,L2,…
L0(i,j)=g0(i,j)-g1(i,j) where g0 is the original image, g1 is a
filtered version.
 Encode L0 and g1 rather than g0. g1 is itself filtered to yield g2
and a new error image is computed:
L1(i,j)=g1(i,j)-g2(i,j)
 We can reconstruct the original image:
g0(i,j)=L0(i,j)+L1(i,j)+…+LN(i,j)+gN+1(i,j)
Laplacian Pyramid (cont.)

 Burt and Adelson (1983) proposed the Laplacian pyramid to

exploit this strategy.
 First, the lowpass filter (gk) they used resembles a Gaussian,
so gk could be considered the different levels of the Gaussian
pyramid.
 Hence it is called a Gaussian pyramid.
 Lk is composed of difference of Gaussians filtered images, and
hence called Laplacian pyramid.
 Laplacian Pyramid is a sequence of error images :L0,L1,…,LN.
Applications of Laplacian Pyramid
 Analysis and synthesis of images

 Generation and reconstruction

 Image Compression

 Progressive Transmission

 Multiscale Feature Detection

 Image Enhancement
Pyramid in Contrast Enhancement
 Contrast improvement is achieved by modifying the
coefficients of the Laplacian pyramid.
 Small coefficients represent subtle details. These are
amplified to improve the visibility of the corresponding
details.
 The large coefficient values can be reduced without risk
of information loss, and by compressing the dynamic
range, overall contrast resolution will improve.
Contrast Amplification with Laplacian
Pyramid
 What is Wavelet Analysis?
 A wavelet is a waveform of effectively limited duration
that has an average value of zero.
 Fourier analysis decomposes a signal into sine waves of
various frequencies.
 Similarly, wavelet analysis breaks up a signal into
shifted and scaled versions of the original wavelet.
 Signals with sharp changes might be better analyzed
with an irregular wavelet than with a smooth sinusoid.
 Wavelet analysis can be applied to one-dimensional
data (signals), two-dimensional data (images) and, in
principle, to higher dimensional data.
 Two-Dimensional Wavelet Transform

A one-level wavelet transform of an image is defined

by performing the following two steps:
1. Perform a 1-level, 1D wavelet transform, on each
row of ; this operation will yield a new image.
2. On the new image produced in step 1, perform the
same 1D wavelet transform on
each of its columns.
One-Level Wavelet Transform
Using Wavelet Analysis for Contrast
Enhancement

Edge Enhancement Method

1. Perform a wavelet transform of the original image.
2. Multiply fluctuation values by a constant larger
than 1, but not the trend values.
3. Perform an inverse transform of modified image
from step 2.
Improving a Blurred Medical Image Using One-Level
Wavelet Analysis
Improving a Blurred Medical Image Using Multiple-
Level Wavelet Analysis
 Conclusion
 Different approaches to image enhancement in the spatial and
frequency domain were explored.
 Multiscale approaches for contrast manipulation:
- Laplacian Pyramid
- 2D wavelets
 The basic idea :decompose the image into components that
represent individual details, and these results are used to
improve the contrast with these components rather than
operating on the original image.
 The Fourier and Discrete Cosine Transforms were employed to
evaluate image quality. Based on statistical measures we were
able to differentiate good images from blurred or extremely
sharp images.
 Conclusion (cont.)
 We have constructed and quantified an ideal image frequency
profile, i.e. a frequency profile that corresponds to the most
“balanced-natural” image.
 We have demonstrated that Laplacian Pyramid can be used to
produce distinguishable image frequency profiles and have
applied them for contrast enhancement of the medical images. To
the best of our knowledge, this approach is unique to this
dissertation research.
 We presented a comparison of the results of enhancing MR
images using both Laplacian Pyramid and wavelet transforms.
 Future Work
 In the future, these enhancement methods may be
incorporated in the UniPACS Viewing Workstation
 A functional image enhancement module has to
address the individual radiologists sensitivity to
contrast. Each radiologist’s profile can be analyzed and
constructed over time.
 Based on individual profiles, an automatic image
enhancement procedure unique to each radiologist can
be constructed.