A review of wavelets in biomedical applications

Abstract

We present an overview of the various uses of the wavelet transform (WT) in medicine and biology. We start by describing the wavelet properties that are the most important for biomedical applications. In particular we provide an interpretation of the the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) as a prewhitening multiscale matched filter. We also briefly indicate the analogy between the WT and some of the the biological processing that occurs in the early components of the auditory and visual system. We then review the uses of the WT for the analysis of 1-D physiological signals obtained by phonocardiography, electrocardiography (ECG), mid electroencephalography (EEG), including evoked response potentials. Next, we provide a survey of wavelet developments in medical imaging. These include biomedical image processing algorithms (e.g., noise reduction, image enhancement, and detection of microcalcifications in mammograms), image reconstruction and acquisition schemes (tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)), and multiresolution methods for the registration and statistical analysis of functional images of the brain (positron emission tomography (PET) and functional MRI (fMRI)). In each case, we provide the reader with same general background information and a brief explanation of how the methods work.