Bone enhancement in digital dual energy radiographs from normalization with a synthetic background image

Abstract

We have developed a method to enhance bone contrast in dual x-ray images. The method relies on the creation of a synthetic background image representing soft tissues and air in the image. The original image is normalized with this background image, thus enhancing bone contrast and eliminating soft tissues and air holes. The central idea of the method resides in the proper combination of information contained in equivalent aluminum and plastic thicknesses, calculated from well-known dual-energy algorithms.