Comparison of Different Image Enhancement Methods for Effective Whole-Body Bone Scan Image

Sulieman Mohammed Salih Zobly

doi:10.11648/j.abb.20190703.16

Abstract

Nuclear medicine is one of the most important diagnostic tools used for different types of investigations such as a thyroid scan, renal function and whole-body bone scan. The main problem in nuclear medicine imaging system is the resulting images degraded with large amounts of noise. In this work we want use four different enhancement methods to enhance whole-body bone scan image so as to reduce the noise from the image and improve the resolution to achieve a better image quality and maintain quality for accurate diagnosis. Histogram equalization, adaptive histogram equalization, log transformation and gamma correction algorithms were used to improve the image quality. Four pair of bone scan images from gamma camera were used to perform this work. Enhanced images were quantified and evaluated by calculating the Peak Signal Noise Ratio, Mean Square Error and entropy. The result shows that the gamma correction algorithm gives best result among the four algorithms used for enhancing the bone images. The gamma correction algorithm can assist the radiologist in diagnosis the patient and quantify any changes accurately and quickly.

Highlights

The nuclear medicine imaging system used to provide information on a wide range of disease after injecting the patient with a very small amount of radionuclide
The four enhancement methods have been applied to whole body bone scan image generated from the gamma camera by using Tc-99m
The result shows that the whole body bone scan image quality can be improved with enhancement methods for better visualization and accurate diagnosis

Summary

Introduction

The nuclear medicine imaging system used to provide information on a wide range of disease after injecting the patient with a very small amount of radionuclide. The radionuclide imaging is one of the most important applications of radioactivity in nuclear medicine. It used to obtain a picture of the distribution of a radioactivity within the body [1]. The importance of nuclear medicine imaging lies in its ability to provide an exquisitely sensitive measure of a wide range of biologic processes in the body [1]. The most popular imaging system used in nuclear medicine is the gamma camera. In this paper only Histogram equalization, adaptive histogram equalization, log transformation and gamma correction algorithms will be discussed and used for enhancing whole-body bone scan image.

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion