Denoising of brain MRI images using modified PDE based on pixel similarity

Abstract

Although various image denoising methods such as PDE-based algorithms have made remarkable progress in the past years, the trade-off between noise reduction and edge preservation is still an interesting and difficult problem in the field of image processing and analysis. A new image denoising algorithm, using a modified PDE model based on pixel similarity, is proposed to deal with the problem. The pixel similarity measures the similarity between two pixels. Then the neighboring consistency of the center pixel can be calculated. Informally, if a pixel is not consistent enough with its surrounding pixels, it can be considered as a noise, but an extremely strong inconsistency suggests an edge. The pixel similarity is a probability measure, its value is between 0 and 1. According to the neighboring consistency of the pixel, a diffusion control factor can be determined by a simple thresholding rule. The factor is combined into the primary partial differential equation as an adjusting factor for controlling the speed of diffusion for different type of pixels. An evaluation of the proposed algorithm on the simulated brain MRI images was carried out. The initial experimental results showed that the new algorithm can smooth the MRI images better while keeping the edges better and achieve higher peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) comparing with several existing denoising algorithms.