Rangayyan-Biomedical Image Analysis
Rangayyan-Biomedical Image Analysis
Rangayyan-Biomedical Image Analysis
Biomedical
Image Analysis
Biomedical Engineering
Series
Edited by Michael R. Neuman
Published Titles
Electromagnetic Analysis and Design in Magnetic Resonance
Imaging, Jianming Jin
Endogenous and Exogenous Regulation and
Control of Physiological Systems, Robert B. Northrop
Artificial Neural Networks in Cancer Diagnosis, Prognosis,
and Treatment, Raouf N.G. Naguib and Gajanan V. Sherbet
Medical Image Registration, Joseph V. Hajnal, Derek Hill, and
David J. Hawkes
Introduction to Dynamic Modeling of Neuro-Sensory Systems,
Robert B. Northrop
Noninvasive Instrumentation and Measurement in Medical
Diagnosis, Robert B. Northrop
Handbook of Neuroprosthetic Methods, Warren E. Finn
and Peter G. LoPresti
Signals and Systems Analysis in Biomedical Engineering,
Robert B. Northrop
Angiography and Plaque Imaging: Advanced Segmentation
Techniques, Jasjit S. Suri and Swamy Laxminarayan
Analysis and Application of Analog Electronic Circuits to
Biomedical Instrumentation, Robert B. Northrop
Biomedical Image Analysis, Rangaraj M. Rangayyan
The BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Series
Series Editor Michael R. Neuman
Biomedical
Image Analysis
Rangaraj M. Rangayyan
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
CRC PR E S S
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
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v
Preface
vii
viii Biomedical Image Analysis
communication systems, have created the need for higher levels of lossless
data compression. The use of multiple modalities of medical imaging for im-
proved diagnosis of a particular type of disease or disorder has raised the need
to combine diverse images of the same organ, or the results thereof, into a
readily comprehensible visual display.
The major strength in the application of computers to medical imaging lies
in the potential use of image processing and computer vision techniques for
quantitative or objective analysis. (See the July 1972 and May 1979 issues
of the Proceedings of the IEEE for historical reviews and articles on digital
image processing.) Medical images are primarily visual in nature however,
visual analysis of images by human observers is usually accompanied by lim-
itations associated with interpersonal variations, errors due to fatigue, errors
due to the low rate of incidence of a certain sign of abnormality in a screening
application, environmental distractions, etc. The interpretation of an image
by an expert bears the weight of the experience and expertise of the ana-
lyst however, such analysis is almost always subjective. Computer analysis
of image features, if performed with the appropriate logic, has the potential
to add objective strength to the interpretation of the expert. It thus becomes
possible to improve the diagnostic con dence and accuracy of even an expert
with many years of experience.
Developing an algorithm for medical image analysis, however, is not an easy
task quite often, it might not even be a straightforward process. The engi-
neer or computer analyst is often bewildered by the variability of features in
biomedical signals, images, and systems that is far higher than that encoun-
tered in physical systems or observations. Benign diseases often mimic the
features of malignant diseases malignancies may exhibit characteristic pat-
terns, which, however, are not always guaranteed to appear. Handling all of
the possibilities and the degrees of freedom in a biomedical system is a major
challenge in most applications. Techniques proven to work well with a certain
system or set of images may not work in another seemingly similar situation.
xiii
xiv Biomedical Image Analysis
20th Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Hong Kong, Oc-
tober 1998.
His research work was recognized with the 1997 and 2001 Research Excel-
lence Awards of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the
1997 Research Award of the Faculty of Engineering, and by appointment as a
\University Professor" in 2003, at the University of Calgary. He was awarded
the Killam Resident Fellowship in 2002 by the University of Calgary in sup-
port of writing this book. He was recognized by the IEEE with the award
of the Third Millennium Medal in 2000, and was elected as a Fellow of the
IEEE in 2001, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada in 2002, Fellow
of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2003, and
Fellow of SPIE: the International Society for Optical Engineering in 2003.
xv
xvi Biomedical Image Analysis
Sridhar Krishnan, Naga Ravindra Mudigonda, Margaret Hilary Alto, Han-
ford John Deglint, Thanh Minh Nguyen, Ricardo Jose Ferrari, Liang Shen,
Roseli de Deus Lopes, Antonio Cesar Germano Martins, Marcelo Knorich
Zu
o, Bego~na Acha Pi~nero, Carmen Serrano Gotarredona, Laura Roa, Annie
France Frere, Graham Stewart Boag, Vicente Odone Filho, Marcelo Valente,
Silvia Delgado Olabarriaga, Christian Roux, Basel Solaiman, Olivier Menut,
Denise Guliato, Fabricio Adorno, Mario Ribeiro, Mihai Ciuc, Vasile Buzuloiu,
Titus Zaharia, Constantin Vertan, Margaret Sarah Rose, Salahuddin Elka-
diki, Kevin Eng, Nema Mohamed El-Faramawy, Arup Das, Farshad Faghih,
William Alexander Rolston, Yiping Shen, Zahra Marjan Kazem Moussavi,
Joseph Provine, Hieu Ngoc Nguyen, Djamel Boulfelfel, Tamer Farouk Rabie,
Katherine Olivia Ladly, Yuanting Zhang, Zhi-Qiang Liu, Raman Bhalachan-
dra Paranjape, Joseph Andre Rodrigue Blais, Robert Charles Bray, Gopinath
Ramaswamaiah Kuduvalli, Sanjeev Tavathia, William Mark Morrow, Tim-
othy Chi Hung Hon, Subhasis Chaudhuri, Paul Soble, Kirby Jaman, Atam
Prakash Dhawan, and Richard Joseph Lehner. In particular, I thank Liang,
Naga, Ricardo, Gopi, Djamel, Hilary, Tamer, Antonio, Bill Rolston, Bill Mor-
row, and Joseph for permitting me to use signi cant portions of their theses
Naga for producing the cover illustration and Fabio, Hilary, Liang, Mihai,
Gopi, Joseph, Ricardo, and Hanford for careful proofreading of drafts of the
book. Sections of the book were reviewed by Cyril Basil Frank, Joseph Edward
Leo Desautels, Leszek Hahn, Richard Frayne, Norm Bartley, Randy Hoang
Vu, Ilya Kamenetsky, Vijay Devabhaktuni, and Sanjay Srinivasan. I express
my gratitude to them for their comments and advice. I thank Leonard Bruton
and Abu Sesay for discussions on some of the topics described in the book.
I also thank the students of my course ENEL 697 Digital Image Processing
over the past several years for their comments and feedback.
The book has bene ted signi cantly from illustrations and text provided
by a number of researchers worldwide, as identi ed in the references and per-
missions cited. I thank them all for enriching the book with their gifts of
knowledge and kindness. Some of the test images used in the book were ob-
tained from the Center for Image Processing Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, NY, www.ipl.rpi.edu I thank them for the resource.
The research projects that have provided me with the background and expe-
rience essential in order to write the material in this book have been supported
by many agencies. I thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada, the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research,
the Alberta Breast Cancer Foundation, Control Data Corporation, Kids Can-
cer Care Foundation of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University
of Manitoba, and the Indian Institute of Science for supporting my research
projects.
I thank the Killam Trusts and the University of Calgary for awarding me
a Killam Resident Fellowship to facilitate work on this book. I gratefully ac-
knowledge support from the Alberta Provincial Biomedical Engineering Grad-
uate Programme, funded by a grant from the Whitaker Foundation, toward
Acknowledgments xvii
student assistantship for preparation of some of the exercises and illustrations
for this book and the related courses ENEL 563 Biomedical Signal Analysis
and ENEL 697 Digital Image Processing at the University of Calgary. I am
pleased to place on record my gratitude for the generous support from the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Faculty of En-
gineering at the University of Calgary in terms of supplies, services, and relief
from other duties.
I thank Steven Leikeim for help with computer-related issues and problems.
My association with the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
(EMBS) in many positions has bene ted me considerably in numerous ways.
In particular, the period as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on
Biomedical Engineering was rewarding, as it provided me with a wonderful
opportunity to work with many leading researchers and authors of scienti c
articles. I thank IEEE EMBS and SPIE for lending professional support to
my career on many fronts.
Writing this book has been a monumental task, often draining me of all
of my energy. The in nite source of inspiration and recharging of my energy
has been my family | my wife Mayura, my daughter Vidya, and my son
Adarsh. While supporting me with their love and a
ection, they have had to
bear the loss of my time and e
ort at home. I express my sincere gratitude to
my family for their love and support, and place on record their contribution
toward the preparation of this book.
I thank CRC Press and its associates for inviting me to write this book and
for completing the publication process in a friendly and ecient manner.
Rangaraj Mandayam Rangayyan
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
November, 2004
Contents
Preface vii
About the Author xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Symbols and Abbreviations xxix
1 The Nature of Biomedical Images 1
1.1 Body Temperature as an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Transillumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Light Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Electron Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 X-ray Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.5.1 Breast cancer and mammography . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.6 Tomography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.7 Nuclear Medicine Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.8 Ultrasonography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1.9 Magnetic Resonance Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
1.10 Objectives of Biomedical Image Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 53
1.11 Computer-aided Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
1.12 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
1.13 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
1.14 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2 Image Quality and Information Content 61
2.1 Diculties in Image Acquisition and Analysis . . . . . . . . . 61
2.2 Characterization of Image Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.3 Digitization of Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.3.1 Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.3.2 Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.3.3 Array and matrix representation of images . . . . . . 69
2.4 Optical Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
2.5 Dynamic Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.6 Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.7 Histogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2.8 Entropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
2.9 Blur and Spread Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
2.10 Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
xix
xx Biomedical Image Analysis
2.11 The Fourier Transform and Spectral Content . . . . . . . . . 99
2.11.1 Important properties of the Fourier transform . . . . 110
2.12 Modulation Transfer Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
2.13 Signal-to-Noise Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
2.14 Error-based Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
2.15 Application: Image Sharpness and Acutance . . . . . . . . . 139
2.16 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
2.17 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
2.18 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
3 Removal of Artifacts 151
3.1 Characterization of Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
3.1.1 Random noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
3.1.2 Examples of noise PDFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
3.1.3 Structured noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
3.1.4 Physiological interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
3.1.5 Other types of noise and artifact . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
3.1.6 Stationary versus nonstationary processes . . . . . . . 166
3.1.7 Covariance and cross-correlation . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
3.1.8 Signal-dependent noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
3.2 Synchronized or Multiframe Averaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3.3 Space-domain Local-statistics-based Filters . . . . . . . . . . 174
3.3.1 The mean lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
3.3.2 The median lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
3.3.3 Order-statistic lters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
3.4 Frequency-domain Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
3.4.1 Removal of high-frequency noise . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
3.4.2 Removal of periodic artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
3.5 Matrix Representation of Image Processing . . . . . . . . . . 202
3.5.1 Matrix representation of images . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
3.5.2 Matrix representation of transforms . . . . . . . . . . 206
3.5.3 Matrix representation of convolution . . . . . . . . . . 212
3.5.4 Illustrations of convolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
3.5.5 Diagonalization of a circulant matrix . . . . . . . . . . 218
3.5.6 Block-circulant matrix representation of a 2D lter . . 221
3.6 Optimal Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
3.6.1 The Wiener lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
3.7 Adaptive Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
3.7.1 The local LMMSE lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
3.7.2 The noise-updating repeated Wiener lter . . . . . . . 234
3.7.3 The adaptive 2D LMS lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
3.7.4 The adaptive rectangular window LMS lter . . . . . 237
3.7.5 The adaptive-neighborhood lter . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
3.8 Comparative Analysis of Filters for Noise Removal . . . . . . 251
3.9 Application: Multiframe Averaging in Confocal Microscopy . 270
Table of Contents xxi
3.10 Application: Noise Reduction in Nuclear Medicine Imaging . 271
3.11 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
3.12 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
3.13 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
4 Image Enhancement 285
4.1 Digital Subtraction Angiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
4.2 Dual-energy and Energy-subtraction X-ray Imaging . . . . . 287
4.3 Temporal Subtraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
4.4 Gray-scale Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
4.4.1 Gray-scale thresholding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
4.4.2 Gray-scale windowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
4.4.3 Gamma correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
4.5 Histogram Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
4.5.1 Histogram equalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
4.5.2 Histogram speci cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
4.5.3 Limitations of global operations . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
4.5.4 Local-area histogram equalization . . . . . . . . . . . 310
4.5.5 Adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization . . . . 311
4.6 Convolution Mask Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
4.6.1 Unsharp masking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
4.6.2 Subtracting Laplacian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
4.6.3 Limitations of xed operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
4.7 High-frequency Emphasis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
4.8 Homomorphic Filtering for Enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . 328
4.8.1 Generalized linear ltering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
4.9 Adaptive Contrast Enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
4.9.1 Adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhancement . . . . 338
4.10 Objective Assessment of Contrast Enhancement . . . . . . . 346
4.11 Application: Contrast Enhancement of Mammograms . . . . 350
4.11.1 Clinical evaluation of contrast enhancement . . . . . . 354
4.12 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
4.13 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
4.14 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
5 Detection of Regions of Interest 363
5.1 Thresholding and Binarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
5.2 Detection of Isolated Points and Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
5.3 Edge Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.3.1 Convolution mask operators for edge detection . . . . 367
5.3.2 The Laplacian of Gaussian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
5.3.3 Scale-space methods for multiscale edge detection . . 380
5.3.4 Canny's method for edge detection . . . . . . . . . . . 390
5.3.5 Fourier-domain methods for edge detection . . . . . . 390
5.3.6 Edge linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
xxii Biomedical Image Analysis
5.4 Segmentation and Region Growing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
5.4.1 Optimal thresholding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
5.4.2 Region-oriented segmentation of images . . . . . . . . 396
5.4.3 Splitting and merging of regions . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
5.4.4 Region growing using an additive tolerance . . . . . . 397
5.4.5 Region growing using a multiplicative tolerance . . . . 400
5.4.6 Analysis of region growing in the presence of noise . . 401
5.4.7 Iterative region growing with multiplicative tolerance 402
5.4.8 Region growing based upon the human visual system 405
5.4.9 Application: Detection of calci cations by multitoler-
ance region growing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
5.4.10 Application: Detection of calci cations by linear pre-
diction error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
5.5 Fuzzy-set-based Region Growing to Detect Breast Tumors . . 417
5.5.1 Preprocessing based upon fuzzy sets . . . . . . . . . . 419
5.5.2 Fuzzy segmentation based upon region growing . . . . 421
5.5.3 Fuzzy region growing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
5.6 Detection of Objects of Known Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . 434
5.6.1 The Hough transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
5.6.2 Detection of straight lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
5.6.3 Detection of circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
5.7 Methods for the Improvement of Contour or Region Estimates 444
5.8 Application: Detection of the Spinal Canal . . . . . . . . . . 449
5.9 Application: Detection of the Breast Boundary in Mammo-
grams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
5.9.1 Detection using the traditional active deformable con-
tour model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
5.9.2 Adaptive active deformable contour model . . . . . . 464
5.9.3 Results of application to mammograms . . . . . . . . 476
5.10 Application: Detection of the Pectoral Muscle in Mammo-
grams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
5.10.1 Detection using the Hough transform . . . . . . . . . 481
5.10.2 Detection using Gabor wavelets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
5.10.3 Results of application to mammograms . . . . . . . . 495
5.11 Application: Improved Segmentation of Breast Masses by
Fuzzy-set-based Fusion of Contours and Regions . . . . . . . 500
5.12 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
5.13 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
5.14 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
6 Analysis of Shape 529
6.1 Representation of Shapes and Contours . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
6.1.1 Signatures of contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
6.1.2 Chain coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
6.1.3 Segmentation of contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Table of Contents xxiii
6.1.4 Polygonal modeling of contours . . . . . . . . . . . .. 537
6.1.5 Parabolic modeling of contours . . . . . . . . . . . .. 543
6.1.6 Thinning and skeletonization . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 548
6.2 Shape Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 549
6.2.1 Compactness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 551
6.2.2 Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 555
6.2.3 Chord-length statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 560
6.3 Fourier Descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 562
6.4 Fractional Concavity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 569
6.5 Analysis of Spicularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 570
6.6 Application: Shape Analysis of Calci cations . . . . . . . .. 575
6.7 Application: Shape Analysis of Breast Masses and Tumors . 578
6.8 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 581
6.9 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 581
6.10 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 582
7 Analysis of Texture 583
7.1 Texture in Biomedical Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
7.2 Models for the Generation of Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
7.2.1 Random texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
7.2.2 Ordered texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
7.2.3 Oriented texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
7.3 Statistical Analysis of Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
7.3.1 The gray-level co-occurrence matrix . . . . . . . . . . 597
7.3.2 Haralick's measures of texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
7.4 Laws' Measures of Texture Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
7.5 Fractal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
7.5.1 Fractal dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
7.5.2 Fractional Brownian motion model . . . . . . . . . . . 609
7.5.3 Fractal analysis of texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
7.5.4 Applications of fractal analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
7.6 Fourier-domain Analysis of Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
7.7 Segmentation and Structural Analysis of Texture . . . . . . . 621
7.7.1 Homomorphic deconvolution of periodic patterns . . . 623
7.8 Audi cation and Soni cation of Texture in Images . . . . . . 625
7.9 Application: Analysis of Breast Masses Using Texture and
Gradient Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
7.9.1 Adaptive normals and ribbons around mass margins . 629
7.9.2 Gradient and contrast measures . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
7.9.3 Results of pattern classi cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
7.10 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
7.11 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
7.12 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
xxiv Biomedical Image Analysis
8 Analysis of Oriented Patterns 639
8.1 Oriented Patterns in Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
8.2 Measures of Directional Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
8.2.1 The rose diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
8.2.2 The principal axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
8.2.3 Angular moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
8.2.4 Distance measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
8.2.5 Entropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
8.3 Directional Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
8.3.1 Sector ltering in the Fourier domain . . . . . . . . . 646
8.3.2 Thresholding of the component images . . . . . . . . . 649
8.3.3 Design of fan lters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
8.4 Gabor Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
8.4.1 Multiresolution signal decomposition . . . . . . . . . . 660
8.4.2 Formation of the Gabor lter bank . . . . . . . . . . . 664
8.4.3 Reconstruction of the Gabor lter bank output . . . . 665
8.5 Directional Analysis via Multiscale Edge Detection . . . . . . 666
8.6 Hough-Radon Transform Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
8.6.1 Limitations of the Hough transform . . . . . . . . . . 671
8.6.2 The Hough and Radon transforms combined . . . . . 673
8.6.3 Filtering and integrating the Hough-Radon space . . 676
8.7 Application: Analysis of Ligament Healing . . . . . . . . . . 679
8.7.1 Analysis of collagen remodeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
8.7.2 Analysis of the microvascular structure . . . . . . . . 684
8.8 Application: Detection of Breast Tumors . . . . . . . . . . . 699
8.8.1 Framework for pyramidal decomposition . . . . . . . . 707
8.8.2 Segmentation based upon density slicing . . . . . . . . 710
8.8.3 Hierarchical grouping of isointensity contours . . . . . 712
8.8.4 Results of segmentation of masses . . . . . . . . . . . 712
8.8.5 Detection of masses in full mammograms . . . . . . . 719
8.8.6 Analysis of mammograms using texture ow- eld . . . 726
8.8.7 Adaptive computation of features in ribbons . . . . . 732
8.8.8 Results of mass detection in full mammograms . . . . 735
8.9 Application: Bilateral Asymmetry in Mammograms . . . . . 742
8.9.1 The broglandular disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
8.9.2 Gaussian mixture model of breast density . . . . . . . 744
8.9.3 Delimitation of the broglandular disc . . . . . . . . . 747
8.9.4 Motivation for directional analysis of mammograms . 755
8.9.5 Directional analysis of broglandular tissue . . . . . . 757
8.9.6 Characterization of bilateral asymmetry . . . . . . . . 766
8.10 Application: Architectural Distortion in Mammograms . . . 775
8.10.1 Detection of spiculated lesions and distortion . . . . . 775
8.10.2 Phase portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
8.10.3 Estimating the orientation eld . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
8.10.4 Characterizing orientation elds with phase portraits 782
Table of Contents xxv
8.10.5 Feature extraction for pattern classi cation . . . . . . 785
8.10.6 Application to segments of mammograms . . . . . . . 785
8.10.7 Detection of sites of architectural distortion . . . . . . 786
8.11 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
8.12 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
8.13 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
9 Image Reconstruction from Projections 797
9.1 Projection Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
9.2 The Fourier Slice Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
9.3 Backprojection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
9.3.1 Filtered backprojection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804
9.3.2 Discrete ltered backprojection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
9.4 Algebraic Reconstruction Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
9.4.1 Approximations to the Kaczmarz method . . . . . . . 820
9.5 Imaging with Di
racting Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
9.6 Display of CT Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
9.7 Agricultural and Forestry Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
9.8 Microtomography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
9.9 Application: Analysis of the Tumor in Neuroblastoma . . . . 834
9.9.1 Neuroblastoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
9.9.2 Tissue characterization using CT . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
9.9.3 Estimation of tissue composition from CT images . . 839
9.9.4 Results of application to clinical cases . . . . . . . . . 844
9.9.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
9.10 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
9.11 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
9.12 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
10 Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 857
10.1 Linear Space-invariant Restoration Filters . . . . . . . . . . . 857
10.1.1 Inverse ltering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858
10.1.2 Power spectrum equalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860
10.1.3 The Wiener lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
10.1.4 Constrained least-squares restoration . . . . . . . . . 872
10.1.5 The Metz lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
10.1.6 Information required for image restoration . . . . . . 875
10.1.7 Motion deblurring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
10.2 Blind Deblurring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
10.2.1 Iterative blind deblurring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
10.3 Homomorphic Deconvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
10.3.1 The complex cepstrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
10.3.2 Echo removal by Radon-domain cepstral ltering . . . 886
10.4 Space-variant Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
10.4.1 Sectioned image restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
xxvi Biomedical Image Analysis
10.4.2 Adaptive-neighborhood deblurring . . . . . . ... . . 894
10.4.3 The Kalman lter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 898
10.5 Application: Restoration of Nuclear Medicine Images .. . . 919
10.5.1 Quality control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 922
10.5.2 Scatter compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 922
10.5.3 Attenuation correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 923
10.5.4 Resolution recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 924
10.5.5 Geometric averaging of conjugate projections ... . . 926
10.5.6 Examples of restoration of SPECT images . . ... . . 934
10.6 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 949
10.7 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 953
10.8 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 954
11 Image Coding and Data Compression 955
11.1 Considerations Based on Information Theory . . . . . . . . . 956
11.1.1 Noiseless coding theorem for binary transmission . . . 957
11.1.2 Lossy versus lossless compression . . . . . . . . . . . . 957
11.1.3 Distortion measures and delity criteria . . . . . . . . 959
11.2 Fundamental Concepts of Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960
11.3 Direct Source Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
11.3.1 Hu
man coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
11.3.2 Run-length coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
11.3.3 Arithmetic coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969
11.3.4 Lempel{Ziv coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
11.3.5 Contour coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
11.4 Application: Source Coding of Digitized Mammograms . . . 978
11.5 The Need for Decorrelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980
11.6 Transform Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
11.6.1 The discrete cosine transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987
11.6.2 The Karhunen{Loeve transform . . . . . . . . . . . . 989
11.6.3 Encoding of transform coecients . . . . . . . . . . . 992
11.7 Interpolative Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
11.8 Predictive Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
11.8.1 Two-dimensional linear prediction . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
11.8.2 Multichannel linear prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
11.8.3 Adaptive 2D recursive least-squares prediction . . . . 1026
11.9 Image Scanning Using the Peano-Hilbert Curve . . . . . . . . 1033
11.9.1 De nition of the Peano-scan path . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
11.9.2 Properties of the Peano-Hilbert curve . . . . . . . . . 1040
11.9.3 Implementation of Peano scanning . . . . . . . . . . . 1040
11.9.4 Decorrelation of Peano-scanned data . . . . . . . . . . 1041
11.10 Image Coding and Compression Standards . . . . . . . . . . 1043
11.10.1 The JBIG Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
11.10.2 The JPEG Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049
11.10.3 The MPEG Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1050
Table of Contents xxvii
11.10.4 The ACR/ NEMA and DICOM Standards . . . . . . 1050
11.11 Segmentation-based Adaptive Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
11.11.1 Segmentation-based coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051
11.11.2 Region-growing criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
11.11.3 The SLIC procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055
11.11.4 Results of image data compression with SLIC . . . . . 1055
11.12 Enhanced JBIG Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062
11.13 Lower-limit Analysis of Lossless Data Compression . . . . . . 1066
11.13.1 Memoryless entropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070
11.13.2 Markov entropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071
11.13.3 Estimation of the true source entropy . . . . . . . . . 1071
11.14 Application: Teleradiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079
11.14.1 Analog teleradiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080
11.14.2 Digital teleradiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082
11.14.3 High-resolution digital teleradiology . . . . . . . . . . 1084
11.15 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086
11.16 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086
11.17 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087
12 Pattern Classication and Diagnostic Decision 1089
12.1 Pattern Classi cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091
12.2 Supervised Pattern Classi cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095
12.2.1 Discriminant and decision functions . . . . . . . . . . 1095
12.2.2 Distance functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097
12.2.3 The nearest-neighbor rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
12.3 Unsupervised Pattern Classi cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
12.3.1 Cluster-seeking methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1105
12.4 Probabilistic Models and Statistical Decision . . . . . . . . . 1110
12.4.1 Likelihood functions and statistical decision . . . . . . 1110
12.4.2 Bayes classi er for normal patterns . . . . . . . . . . . 1118
12.5 Logistic Regression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120
12.6 The Training and Test Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125
12.6.1 The leave-one-out method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125
12.7 Neural Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126
12.8 Measures of Diagnostic Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132
12.8.1 Receiver operating characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . 1135
12.8.2 McNemar's test of symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138
12.9 Reliability of Features, Classi ers, and Decisions . . . . . . . 1140
12.9.1 Statistical separability and feature selection . . . . . . 1141
12.10 Application: Image Enhancement for Breast Cancer Screen-
ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143
12.10.1 Case selection, digitization, and presentation . . . . . 1145
12.10.2 ROC and statistical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
12.10.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159
xxviii Biomedical Image Analysis
12.11 Application: Classi cation of Breast Masses and Tumors via
Shape Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160
12.12 Application: Content-based Retrieval and Analysis of Breast
Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166
12.12.1 Pattern classi cation of masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167
12.12.2 Content-based retrieval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
12.12.3 Extension to telemedicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
12.13 Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1182
12.14 Study Questions and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184
12.15 Laboratory Exercises and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185
References 1187
Index 1262
Symbols and Abbreviations
Note: Bold-faced letters represent the vector or matrix form of the variable
in the corresponding plain letters.
Variables or symbols used within limited contexts are not listed here they
are described within their context.
The mathematical symbols listed may stand for other entities or variables
in di
erent applications only the common associations used in this book are
listed for ready reference.
a(p q) a autoregressive model or lter coecients
arctan inverse tangent, tan;1
arg argument of
atan inverse tangent, tan;1
au arbitrary units
AADCM adaptive active deformable contour model
ACF autocorrelation function
ACR American College of Radiology
ADC analog-to-digital converter
ALZ adaptive Lempel-Ziv coding
AMTA AMT acutance
ANCE adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhancement
AND adaptive-neighborhood deblurring
ANN arti cial neural network
ANNS adaptive-neighborhood noise subtraction
AR autoregressive model or lter
ARMA autoregressive, moving-average model or lter
ARW adaptive rectangular window
Az area under the ROC curve
b background intensity
b bit
b(m n) moving-average model or lter coecients
bps bits per second
B byte
BIBO bounded-input { bounded-output stability
BI-RADSTM Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System
BP backprojection
cd candela
xxix
xxx Biomedical Image Analysis
cm centimeter
C contrast
C covariance matrix
Ci Curie
cf Co compactness
Ci the ith class in a pattern classi cation problem
Cxy covariance between x and y
CAD computer-aided diagnosis
CBP convolution backprojection
CBIR content-based image retrieval
CC cranio-caudal
CCD charge-coupled device
CCF cross-correlation function
CCITT Comite Consultatif International Telephonique et Telegraphique
CD compact disk
CLS constrained least squares
CMTA cascaded modulation transfer acutance
CMYK cyan, magenta, yellow, black] representation of color
CNR contrast-to-noise ratio
CNS central nervous system
CR computed radiography
CREW compression with reversible embedded wavelets
CRT cathode ray tube
CSD cross-spectral density, cross-spectrum
CT computed tomography
CV coecient of variation
dB decibel
dE Euclidean dimension
df fractal dimension
dpi dots per inch
DAC digital-to-analog converter
DC direct current zero frequency
DCT discrete cosine transform
DFT discrete Fourier transform
DICOM Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
DoG di
erence of Gaussians
DPCM di
erential pulse code modulation
DR digital radiography
DSA digital subtraction angiography
DWT directional wavelet transform
e(n), E (!) model or estimation error
eV electron volt
exp (x) exponential function, ex
ECG electrocardiogram, electrocardiography
Symbols and Abbreviations xxxi
EEG electroencephalogram
EM electromagnetic
EM expectation-maximization
Ex total energy of the signal x
E ] statistical expectation operator
f foreground intensity
fc cuto
frequency (usually at ;3 dB ) of a lter
fcc fractional concavity
ff shape factor obtained using Fourier descriptors
fps frames per second
fs sampling frequency
f (m n) a digital image, typically original or undistorted
f (x y) an image, typically original or undistorted
FBP ltered backprojection
FFT fast Fourier transform
FID free-induction decay
FIR nite impulse response ( lter)
FM frequency modulation
FN false negative
FNF false-negative fraction
FOM gure of merit
FP false positive
FPF false-positive fraction
FT Fourier transform
FWHM full width at half the maximum
g ( m n) a digital image, typically processed or distorted
g (x y ) an image, typically processed or distorted
h(m n) impulse response of a system
h(p) measure of information
h(x y) impulse response of a system
H hydrogen
H Hurst coecient
H magnetic eld strength
H entropy
Hf g joint entropy of f and g
Hf jg conditional entropy of f given g
H Hermitian (complex-conjugate) transposition of a matrix
H (k l) discrete Fourier transform of h(m n)
H (u v) frequency response of a lter, Fourier transform of h(x y)
HINT hierarchical interpolation
HU Houns eld unit
HVS human visual system
Hz Hertz
i index of a series
xxxii Biomedical Image Analysis
I the identity matrix
If jg mutual information
IEPA image edge-pro le acutance
IFT inverse Fourier transform
IIR in nite impulse response ( lter)
ISO International
p Organization for Standardization
j ;1
JBIG Joint Bi-level Image (experts) Group
JM Je
ries-Matusita distance
JND just-noticeable di
erence
JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group
k kilo (1,000)
(k l) indices in the discrete Fourier (frequency) domain
kV p kilo-volt peak
K kilo (1,024)
KESF knife-edge spread function
KLT Karhunen-Loeve transform
ln natural logarithm (base e)
lp=mm line pairs per millimeter
L an image processing operator or transform in matrix form
Lij loss function in pattern classi cation
LEAP low-energy all-purpose collimator
LEGP low-energy general-purpose collimator
LLMMSE local linear minimum mean-squared error
LMMSE linear minimum mean-squared error
LMS least mean squares
LMSE Laplacian mean-squared error
LoG Laplacian of Gaussian
LP linear prediction (model)
LSF line spread function
LSI linear shift-invariant
LUT look-up table
LZW Lempel-Ziv-Welch code
m meter
m mean
m mean vector of a pattern class
max maximum
mA milliampere
mf shape factor using moments
min minimum
mm millimeter
(m n) indices in the discrete space (image) domain
mod modulus or modulo
modem modulator { demodulator
Symbols and Abbreviations xxxiii
M number of samples or pixels
MA moving average ( lter)
MAP maximum-a-posteriori probability
MCL medial collateral ligament
MIAS Mammographic Image Analysis Society, London, England
MDL minimum description length
ME maximum entropy
MLO medio-lateral oblique
MMSE minimum mean-squared error
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group
MR magnetic resonance
MRI magnetic resonance imaging
MS mean-squared
MSE mean-squared error
MTF modulation (magnitude) transfer function
n an index
nm nanometer
N number of samples or pixels
NE normalized error
NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association
NMR nuclear magnetic resonance
NMSE normalized mean-squared error
NPV negative predictive value
NSHP nonsymmetric half plane
OD optical density
OTF optical transfer function
pf (l) normalized histogram or PDF of image f
pf g (l1 l2 ) joint PDF of images f and g
pf jg (l1 l2 ) conditional PDF of f given g
pixel picture cell or element
pm mth ray sum in ART
pps pulses per second
(p q) indices of a 2D array
p (t) projection (Radon transform) of an image at angle
p(x) probability density function of the random variable x
p(xjCi ) likelihood function of class Ci or state-conditional PDF of x
P model order
P (x) probability of the event x
Pf (l) histogram of image f
P (Ci jx) posterior probability that x belongs to the class Ci
P (w) Fourier transform of the projection p (t)
P a predicate
PA posterior{anterior
PACS picture archival and communication system
xxxiv Biomedical Image Analysis
PCA principal-component analysis
PCG phonocardiogram (heart sound signal)
PDF probability density function
PET positron emission tomography
PMSE perceptual mean-squared error
PMT photomultiplier tube
PPV positive predictive value
PSD power spectral density, power spectrum
PSE power spectrum equalization
PSF point spread function
PSV prediction selection values in JPEG
q (t) ltered projection of an image at angle
Q model order
QP quarter plane
rj (x) average risk or loss in pattern classi cation
(r s) temporary indices of a 2D array
R+ the set of nonnegative real numbers
RBST rubber-band straightening transform
RD relative dispersion
RDM radial distance measures
RF radio-frequency
RGB red, green, blue] color representation
RLS recursive least-squares
RMS root mean-squared
ROC receiver operating characteristics
ROI region of interest
ROS region of support
RUKF reduced-update Kalman lter
s second
s space variable in the projection (Radon) space
Sf (u v) power spectral density of the image f
SAR synthetic-aperture radar
SD standard deviation
SEM scanning electron microscope
SI spiculation index
SLIC segmentation-based lossless image coding
SMTA system modulation transfer acutance
SNR signal-to-noise ratio
SPECT single-photon emission computed tomography
SQF subjective quality factor
SQRI square-root integral
STFT short-time Fourier transform
SVD singular value decomposition
S+ sensitivity of a test
S; speci city of a test
Symbols and Abbreviations xxxv
t time variable
t space variable in the projection (Radon) space
T Tesla (strength of a magnetic eld)
T a threshold
T as a superscript, vector or matrix transposition
Tc technetium
Tl thallium
T1 longitudinal relaxation time constant in MRI
T2 transverse magnetization time constant in MRI
T+ positive test result
T; negative test result
TEM transmission electron microscope
Th threshold
TN true negative
TNF true-negative fraction
TP true positive
TPF true-positive fraction
Tr trace of a matrix
TSE total squared error
TV television
u(x y) unit step function
(u v) frequency coordinates in the continuous Fourier domain
UHF ultra high frequency
voxel volume cell or element
V volt
VLSI very-large-scale integrated circuit
w lter tap weight weighting function
w frequency variable related to projections
w lter or weight vector
WHT Walsh-Hadamard transform ;
WN Fourier transform kernel function WN = exp ;j 2N
W Fourier transform operator in matrix form
(x y ) image coordinates in the space domain
x a feature vector in pattern classi cation
YIQ luminance, in-phase, quadrature] color representation
z a prototype feature vector in pattern classi cation
Z the set of all integers
null set
1D one-dimensional
2D two-dimensional
3D three-dimensional
4D four-dimensional
xy correlation coecient between x and y
;xy coherence between x and y: Fourier transform of xy
xxxvi Biomedical Image Analysis
;(p) a fuzzy membership function
Dirac delta (impulse) function
$x $y sampling intervals along the x and y axes
" model error, total squared error
a random variable or noise process
scale factor in fractal analysis
an angle
a threshold
, % cross-correlation function
( t) the Radon (projection) space
forgetting factor in the RLS lter
m micrometer
CT micro-computed tomography
correlation coecient
the standard deviation of a random variable
2 the variance of a random variable
fg covariance between images f and g
fg covariance between images f and g in matrix form
' basis function of a transform
f autocorrelation of image f in array form
f autocorrelation of image f in matrix form
fg cross-correlation between images f and g in array form
fg cross-correlation between images f and g in matrix form
&f Fourier transform of f power spectral density of f
r gradient operator
hi dot product
! factorial
when in-line, convolution
as a superscript, complex conjugation
# number of
( average or normalized version of the variable under the bar
( complement of the variable under the bar
^ complex cepstrum of the signal (function of space)
^ complex logarithm of the signal (function of frequency)
~ estimate of the variable under the symbol
~ a variant of a function
0 00 000 rst, second, and third derivatives of the preceding function
0 a variant of a function
cross product when the related entities are vectors
8 for all
2 belongs to or is in (the set)
fg a set
subset
Symbols and Abbreviations xxxvii
T superset
S intersection
union
equivalent to
j given, conditional upon
! maps to
( gets (updated as)
) leads to
, transform pair
] closed interval, including the limits
() open interval, not including the limits
jj absolute value or magnitude
jj determinant of a matrix
kk norm of a vector or matrix
dxe ceiling operator the smallest integer x
bxc oor operator the largest integer x
1
The Nature of Biomedical Images
1
2 Biomedical Image Analysis
33.5 o C
(a)
Time 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
(hours)
Temperature 33.5 33.3 34.5 36.2 37.3 37.5 38.0 37.8 38.0
(o C )
(b)
39
38
37
Temperature in degrees Celsius
36
35
34
33
32
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time in hours
(c)
FIGURE 1.1
Measurements of the temperature of a patient presented as (a) a scalar with
one temperature measurement f at a time instant t (b) an array f (n) made
up of several measurements at di
erent instants of time and (c) a signal f (t)
or f (n). The horizontal axis of the plot represents time in hours the vertical
axis gives temperature in degrees Celsius. Data courtesy of Foothills Hospital,
Calgary.
The Nature of Biomedical Images
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1.2
Body temperature as a 2D image f (x y) or f (m n). The images illustrate the distribution of surface temperature measured
using an infrared camera operating in the 3 000 ; 5 000 nm wavelength range. (a) Image of a patient with pronounced
vascular features and benign brocysts in the breasts. (b) Image of a patient with a malignant mass in the upper-outer
quadrant of the left breast. Images courtesy of P. Hoekstra, III, Therma-Scan, Inc., Huntington Woods, MI.
5
6 Biomedical Image Analysis
The thermal images shown in Figure 1.2 serve to illustrate an important
distinction between two major categories of medical images:
anatomical or physical images, and
functional or physiological images.
The images illustrate the notion of body temperature as a signal or image.
Each point in the images in Figure 1.2 represents body temperature, which
is related to the ongoing physiological or pathological processes at the cor-
responding location in the body. A thermal image is, therefore, a functional
image. An ordinary photograph obtained with reected light, on the other
hand, would be a purely anatomical or physical image. More sophisticated
techniques that provide functional images related to circulation and various
physiological processes are described in the following sections.
1.2 Transillumination
Transillumination, diaphanography, and diaphanoscopy involve the shining of
visible light or near-infrared radiation through a part of the body, and viewing
or imaging the transmitted radiation. The technique has been investigated
for the detection of breast cancer, the attractive feature being the use of
nonionizing radiation 27]. The use of near-infrared radiation appears to have
more potential than visible light, due to the observation that nitrogen-rich
compounds preferentially absorb (or attenuate) infrared radiation. The fat
and broglandular tissue in the mature breast contain much less nitrogen than
malignant tissues. Furthermore, the hemoglobin in blood has a high nitrogen
content, and tumors are more vascularized than normal tissues. For these
reasons, breast cancer appears as a relatively dark region in a transilluminated
image.
The e
ectiveness of transillumination is limited by scatter and ine
ective
penetration of light through a large organ such as the breast. Transillumina-
tion has been found to be useful in di
erentiating between cystic (uid- lled)
and solid lesions however, the technique has had limited success in distin-
guishing malignant tumors from benign masses 18, 28, 29].
FIGURE 1.3
A single ventricular myocyte (of a rabbit) in its relaxed state. The width
(thickness) of the myocyte is approximately 15
m. Image courtesy of R.
Clark, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Calgary.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 9
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 1.4
(a) Three-week-old scar tissue sample, and (b) forty-week-old healed tissue
sample from rabbit medial collateral ligaments. Images courtesy of C.B.
Frank, Department of Surgery, University of Calgary.
10 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 1.5
TEM images of collagen bers in rabbit ligament samples at a magni cation
of approximately 30 000. (a) Normal and (b) scar tissue. Images courtesy
of C.B. Frank, Department of Surgery, University of Calgary.
12 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 1.6
TEM image of a kidney biopsy sample at a magni cation of approximately
3 500. The image shows the complete cross-section of a capillary with nor-
mal membrane thickness. Image courtesy of H. Benediktsson, Department of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary.
The Nature of Biomedical Images
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1.7
TEM images of kidney biopsy samples at a magni cation of approximately 8 000. (a) The sample shows normal capillary
membrane thickness. (b) The sample shows reduced and varying membrane thickness. Images courtesy of H. Benediktsson,
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary.
13
14 Biomedical Image Analysis
Scanning electron microscopy: A scanning electron microscope (SEM)
is similar to a TEM in many ways, but uses a nely focused electron beam
with a diameter of the order of 2 nm to scan the surface of the specimen. The
electron beam is not transmitted through the specimen, which could be fairly
thick in SEM. Instead, the beam is used to scan the surface of the specimen
in a raster pattern, and the secondary electrons that are emitted from the
surface of the sample are detected and ampli ed through a photomultiplier
tube (PMT), and used to form an image on a cathode-ray tube (CRT). An
SEM may be operated in di
erent modes to detect a variety of signals emitted
from the sample, and may be used to obtain images with a depth of eld of
several mm.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1.8
SEM images of collagen bers in rabbit ligament samples at a magni cation
of approximately 4 000. (a) Normal and (b) scar tissue. Reproduced with
permission from C.B. Frank, B. MacFarlane, P. Edwards, R. Rangayyan, Z.Q.
Liu, S. Walsh, and R. Bray, \A quantitative analysis of matrix alignment
in ligament scars: A comparison of movement versus immobilization in an
immature rabbit model", Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 9(2): 219 { 227,
1991. c Orthopaedic Research Society.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 15
(x y) depends upon the density of the object or its constituents along the
ray path, as well as the frequency (or wavelength or energy) of the radiation
used. Equation 1.2 assumes the use of monochromatic or monoenergetic X
rays.
A measurement of the exiting X rays (that is, No , and Ni for reference) thus
gives us only an integral of
(x y) over the ray path. The internal details of
the body along the ray path are compressed onto a single point on the lm
or a single measurement. Extending the same argument to all ray paths,
16 Biomedical Image Analysis
z
z
Q’ Q R
No ds
S A Ni
B P
P’ y
y X rays
x
2D projection 3D object
FIGURE 1.9
An X-ray image or a typical radiograph is a 2D projection or planar image
of a 3D object. The entire object is irradiated with X rays. The projection
of a 2D cross-sectional plane PQRS of the object is a 1D pro le P'Q' of the
2D planar image. See also Figures 1.19 and 9.1. Reproduced, with permis-
sion, from R.M. Rangayyan and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley
Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor:
John G. Webster, Wiley, New York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material
is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Ignoring the negative sign, we see that the 3D object is reduced to (or inte-
grated into) a 2D planar image by the process of radiographic imaging.
The most commonly used detector in X-ray imaging is the screen- lm com-
bination 5, 6]. The X rays exiting from the body being imaged strike a
uorescent (phosphor) screen made of compounds of rare-earth elements such
as lanthanum oxybromide or gadolinium oxysul de, where the X-ray photons
are converted into visible-light photons. A light-sensitive lm that is placed in
contact with the screen (in a light-tight cassette) records the result. The lm
contains a layer of silver-halide emulsion with a thickness of about 10
m.
The exposure or blackening of the lm depends upon the number of light
photons that reach the lm.
A thick screen provides a high eciency of conversion of X rays to light,
but causes loss of resolution due to blurring (see Figure 1.10). The typical
thickness of the phosphor layer in screens is in the range 40 ; 100
m. Some
The Nature of Biomedical Images 17
receiving units make use of a lm with emulsion on both sides that is sand-
wiched between two screens: the second screen (located after the lm along
the path of propagation of the X rays) converts the X-ray photons not af-
fected by the rst screen into light, and thereby increases the eciency of
the receiver. Thin screens may be used in such dual-screen systems to achieve
higher conversion eciency (and lower dose to the patient) without sacri cing
resolution.
X rays
A
light B screen
film
FIGURE 1.10
Blur caused by a thick screen. Light emanating from point A in the screen is
spread over a larger area on the lm than that from point B.
A
F
E parallel grid
B C
screen-film
A’ D
FIGURE 1.12
Use of parallel grids to reduce scatter. X rays that are parallel to the grids
reach the lm for example, line AA'. Scattered rays AB, AC, and AE have
been blocked by the grids however, the scattered ray AD has reached the lm
in the illustration.
of 5:1 to 12:1. The space between the grids is lled with low-attenuation
material such as wood. A stationary grid produces a line pattern that is
superimposed upon the image, which would be distracting. Figure 1.13
(a) shows a part of an image of a phantom with the grid artifact clearly
visible. (An image of the complete phantom is shown in Figure 1.14.)
Grid artifact is prevented in a reciprocating grid, where the grid is moved
about 20 grid spacings during exposure: the movement smears the grid
shadow and renders it invisible on the image. Figure 1.13 (b) shows
an image of the same object as in part (a), but with no grid artifact.
Low levels of grid artifact may appear in images if the bucky that holds
the grid does not move at a uniform pace or starts moving late or ends
movement early with respect to the X-ray exposure interval. A major
disadvantage of using grids is that it requires approximately two times
the radiation dose required for imaging techniques without grids. Fur-
thermore, the contrast of ne details is reduced due to the smeared
shadow of the grid.
Photon detection noise: The interaction between an X-ray beam
and a detector is governed by the same rules as for interaction with
any other matter: photons are lost due to scatter and absorption, and
some photons may pass through una
ected (or undetected). The small
size of the detectors in DR and CT imaging reduces their detection
22 Biomedical Image Analysis
eciency. Scattered and undetected photons cause noise in the mea-
surement for detailed analysis of noise in X-ray detection, refer to Bar-
rett and Swindell 3], Macovski 5], and Cho et al. 4]. More details on
noise in medical images and techniques to remove noise are presented in
Chapter 3.
Ray stopping by heavy implants: If the body being imaged contains
extremely heavy parts or components, such as metal screws or pins in
bones and surgical clips that are nearly X-ray-opaque and entirely stop
the incoming X-ray photons, no photons would be detected at the cor-
responding point of exit from the body. The attenuation coecient for
the corresponding path would be inde nite, or within the computational
context, in nity. Then, a reconstruction algorithm would not be able
to redistribute the attenuation values over the points along the corre-
sponding ray path in the reconstructed image. This leads to streaking
artifacts in CT images.
Two special techniques for enhanced X-ray imaging | digital subtraction
angiography (DSA) and dual-energy imaging | are described in Sections 4.1
and 4.2, respectively.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 1.13
X-ray images of a part of a phantom: (a) with, and (b) without grid artifact.
Image courtesy of L.J. Hahn, Foothills Hospital, Calgary. See also Figure 1.14.
24 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 1.14
X-ray image of the American College of Radiology (ACR) phantom for mam-
mography. The pixel-value range 117 210] has been linearly stretched to the
display range 0 255] to show the details. Image courtesy of S. Bright, Sun-
nybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
See also Figure 1.13.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 25
such early breast cancer is generally not amenable to detection by physical ex-
amination and breast self-examination. The primary role of an imaging tech-
nique is thus the detection of lesions in the breast 29]. Currently, the most
e
ective method for the detection of early breast cancer is X-ray mammogra-
phy. Other modalities, such as ultrasonography, transillumination, thermog-
raphy, CT, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been investigated for
breast cancer diagnosis, but mammography is the only reliable procedure for
detecting nonpalpable cancers and for detecting many minimal breast cancers
when they appear to be curable 18, 28, 29, 51]. Therefore, mammography
has been recommended for periodic screening of asymptomatic women. Mam-
mography has gained recognition as the single most successful technique for
the detection of early, clinically occult breast cancer 52, 53, 54, 55, 56].
X-ray imaging of the breast: The technique of using X rays to ob-
tain images of the breast was rst reported by Warren in 1930, after he had
examined 100 women using sagital views 57]. Because of the lack of a re-
producible method for obtaining satisfactory images, this technique did not
make much progress until 1960, when Egan 58] reported on high-mA and
low-kV p X-ray sources that yielded reproducible images on industrial lm. It
was in the mid-1960s that the rst modern X-ray unit dedicated to mammog-
raphy was developed. Since then, remarkable advances have led to a striking
improvement in image quality and a dramatic reduction in radiation dose.
A major characteristic of mammograms is low contrast, which is due to
the relatively homogeneous soft-tissue composition of the breast. Many ef-
forts have been focused on developing methods to enhance contrast. In an
alternative imaging method known as xeromammography, a selenium-coated
aluminum plate is used as the detector 6]. The plate is initially charged
to about 1 000 V . Exposure to the X rays exiting the patient creates a
charge pattern on the plate due to the liberation of electrons and ions. The
plate is then sprayed with an ionized toner, the pattern of which is trans-
ferred to plastic-coated paper. Xeromammograms provide wide latitude and
edge enhancement, which lead to improved images as compared to screen- lm
mammography. However, xeromammography results in a higher dose to the
subject, and has not been in much use since the 1980s.
A typical mammographic imaging system is shown schematically in Fig-
ure 1.15. Mammography requires high X-ray beam quality (a narrow-band
or nearly monochromatic beam), which is controlled by the tube target ma-
terial (molybdenum) and beam ltration with molybdenum. E
ective breast
compression is an important factor in reducing scattered radiation, creating
as uniform a density distribution as possible, eliminating motion, and sepa-
rating mammary structures, thereby increasing the visibility of details in the
image. The use of grids speci cally designed for mammography can further
reduce scattered radiation and improve subject contrast, which is especially
signi cant when imaging thick, dense breasts 59].
Generally, conventional screen- lm mammography is performed with the
breast directly in contact with the screen- lm cassette, producing essentially
26 Biomedical Image Analysis
Breast
compression
paddle
Compressed breast
Focused grid
Screen-film
cassette
FIGURE 1.15
A typical mammography setup.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 27
life-size images. The magni cation technique, on the other hand, interposes
an air gap between the breast and the lm, so that the projected radiographic
image is enlarged. Magni cation produces ne-detail images containing addi-
tional anatomical information that may be useful in re ning mammographic
diagnosis, especially in cases where conventional imaging demonstrates un-
certain or equivocal ndings 60]. As in the grid method, the advantages
of magni cation imaging are achieved at the expense of increased radiation
exposure. Therefore, the magni cation technique is not used routinely.
Screen- lm mammography is now the main tool for the detection of early
breast cancer. The risk of radiation is still a matter of concern, although
there is no direct evidence of breast cancer risk from the low-dose radiation
exposure of mammography. Regardless, technological advances in mammog-
raphy continue to be directed toward minimizing radiation exposure while
maintaining the high quality of the images.
Examples: Figures 1.16 (a) and (b) show the cranio-caudal (CC) and
medio-lateral-oblique (MLO) views of the same breast of a subject. The MLO
view demonstrates architectural distortion due to a spiculated tumor near the
upper right-hand corner edge.
Mammograms are analyzed by radiologists specialized in mammography. A
normal mammogram typically depicts converging patterns of broglandular
tissues and vessels. Any feature that causes a departure from or distortion
with reference to the normal pattern is viewed with suspicion and analyzed
with extra attention. Features such as calci cations, masses, localized increase
in density, architectural distortion, and asymmetry between the left and right
breast images are carefully analyzed.
Several countries and states have instituted breast cancer screening pro-
grams where asymptomatic women within a certain age group are invited to
participate in regular mammographic examinations. Screen Test | Alberta
Program for the Early Detection of Breast Cancer 61] is an example of such
a program. Several applications of image processing and pattern analysis
techniques for mammographic image analysis and breast cancer detection are
described in the chapters to follow.
1.6 Tomography
The problem of visualizing the details of the interior of the human body
noninvasively has always been of interest, and within a few years after the
discovery of X rays by Rontgen in 1895, techniques were developed to image
sectional planes of the body. The techniques of laminagraphy, planigraphy,
or \classical" tomography 38, 62] used synchronous movement of the X-ray
source and lm in such a way as to produce a relatively sharp image of a
28 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1.16
(a) Cranio-caudal (CC) and (b) medio-lateral oblique (MLO) mammograms
of the same breast of a subject. Images courtesy of Screen Test | Alberta
Program for the Early Detection of Breast Cancer 61].
The Nature of Biomedical Images 29
single focal plane of the object, with the images of all other planes being
blurred. Figure 1.17 illustrates a simple linear-motion system, where the X-
ray source and lm cassette move along straight-line paths so as to maintain
the longitudinal (coronal) plane, indicated by the straight line AB, in focus.
It is seen that the X rays along the paths X1-A and X2-A strike the same
physical spot A1 = A2 on the lm, and that the rays along the paths X1-B
and X2-B strike the same spot B1 = B2. On the other hand, for the point C
in a di
erent plane, the rays along the paths X1-C and X2-C strike di
erent
points C1 6= C2 on the lm. Therefore, the details in the plane AB remain
in focus and cause a strong image, whereas the details in the other planes are
smeared all over the lm. The smearing of information from the other planes
of the object causes loss of contrast in the plane of interest. The development
of CT imaging rendered lm-based tomography obsolete.
Example: Figure 1.18 shows a tomographic image of a patient in a longitu-
dinal (coronal) plane through the chest. Images of this nature provided better
visualization and localization of lesions than regular X-ray projection images,
and permitted the detection of masses in bronchial tubes and air ducts.
X2 X1
Path of source movement X-ray
source
A B Patient
Table
C1 C2
Film cassette
A1 B1 A2 B2
FIGURE 1.17
Synchronized movement of the X-ray source and lm to obtain a tomographic
image of the focal plane indicated as AB. Adapted from Robb 38].
FIGURE 1.18
Tomographic image of a patient in a longitudinal sectional plane through the
chest. Reproduced with permission from R.A. Robb, \X-ray computed tomog-
raphy: An engineering synthesis of multiscienti c principles", CRC Critical
Reviews in Biomedical Engineering, 7:264{333, March 1982. c CRC Press.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 31
tively!). In the simplest form of CT imaging, only the desired cross-sectional
plane of the body is irradiated using a nely collimated ray of X-ray photons
(see Figure 1.19), instead of irradiating the entire body with a 3D beam of X
rays as in ordinary radiography (Figure 1.9). The fundamental radiographic
equation for CT is the same as Equation 1.2. Ray integrals are measured at
many positions and angles around the body, scanning the body in the pro-
cess. The principle of image reconstruction from projections, described in
detail in Chapter 9, is then used to compute an image of a section of the
body: hence the name computed tomography. (See Robb 38] for an excellent
review of the history of CT imaging see also Rangayyan and Kantzas 63]
and Rangayyan 64].)
Q’
Q R
No S Ni
B P A
P’ X rays
1D Projection 2D Section
FIGURE 1.19
In the basic form of CT imaging, only the cross-sectional plane of interest is
irradiated with X rays. The projection of the 2D cross-sectional plane PQRS
of the object is the 1D pro le P'Q' shown. Compare this case with the planar
imaging case illustrated in Figure 1.9. See also Figure 9.1. Reproduced, with
permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction",
Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1,
Editor: John G. Webster, Wiley, New York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This
material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Figure 1.20 depicts some of the scanning procedures employed: Figure 1.20
(a) shows the translate-rotate scanning geometry for parallel-ray projections
Figure 1.20 (b) shows the translate-rotate scanning geometry with a small fan-
beam detector array Figure 1.20 (c) shows the rotate-only scanning geometry
for fan-beam projections and Figure 1.20 (d) shows the rotate-only scanning
geometry for fan-beam projections using a ring of detectors. A more recently
developed scanner specialized for cardiovascular imaging 65, 66] completely
eliminates mechanical scanning movement to reduce the scanning time by
32 Biomedical Image Analysis
employing electronically steered X-ray microbeams and rings of detectors, as
illustrated schematically in Figure 1.21.
The fundamental principle behind CT, namely, image reconstruction from
projections, has been known for close to 100 years, since the exposition of
the topic by Radon 67, 68] in 1917. More recent developments in the sub-
ject arose in the 1950s and 1960s from the works of a number of researchers
in diverse applications. Some of the important publications in this area are
the works of Cormack on the representation of a function by its line inte-
grals 69, 70] Bracewell and Riddle on the reconstruction of brightness dis-
tributions of astronomical bodies from fan-beam scans at various angles 71]
Crowther et al. 72] and De Rosier and Klug 73] on the reconstruction of
3D images of viruses from electron micrographs Ramachandran and Laksh-
minarayanan 74] on the convolution backprojection technique and Gordon
et al. 75] on algebraic reconstruction techniques. Pioneering works on the
development of practical scanners for medical applications were performed
by Oldendorf 76], Houns eld 77], and Ambrose 78]. X-ray CT was well
established as a clinical diagnostic tool by the early 1970s.
Once a sectional image is obtained, the process may be repeated to obtain
a series of sectional images of the 3D body or object being investigated. CT
imaging a 3D body may be accomplished by reconstructing one 2D section
at a time through the use of 1D projections. In the Dynamic Spatial Recon-
structor 38, 79], 2D projection images are obtained on a uorescent screen
via irradiation of the entire portion of interest of the body. In single-photon
emission computed tomography (SPECT), several 2D projection images are
obtained using a gamma camera 4, 5, 46, 80, 81]. In these cases, the projec-
tion data of several sectional planes are acquired simultaneously: each row of
a given 2D projection or planar image provides the 1D projection data of a
sectional plane of the body imaged (see Figure 1.9). Many sectional images
may then be reconstructed from the set of 2D planar images acquired.
Other imaging modalities used for projection data collection are ultrasound
(time of ight or attenuation), magnetic resonance (MR), nuclear emission
(gamma rays or positrons), and light 4, 5, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85]. Techniques
using nonionizing radiation are of importance in imaging pregnant women.
Whereas the physical parameter imaged may di
er between these modalities,
once the projection data are acquired, the mathematical image reconstruction
procedure could be almost the same. A few special considerations in imaging
with di
racting sources are described in Section 9.5. The characteristics of the
data acquired in nuclear medicine, ultrasound, and MR imaging are described
in Sections 1.7, 1.8, and 1.9, respectively.
Examples: Figure 1.22 shows a CT scan of the head of a patient. The
image displays, among other features, the ventricles of the brain. CT images
of the head are useful in the detection of abnormalities in the brain and skull,
including bleeding in brain masses, calci cations, and fractures in the cranial
vault.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 33
FIGURE 1.20
(a) Translate-rotate scanning geometry for parallel-ray projections
(b) translate-rotate scanning geometry with a small fan-beam detector array
(c) rotate-only scanning geometry for fan-beam projections (d) rotate-only
scanning geometry for fan-beam projections using a ring of detectors. Repro-
duced with permission from R.A. Robb, \X-ray computed tomography: An
engineering synthesis of multiscienti c principles", CRC Critical Reviews in
Biomedical Engineering, 7:264{333, March 1982. c CRC Press.
34 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 1.21
Electronic steering of an X-ray beam for motion-free scanning and CT imag-
ing. Reproduced with permission from D.P. Boyd, R.G. Gould, J.R. Quinn,
and R. Sparks, \Proposed dynamic cardiac 3-D densitometer for early detec-
tion and evaluation of heart disease", IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science,
26(2):2724{2727, 1979. c IEEE. See also Robb 38].
The Nature of Biomedical Images 35
FIGURE 1.22
CT image of a patient showing the details in a cross-section through the head
(brain). Image courtesy of Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
Figure 1.23 illustrates the CT image of the abdomen of a patient. The image
shows the stomach, gall bladder, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, and the
spinal column. The air-uid interface in the stomach is clearly visible. Images
of this type are useful in detecting several abnormalities in the abdomen,
including gallstones, kidney stones, and tumors in the liver.
Figure 1.24 shows two renditions of the same CT image of the chest of a
patient: image (a) has been scaled (or windowed details provided in Sections
4.4.2 and 9.6) to illustrate the details of the lungs, whereas image (b) has
been scaled to display the mediastinum in relatively increased detail. Image
(a) shows the details of the distal branches of the pulmonary arteries. CT
images of the chest facilitate the detection of the distortion of anatomy due
to intrathoracic or extrapulmonary uid collection, or due to ruptured lungs.
They also aid in the detection of lung tumors and blockage of the pulmonary
arteries due to thrombi.
CT is an imaging technique that has revolutionized the eld of medical
diagnostics. CT has also found applications in many other areas such as non-
destructive evaluation of industrial and biological specimens, radioastronomy,
light and electron microscopy, optical interferometry, X-ray crystallography,
petroleum engineering, and geophysical exploration. Indirectly, it has also
led to new developments in its predecessor techniques in radiographic imag-
36 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 1.23
CT image of a patient showing the details in a cross-section through the
abdomen. Image courtesy of Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 1.24
CT image of a patient scaled to (a) show the details of the lungs and (b) dis-
play the mediastinum in detail | the details of the lungs are not visible in
this rendition. Images courtesy of Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary.
38 Biomedical Image Analysis
provide information related to density and may be used to detect altered
anatomy, nuclear medicine imaging helps in examining altered physiological
(or pathological) functioning of speci c organs in a body.
The most commonly used isotopes in nuclear medicine imaging are tech-
netium as 99m Tc which emits gamma-ray photons at 140 keV , and thallium
as 201 Tl at 70 keV or 167 keV . Iodine as 131 I is also used for thyroid imaging.
The rst imaging device used in nuclear medicine was the rectilinear scan-
ner, which consisted of a single-bore collimator connected to a gamma-ray
counter or detector. The scanner was coupled to a mechanical system that
performed a raster scan over the area of interest, making a map of the radi-
ation distribution in the area. The amount of radioactivity detected at each
position was either recorded on lm or on a storage oscilloscope. A major
diculty with this approach is that scanning is time consuming.
The scintillation gamma camera or the Anger camera uses a large thallium-
activated sodium iodide NaI (Tl)] detector, typically 40 cm in diameter and
10 mm in thickness. The gamma camera consists of three major parts: a
collimator, a detector, and a set of PMTs. Figure 1.25 illustrates the Anger
camera in a schematic sectional view. The following paragraphs describe some
of the important components of a nuclear medicine imaging system.
Image computer
Position Pulse
height Image
analysis
analysis
Photomultiplier
tubes (PMTs)
Gamma rays
emitted
Patient
FIGURE 1.25
Schematic (vertical sectional) representation of a nuclear medicine imaging
system with an Anger camera.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 39
Collimator: A collimator consists of an array of holes separated by
lead septa. The function of the collimator is to allow passage of the
gamma rays that arrive along a certain path of propagation, and to
block (absorb) all gamma rays outside a narrow solid angle of accep-
tance. Collimators are usually made of lead alloys, but other materials
such as tantalum, tungsten, and gold have also been used. Di
erent
geometries have been used in the design of collimator holes, including
triangular, square, hexagonal, and round patterns. Hexagonal holes
have been observed to be the most ecient, and are commonly used.
Two key factors in collimator design are geometric eciency, which is
the fraction of the gamma-ray photons from the source that are trans-
mitted through the collimator to the detector, and geometric (spatial)
resolution. In general, for a given type of collimator, the higher the
eciency, the poorer is the resolution. The resolution of a collimator is
increased if the size of the holes is reduced or if the collimator thickness
is increased however, these measures decrease the number of photons
that will reach the crystal, and hence reduce the sensitivity and e-
ciency of the system. The eciency of a typical collimator is about
0:01% that is, only 1 in every 10 000 photons emitted is passed by the
collimator to the crystal.
The most commonly used type of collimator is the parallel-hole collima-
tor, which usually serves for general purpose imaging, particularly for
large organs. Other designs include diverging, converging, fan-beam,
and pin-hole collimators.
Detector: At the back of the collimator is attached a detector, which is
usually a NaI (Tl) crystal of 6 ; 13 mm thickness. The crystal absorbs
the gamma-ray photons that pass through the collimator holes, and
reemits their energy as visible light (scintillation). The thickness of
the crystal determines the absorbed fraction of the gamma-ray photons
by the photoelectric e
ect. A thick crystal has better absorption than
a thin crystal however, a thick crystal scatters and absorbs the light
before it reaches the back surface of the crystal. A crystal of thickness
10 mm absorbs about 92% of the photons received at 140 keV .
Photomultiplier tubes: The crystal is optically coupled at its back
surface to an array of PMTs. The PMTs are usually hexagonal in sec-
tion, and are arranged so as to cover the imaging area. Scintillations
within the crystal are converted by the photocathodes at the front of the
PMTs to photoelectrons, which are accelerated toward each of a series
of dynodes held at successively higher potentials until they reach the
anode at the back of the tube. During this process, the photoelectrons
produce a number of secondary electrons at each dynode, leading to a
current gain of the order of 106 .
40 Biomedical Image Analysis
Image computer: The current pulses produced by the PMTs in re-
sponse to scintillations in the crystal are applied to a resistor matrix
that computes the points of arrival of the corresponding gamma-ray
photons. The amplitudes of the pulses represent the energy deposited
by the gamma rays. A pulse-height analyzer is used to select pulses that
are within a preset energy window corresponding to the peak energy of
the gamma rays. The pulse-selection step reduces the e
ect of scattered
rays at energy levels outside the energy window used.
Whereas the major advantage of nuclear medicine imaging lies in its ca-
pability of imaging the functional aspects of the human body rather than
the anatomy, its major disadvantages are poor spatial resolution and high
noise content. The intrinsic resolution of a typical gamma camera (crystal) is
3 ; 5 mm the net resolution including the e
ect of the collimator, expressed as
the full width at half the maximum (FWHM) of the image of a thin line source
(the line spread function or LSF) is 7:5 ; 10 mm (see Figure 2.21). The main
causes of noise are quantum mottle due to the low number of photons used
to create images, and the random nature of gamma ray emission. Structured
noise may also be caused by nonuniformities in the gamma camera.
In general, the contrast of nuclear medicine images is high as the radiophar-
maceutical is designed so as to be selectively absorbed by and localized in the
organ of interest. Regardless, other organs and tissues in the body will also
absorb some amounts of the radiopharmaceutical, and emit gamma rays that
will appear as background counts and degrade contrast. Such e
ects may be
labeled as physiological or anatomical artifacts. The contrast of an image is
also diminished by septal penetration in the collimator and scatter.
Multi-camera imaging and scanning systems: The data acquired by
a gamma camera represent a projection or planar image, which corresponds
to an integration of the 3D body being imaged along the paths of the gamma
rays. It should be noted that gamma rays are emitted by the body in all
directions during the imaging procedure. Modern imaging systems use two or
three gamma cameras (\heads") to acquire simultaneously multiple projection
images. Projection images acquired at diametrically opposite positions may
be averaged to reduce artifacts 87] see Section 10.5.5.
SPECT imaging: SPECT scanners usually gather 64 or 128 projections
spanning 180o or 360o around the patient, depending upon the application. In-
dividual scan lines from the projection images may then be processed through
a reconstruction algorithm to obtain 2D sectional images, which may fur-
ther be combined to create a 3D image of the patient. Coronal, sagital, and
oblique sections may then be created from the 3D dataset. Circular scanning
is commonly used to acquire projection images of the body at di
erent angles.
Circular scanning provides projections at equal angular intervals, as required
by certain reconstruction algorithms. However, some clinical studies use el-
liptical scanning so as to keep the camera close to the body, in consideration
of the fact that the spatial resolution deteriorates rapidly with distance. In
The Nature of Biomedical Images 41
such situations, the CT reconstruction algorithm should be adapted to the
nonuniformly spaced data.
Examples: Figure 1.26 illustrates a nuclear medicine projection (planar)
image of the chest of a patient. The region of high intensity (activity) on the
right-hand side of the image represents the heart. Observe the high level of
noise in the image. Figure 1.27 illustrates several series of SPECT images of
the left ventricle of the patient before and after stress (exercise on a treadmill).
The SPECT images display oblique sectional views of the myocardium in three
orientations: the short axis, the horizontal long axis, and the vertical long
axis of the left ventricle. Ischemic regions demonstrate lower intensity than
normal regions due to reduced blood supply. The generally noisy appearance
of SPECT images as well as the nature of the artifacts in nuclear medicine
images are illustrated by the images.
See Section 3.10 for details regarding gated blood-pool imaging see Sec-
tion 10.5 for several examples of SPECT images, and for discussions on the
restoration of SPECT images.
FIGURE 1.26
A planar or projection image of a patient used for myocardial SPECT imaging.
The two horizontal lines indicate the limits of the data used to reconstruct the
SPECT images shown in Figure 1.27. Image courtesy of Foothills Hospital,
Calgary.
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 1.27
SPECT imaging of the left ventricle. (a) Short-axis images. (b) Horizontal
long axis images. (c) Vertical long axis images. In each case, the upper panel
shows four SPECT images after exercise (stress), and the lower panel shows
the corresponding views before exercise (rest). Images courtesy of Foothills
Hospital, Calgary.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 43
the eciency of the detection process as compared to SPECT imaging. A
diaphragm is used only to de ne the plane of sectional (CT) imaging.
Several modes of data collection are possible for PET imaging, including
stationary, rotate-only, and rotate-translate gantries 88]. In one mode of data
collection, a ring of bismuth-germanate detectors is used to gather emission
statistics that correspond to a projection of a transversal section. A recon-
struction algorithm is then used to create 2D and 3D images.
The spatial resolution of PET imaging is typically 5 mm, which is almost
two times better than that of SPECT imaging. PET is useful in functional
imaging and physiological analysis of organs 89, 90].
1.8 Ultrasonography
Ultrasound in the frequency range of 1 ; 20 MHz is used in diagnostic ul-
trasonography 4, 5, 6]. The velocity of propagation of ultrasound through
a medium depends upon its compressibility: lower compressibility results in
higher velocity. Typical velocities in human tissues are 330 m=s in air (the
lungs) 1 540 m=s in soft tissue and 3 300 m=s in bone. A wave of ultra-
sound may get reected, refracted, scattered, or absorbed as it propagates
through a body. Most modes of diagnostic ultrasonography are based upon
the reection of ultrasound at tissue interfaces. A gel is used to minimize the
presence of air between the transducer and the skin in order to avoid reection
at the skin surface. Typically, pulses of ultrasound of about 1
s duration at
a repetition rate of about 1 000 pps (pulses per second) are applied, and the
resulting echoes are used for locating tissue interfaces and imaging.
Large, smooth surfaces in a body cause specular reection, whereas rough
surfaces and regions cause nonspecular reection or di
use scatter. The nor-
mal liver, for example, is made up of clusters of parenchyma that are of the
order of 2 mm in size. Considering an ultrasound signal at 1 MHz and as-
suming a propagation velocity of 1 540 m=s, we get the wavelength to be
1:54 mm, which is of the order of the size of the parenchymal clusters. For
this reason, ultrasound is scattered in all directions by the liver, which appears
with a speckled texture in ultrasound scans 3, 6]. Fluid- lled regions such as
cysts have no internal structure, generate no echoes except at their bound-
aries, and appear as black regions on ultrasound images. The almost-complete
absorption of ultrasound by bone causes shadowing in images: tissues and or-
gans past bones and dense objects along the path of propagation of the beam
are not imaged in full and accurate detail. The quality of ultrasonographic
images is also a
ected by multiple reections, speckle noise due to scattering,
and spatial distortion due to refraction. The spatial resolution in ultrasound
images is limited to the order of 0:5 ; 3 mm.
44 Biomedical Image Analysis
Some of the commonly used modes of ultrasonography are briey described
below.
A mode: A single transducer is used in this mode. The amplitude
(hence the name \A") of the echoes received is displayed on the vertical
axis, with the corresponding depth (related to the time of arrival of the
echo) being displayed on the horizontal axis. The A mode is useful in
distance measurement (ranging), with applications in the detection of
retinal detachment and the detection of shift of the midline of the brain.
M mode: This mode produces a display with time on the horizontal
axis and echo depth on the vertical axis. The M mode is useful in the
study of movement or motion (hence the name), with applications in
cardiac valve motion analysis.
B mode: An image of a 2D section or slice of the body is produced
in this mode by using a single transducer to scan the region of interest
or by using an array of sequentially activated transducers. Real-time
imaging is possible in the B mode with 15 ; 40 fps. The B mode is
useful in studying large organs, such as the liver, and in fetal imaging.
Doppler ultrasound: This mode is based upon the change in fre-
quency of the investigating beam caused by a moving target (the Doppler
e
ect), and is useful in imaging blood ow. A particular application lies
in the detection of turbulence and retrograde ow, which is useful in
the diagnosis of stenosis or insuciency of cardiac valves and plaques in
blood vessels 91]. Doppler imaging may be used to obtain a combina-
tion of anatomic information with B-mode imaging and ow information
obtained using pulsed Doppler.
Special probes: A variety of probes have been developed for ultra-
sonography of speci c organs and for special applications, some of which
are endovaginal probes for fetal imaging, transrectal probes for imaging
the prostate 92], transesophageal probes for imaging the heart via the
esophagus, and intravascular probes for the study of blood vessels.
Examples: Echocardiography is a major application of ultrasonography
for the assessment of the functional integrity of heart valves. An array of ul-
trasound transducers is used in the B mode in echocardiography, so as to ob-
tain a video illustrating the opening and closing activities of the valve leaets.
Figure 1.28 illustrates two frames of an echocardiogram of a subject with a
normal mitral valve, which is captured in the open and closed positions in
the two frames. Figure 1.29 shows the M-mode ultrasound image of the same
subject, illustrating the valve leaet movement against time. Echocardiogra-
phy is useful in the detection of stenosis and loss of exibility of the cardiac
valves due to calci cation.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 45
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1.28
Two frames of the echocardiogram of a subject with normal function of the
mitral valve. (a) Mitral valve in the fully open position. (b) Mitral valve in
the closed position. Images courtesy of Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
FIGURE 1.29
M-mode ultrasound image of a subject with normal function of the mitral
valve. The horizontal axis represents time. The echo signature of the mitral
valve leaets as they open and close is illustrated. Image courtesy of Foothills
Hospital, Calgary.
46 Biomedical Image Analysis
In spite of limitations in image quality and resolution, ultrasonography
is an important medical imaging modality due to the nonionizing nature of
the medium. For this reason, ultrasonography is particularly useful in fetal
imaging. Figure 1.30 shows a B-mode ultrasound image of a fetus. The
outline of the head and face as well as the spinal column are clearly visible
in the image. Images of this nature may be used to measure the size of the
head and head-to-sacrum length of the fetus. Ultrasonography is useful in the
detection of abnormalities in fetal development, especially distension of the
stomach, hydrocephalus, and complications due to maternal (or gestational)
diabetes such as the lack of development of the sacrum.
FIGURE 1.30
B-mode ultrasound (3:5 MHz ) image of a fetus (sagital view). Image courtesy
of Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
FIGURE 1.31
Sagital section of the MR image of a patient's knee. Image courtesy of
Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
The Nature of Biomedical Images
(a) (b) (c)
FIGURE 1.32
(a) Sagital, (b) coronal, and (c) transversal (cross-sectional) MR images of a patient's head. Images courtesy of Foothills
Hospital, Calgary.
51
52
Physiological
Image data acquisition
system (patient)
Biomedical images
Imaging Analog-to- Picture archival
Transducers
system digital and communication
Probing signal conversion system (PACS)
or radiation
Computer-aided
diagnosis
and therapy
FIGURE 1.33
Computer-aided diagnosis and therapy based upon biomedical image analysis.
The Nature of Biomedical Images 53
1.12 Remarks
We have taken a general look at the nature of biomedical images in this chap-
ter, and seen a few images illustrated for the purpose of gaining familiarity
with their appearance and typical features. Speci c details of the characteris-
tics of several types of biomedical images and their processing or analysis are
described in subsequent chapters, along with more examples.
We have also stated the objectives of biomedical imaging and image ana-
lysis. Some practical diculties that arise in biomedical investigations based
upon imaging were discussed in order to draw attention to the relevant prac-
tical issues. The suitability and desirability of the application of computers
for biomedical image analysis were discussed, with emphasis on objective and
quantitative analysis toward the end-goal of CAD. The following chapters
provide the descriptions of several image processing and analysis techniques
for various biomedical applications.
Several factors a ect the quality and information content of biomedical images
acquired with the modalities described in Chapter 1. A few considerations
in biomedical image acquisition and analysis that could have a bearing on
image quality are described in Section 2.1. A good understanding of such
factors, as well as appropriate characterization of the concomitant loss in
image quality, are essential in order to design image processing techniques to
remove the degradation and/or improve the quality of biomedical images. The
characterization of information content is important for the same purposes as
above, as well as in the analysis and design of image transmission and archival
systems.
An inherent problem in characterizing quality lies in the fact that image
quality is typically judged by human observers in a subjective manner. To
quantify the notion of image quality is a dicult proposition. Similarly, the
nature of the information conveyed by an image is dicult to quantify due
to its multifaceted characteristics in terms of statistical, structural, percep-
tual, semantic, and diagnostic connotations. However, several measures have
been designed to characterize or quantify a few specic attributes of images,
which may in turn be associated with various notions of quality as well as
information content. The numerical values of such measures of a given image
before and after certain processes, or the changes in the attributes due to cer-
tain phenomena, could then be used to assess variations in image quality and
information content. We shall explore several such measures in this chapter.
61
62 Biomedical Image Analysis
Accessibility of the organ of interest: Several organs of interest in
imaging-based investigation are situated well within the body, encased in pro-
tective and dicult-to-access regions, for good reason! For example, the brain
is protected by the skull, and the prostate is situated at the base of the blad-
der near the pelvic outlet. Several limitations are encountered in imaging
such organs special imaging devices and image processing techniques are re-
quired to facilitate their visualization. Visualization of the arteries in the
brain requires the injection of an X-ray contrast agent and the subtraction
of a reference image see Section 4.1. Special transrectal probes have been
designed for 3D ultrasonic imaging of the prostate 92]. Despite the use of
such special devices and techniques, images obtained in applications as above
tend to be a ected by severe artifacts.
Variability of information: Biological systems exhibit great ranges of in-
herent variability within their di erent categories. The intrinsic and natural
variability presented by biological entities within a given class far exceeds the
variability that we may observe in engineering, physical, and manufactured
samples. The distinction between a normal pattern and an abnormal pat-
tern is often clouded by signicant overlap between the ranges of the features
or variables that are used to characterize the two categories the problem
is compounded when multiple abnormalities need to be considered. Imag-
ing conditions and parameters could cause further ambiguities due to the
e ects of subject positioning and projection. For example, most malignant
breast tumors are irregular and spiculated in shape, whereas benign masses
are smooth and round or oval. However, some malignant tumors may present
smooth shapes, and some benign masses may have rough shapes. A tumor
may present a rough appearance in one view or projection, but a smoother
prole in another. Furthermore, the notion of shape roughness is nonspe-
cic and open-ended. Overlapping patterns caused by ligaments, ducts, and
breast tissue that may lie in other planes, but are integrated on to a single
image plane in the process of mammographic imaging, could also a ect the
appearance of tumors and masses in images. The use of multiple views and
spot magnication imaging could help resolve some of these ambiguities, but
at the cost of additional radiation dose to the subject.
Physiological artifacts and interference: Physiological systems are
dynamic and active. Some activities, such as breathing, may be suspended
voluntarily by an adult subject (in a reasonable state of health and well-
being) for brief periods of time to permit improved imaging. However, car-
diac activity, blood circulation, and peristaltic movement are not under one's
volitional control. The rhythmic contractile activity of the heart poses chal-
lenges in imaging of the heart. The pulsatile movement of blood through the
brain causes slight movements of the brain that could cause artifacts in an-
giographic imaging see Section 4.1. Dark shadows may appear in ultrasound
images next to bony regions due to signicant attenuation of the investigating
beam, and hence the lack of echoes from tissues beyond the bony regions along
Image Quality and Information Content 63
the path of beam propagation. An analyst should pay attention to potential
physiological artifacts when interpreting biomedical images.
2.3.1 Sampling
Sampling is the process of representing a continuous-time or continuous-space
signal on a discrete grid, with samples that are separated by (usually) uniform
intervals. The theory and practice of sampling 1D signals have been well
established 1, 2, 7]. In essence, a band-limited signal with the frequency of
its fastest component being fm Hz may be represented without loss by its
samples obtained at the Nyquist rate of fs = 2 fm Hz .
Sampling may be modeled as the multiplication of the given continuous-
time or analog signal with a periodic train of impulses. The multiplication
of two signals in the time domain corresponds to the convolution of their
Fourier spectra. The Fourier transform of a periodic train of impulses is
another periodic train of impulses with a period that is equal to the inverse
of the period in the time domain (that is, fs Hz ). Therefore, the Fourier
spectrum of the sampled signal is periodic, with a period equal to fs Hz . A
sampled signal has innite bandwidth however, the sampled signal contains
distinct or unique frequency components only up to fm = fs =2 Hz .
If the signal as above is sampled at a rate lower than fs Hz , an error known
as aliasing occurs, where the frequency components above fs =2 Hz appear at
lower frequencies. It then becomes impossible to recover the original signal
from its sampled version.
If sampled at a rate of at least fs Hz , the original signal may be recovered
from its sampled version by lowpass ltering and extracting the base-band
component over the band fm Hz from the innite spectrum of the sampled
signal. If an ideal (rectangular) lowpass lter were to be used, the equivalent
operation in the time domain would be convolution with a sinc function (which
66 Biomedical Image Analysis
is of innite duration). This operation is known as interpolation. Other
interpolating functions of nite duration need to be used in practice, with
the equivalent lter extracting the base-band components without signicant
reduction in gain over the band fm Hz .
In practice, in order to prevent aliasing errors, it is common to use an
anti-aliasing lter prior to the sampling of 1D signals, with a pass-band that
is close to fs =2 Hz , with the prior knowledge that the signal contains no
signicant energy or information beyond fm fs =2 Hz . Analog spectrum
analyzers may be used to estimate the bandwidth and spectral content of a
given 1D analog signal prior to sampling.
All of the concepts explained above apply to the sampling of 2D signals or
images. However, in most real-life applications of imaging and image process-
ing, it is not possible to estimate the frequency content of the images, and
also not possible to apply anti-aliasing lters. Adequate sampling frequen-
cies need to be established for each type of image or application based upon
prior experience and knowledge. Regardless, even with the same type of im-
ages, di erent sampling frequencies may be suitable or adequate for di erent
applications.
Figure 2.1 illustrates the loss of quality associated with sampling an image
at lower and lower numbers of pixels.
Biomedical images originally obtained on lm are usually digitized using
high-resolution CCD cameras or laser scanners. Several newer biomedical
imaging systems include devices for direct digital data acquisition. In digital
imaging systems such as CT, sampling is inherent in the measurement process,
which is also performed in a domain that is di erent from the image domain.
This adds a further level of complexity to the analysis of sampling. Practical
experimentation and experience have helped in the development of guidelines
to assist in such applications.
2.3.2 Quantization
Quantization is the process of representing the values of a sampled signal or
image using a nite set of allowed values. In a digital representation using n
bits per sample and positive integers only, there exist 2n possible quantized
levels, spanning the range 0 2n ; 1]. If n = 8 bits are used to represent each
pixel, there can exist 256 values or gray levels to represent the values of the
image at each pixel, in the range 0 255].
It is necessary to map appropriately the range of variation of the given
analog signal, such as the output of a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector
or a video device, to the input dynamic range of the quantizer. If the lowest
level (or lower threshold) of the quantizer is set too high in relation to the
range of the original signal, the quantized output will have several samples
with the value zero, corresponding to all signal values that are less than the
lower threshold. Similarly, if the highest level (or higher threshold) of the
quantizer is set too low, the output will have several samples with the highest
Image Quality and Information Content 67
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 2.1
E ect of sampling on the appearance and quality of an image: (a) 225 250
pixels (b) 112 125 pixels (c) 56 62 pixels and (d) 28 31 pixels. All four
images have 256 gray levels at 8 bits per pixel.
68 Biomedical Image Analysis
quantized level, corresponding to all signal values that are greater than the
higher threshold. Furthermore, the decision levels of the quantizer should be
optimized in accordance with the probability density function (PDF) of the
original signal or image.
The Lloyd{Max quantization procedure 8, 9, 118, 119] to optimize a quan-
tizer is derived as follows. Let p(r) represent the PDF of the amplitude or
gray levels in the given image, with the values of the continuous or analog
variable r varying within the range rmin rmax ]. Let the range rmin rmax ]
be divided into L parts demarcated by the decision levels R0 R1 R2 : : : RL ,
with R0 = rmin and RL = rmax see Figure 2.2. Let the L output levels
of the quantizer represent the values Q0 Q1 Q2 : : : QL;1 , as indicated in
Figure 2.2.
The mean-squared error (MSE) in representing the analog signal by its
quantized values is given by
;1 Z R +1
LX
(r ; Ql )2 p(r) dr:
l
"2 = (2.1)
l=0 R l
Ql = RRR +1 l
(2.2)
R p(r) dr
l
which reduces to
Ql = Rl +2Rl+1 (2.3)
if the PDF is uniform. It also follows that the decision levels are then given
by
Rl = Ql;12+ Ql : (2.4)
It is common to quantize images to 8 bits=pixel. However, CT images
represent a large dynamic range of X-ray attenuation coecient, normalized
into HU , over the range ;1 000 1 000] for human tissues. Small di erences
of the order of 10 HU could indicate the distinction between normal tissue
and diseased tissue. If the range of 2 000 HU were to be quantized into 256
levels using an 8-bit quantizer, each quantized level would represent a change
of 2256
000 = 7:8125 HU , which could lead to the loss of the distinction as above
in noise. For this reason, CT and several other medical images are quantized
using 12 ; 16 bits=pixel.
The use of an inadequate number of quantized gray levels leads to false
contours and poor representation of image intensities. Figure 2.3 illustrates
the loss of image quality as the number of bits per pixel is reduced from six
to one.
Image Quality and Information Content 69
Q Q Q Q ... Q Q Quantizer
0 1 2 3 L-2 L-1 output levels
gray level r
FIGURE 2.2
Quantization of an image gray-level signal r with a Gaussian (solid line) or
uniform (dashed line) PDF. The quantizer output levels are indicated by Ql
and the decision levels represented by Rl .
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 2.3
E ect of gray-level quantization on the appearance and quality of an image:
(a) 64 gray levels (6 bits per pixel) (b) 16 gray levels (4 bits per pixel) (c) four
gray levels (2 bits per pixel) and (d) two gray levels (1 bit per pixel) All four
images have 225 250 pixels. Compare with the image in Figure 2.1 (a) with
256 gray levels at 8 bits per pixel.
TABLE 2.1
71
72 Biomedical Image Analysis
An M N matrix has M rows and N columns its height is M and width
is N numbering of the elements starts with (1 1) at the top-left corner and
ends with (M N ) at the lower-right corner of the image. A function of space
f (x y) that has been converted into a digital representation f (m n) is typi-
cally placed in the rst quadrant in the Cartesian coordinate system. Then, an
M N will have a width of M and height of N indexing of the elements starts
with (0 0) at the origin at the bottom-left corner and ends with (M ; 1 N ; 1)
at the upper-right corner of the image. Figure 2.4 illustrates the distinction
between these two types of representation of an image. Observe that the size
of a matrix is expressed as rows columns, whereas the size of an image is
usually expressed as width height.
column n = 1 2 3 4
row
2 f(0,2) f(1,2) f(2,2) f(3,2) f(1,1) f(1,2) f(1,3) f(1,4)
m = 1
x = 0 1 2 3
FIGURE 2.4
Array and matrix representation of an image.
I
o
film with image
(transparency)
Ii
light
FIGURE 2.5
Measurement of the optical density at a spot on a lm or transparency using
a laser microdensitometer.
3.0 Saturation
-
Shoulder
1.0
-
Toe
Background level
(base, fog, noise)
log (exposure)
FIGURE 2.6
Characteristic response curves of two hypothetical imaging devices.
The lower levels of response of a lm or electronic display device are af-
fected by a background level that could include the base level of the medium
or operation of the device as well as noise. The response of a device typically
begins with a nonlinear \toe" region before it reaches its linear range of oper-
ation. Another nonlinear region referred to as the \shoulder" region leads to
the saturation level of the device. It is desirable to operate within the linear
range of a given device.
Air in the lungs and bowels, as well as fat in various organs including the
breast, tend to extend the dynamic range of images toward the lower end of
the density scale. Bone, calcications in the breast and in tumors, as well
as metallic implants such as screws in bones and surgical clips contribute
to high-density areas in images. Mammograms are expected to possess a
dynamic range of 0 ; 3:5 OD. CT images may have a dynamic range of about
;1 000 to +1 000 HU . Metallic implants could have HU values beyond the
operating range of CT systems, and lead to saturated areas in images: the
X-ray beam is e ectively stopped by heavy-metal implants.
Image Quality and Information Content 75
2.6 Contrast
Contrast is dened in a few di erent ways 9], but is essentially the di erence
between the parameter imaged in a region of interest (ROI) and that in a
suitably dened background. If the image parameter is expressed in OD,
contrast is dened as
COD = fOD ; bOD (2.6)
where fOD and bOD represent the foreground ROI and background OD, re-
spectively. Figure 2.7 illustrates the notion of contrast using circular ROIs.
FIGURE 2.7
Illustration of the notion of contrast, comparing a foreground region f with
its background b.
When the image parameter has not been normalized, the measure of con-
trast will require normalization. If, for example, f and b represent the average
light intensities emitted or reected from the foreground ROI and the back-
ground, respectively, contrast may be dened as
C = ff ; b
+ b (2.7)
or as
C1 = f ;b b : (2.8)
Due to the use of a reference background, the measures dened above are
often referred to as \simultaneous contrast". It should be observed that the
contrast of a region or an object depends not only upon its own intensity, but
also upon that of its background. Furthermore, the measure is not simply a
76 Biomedical Image Analysis
di erence, but a ratio. The human visual system (HVS) has bandpass lter
characteristics, which lead to responses that are proportional to di erences
between illumination levels rather than to absolute illumination levels 122].
Example: The two squares in Figure 2.8 are of the same value (130 in the
scale 0 ; 255), but are placed on two di erent background regions of value
150 on the left and 50 on the right. The lighter background on the left makes
the inner square region appear darker than the corresponding inner square
on the right. This e ect could be explained by the measure of simultaneous
contrast: the contrast of the inner square on the left, using the denition in
Equation 2.8, is
Cl = 130150
; 150
= ;0:1333 (2.9)
whereas that for the inner square on the right is
Cr = 13050; 50 = +1:6: (2.10)
The values of Cl and Cr using the denition in Equation 2.7 are, respectively,
;0:0714 and +0:444 the advantage of this formulation is that the values of
contrast are limited to the range ;1 1]. The negative contrast value for
the inner square on the left indicates that it is darker than the background,
whereas it is the opposite for that on the right. (By covering the background
regions and viewing only the two inner squares simultaneously, it will be seen
that the gray levels of the latter are indeed the same.)
Just-noticeable di
erence: The concept of just-noticeable dierence
(JND) is important in analyzing contrast, visibility, and the quality of medical
images. JND is determined as follows 9, 122]: For a given background level
b as in Equation 2.8, the value of an object in the foreground f is increased
gradually from the same level as b to a level when the object is just perceived.
The value (f ; b)=b at the level of minimal perception of the object is the JND
for the background level b. The experiment should, ideally, be repeated many
times for the same observer, and also repeated for several observers. Exper-
iments have shown that the JND is almost constant, at approximately 0:02
or 2%, over a wide range of background intensity this is known as Weber's
law 122].
Example: The ve bars in Figure 2.9 have intensity values of (from left to
right) 155, 175, 195, 215, and 235. The bars are placed on a background of
150. The contrast of the rst bar (to the left), according to Equation 2.8, is
Cl = 155150; 150
= +0:033: (2.11)
This contrast value is slightly greater than the nominal JND the object should
be barely perceptible to most observers. The contrast values of the remaining
four bars are more than adequate for clear perception.
Example: Calcications appear as bright spots in mammograms. A cal-
cication that appears against fat and low-density tissue may possess high
Image Quality and Information Content 77
FIGURE 2.8
Illustration of the e ect of the background on the perception of an object
(simultaneous contrast). The two inner squares have the same gray level of
130, but are placed on di erent background levels of 150 on the left and 50
on the right.
FIGURE 2.9
Illustration of the notion of just-noticeable di erence. The ve bars have
intensity values of (from left to right) 155, 175, 195, 215, and 235, and are
placed on a background of 150. The rst bar is barely noticeable the contrast
of the bars increases from left to right.
78 Biomedical Image Analysis
contrast and be easily visible. On the other hand, a similar calcication that
appears against a background of high-density breast tissue, or a calcication
that is present within a high-density tumor, could possess low contrast, and
be dicult to detect. Figure 2.10 shows a part of a mammogram with several
calcications appearing against di erent background tissue patterns and den-
sity. The various calcications in this image present di erent levels of contrast
and visibility.
Small calcications and masses situated amidst high-density breast tissue
could present low contrast close to the JND in a mammogram. Such features
present signicant challenges in a breast cancer screening situation. Enhance-
ment of the contrast and visibility of such features could assist in improving
the accuracy of detecting early breast cancer 123, 124, 125] see Sections 4.9.1
and 12.10.
2.7 Histogram
The dynamic range of the gray levels in an image provides global information
on the extent or spread of intensity levels across the image. However, the dy-
namic range does not provide any information on the existence of intermediate
gray levels in the image. The histogram of an image provides information on
the spread of gray levels over the complete dynamic range of the image across
all pixels in the image.
Consider an image f (m n) of size M N pixels, with gray levels l =
0 1 2 : : : L ; 1. The histogram of the image may be dened as
;1 NX
MX ;1
Pf (l) = d f (m n) ; l] l = 0 1 2 : : : L ; 1 (2.12)
m=0 n=0
where the discrete unit impulse function or delta function is dened as 1, 2]
k=0
d (k) = 10 ifotherwise (2.13)
:
The histogram value Pf (l) provides the number of pixels in the image f
that possess the gray level l. The sum of all the entries in a histogram equals
the total number of pixels in the image:
;1
LX
Pf (l) = MN: (2.14)
l=0
The area under the function Pf (l), when multiplied with an appropriate scal-
ing factor, provides the total intensity, density, or brightness of the image,
depending upon the physical parameter represented by the pixel values.
Image Quality and Information Content 79
FIGURE 2.10
Part of a mammogram with several calcications associated with malignant
breast disease. The density of the background a ects the contrast and visi-
bility of the calcications. The image has 768 512 pixels at a resolution of
62 m the true width of the image is about 32 mm.
80 Biomedical Image Analysis
A histogram may be normalized by dividing its entries by the total number
of pixels in the image. Then, with the assumption that the total number of
pixels is large and that the image is a typical representative of its class or the
process that generates images of its kind, the normalized histogram may be
taken to represent the PDF pf (l) of the image-generating process:
p (l) = 1 P (l):
f MN f (2.15)
It follows that ;1
LX
pf (l) = 1: (2.16)
l=0
Example: The histogram of the image in Figure 1.3 is shown in Figure 2.11.
It is seen that most of the pixels in the image lie in the narrow range of 70 ; 150
out of the available range of 0 ; 255. The e ective dynamic range of the image
may be taken to be 70 ; 150, rather than 0 ; 255. This agrees with the dull
and low-contrast appearance of the image. The full available range of gray
levels has not been utilized in the image, which could be due to poor lighting
and image acquisition conditions, or due to the nature of the object being
imaged.
The gray level of the large, blank background in the image in Figure 1.3 is
in the range 80 ; 90: the peak in the histogram corresponds to the general
background range. The relatively bright areas of the myocyte itself have gray
levels in the range 100 ; 130. The histogram of the myocyte image is almost
unimodal that is, it has only one major peak. The peak happens to represent
the background in the image rather than the object of interest.
Example: Figure 2.12 (a) shows the histogram of the image in Figure 1.5
(b). The discrete spikes are due to noise in the image. The histogram of the
image after smoothing, using the 3 3 mean lter and rounding the results to
integers, is shown in part (b) of the gure. The histogram of the ltered image
is bimodal, with two main peaks spanning the gray level ranges 100 ; 180 and
180 ; 255, representing the collagen bers and background, respectively. Most
of the pixels corresponding to the collagen bers in cross-section have gray
levels below about 170 most of the brighter background pixels have values
greater than 200.
Example: Figure 2.13 shows a part of a mammogram with a tumor. The
normalized histogram of the image is shown in Figure 2.14. It is seen that the
histogram has two large peaks in the range 0 ; 20 representing the background
in the image with no breast tissue. Although the image has bright areas, the
number of pixels occupying the high gray levels in the range 200 ; 255 is
insignicant.
Example: Figure 2.15 shows a CT image of a two-year-old male patient
with neuroblastoma (see Section 9.9 for details). The histogram of the image
is shown in Figure 2.16 (a). The histogram of the entire CT study of the
patient, including 75 sectional images, is shown in Figure 2.16 (b). Observe
Image Quality and Information Content 81
4
x 10
1.5
Number of pixels
0.5
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
FIGURE 2.11
Histogram of the image of the ventricular myocyte in Figure 1.3. The size of
the image is 480 480 = 230 400 pixels. Entropy H = 4:96 bits.
82 Biomedical Image Analysis
3000
2500
2000
Number of pixels
1500
1000
500
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(a)
1800
1600
1400
1200
Number of pixels
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(b)
FIGURE 2.12
(a) Histogram of the image of the collagen bers in Figure 1.5 (b) H =
7:0 bits. (b) Histogram of the image after the application of the 3 3 mean
lter and rounding the results to integers H = 7:1 bits.
Image Quality and Information Content 83
FIGURE 2.13
Part of a mammogram with a malignant tumor (the relatively bright region
along the upper-left edge of the image). The size of the image is 700 700 =
490 000 pixels. The pixel resolution of 62 m the width of the image is about
44 mm. Image courtesy of Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
84 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.025
0.02
Probability of occurrence
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
FIGURE 2.14
Normalized histogram of the mammogram in Figure 2.13. Entropy H =
6:92 bits.
that the unit of the pixel variable in the histograms is HU however, the gray-
level values in the image have been scaled for display in Figure 2.15, and do
not directly correspond to the HU values. The histograms are multimodal,
indicating the presence of several types of tissue in the CT images. The peaks
in the histogram in Figure 2.16 (a) in the range 50;150 HU correspond to liver
and other abdominal organs and tissues. The small peak in the range 200 ;
300 HU in the same histogram corresponds to calcied parts of the tumor.
The histogram of the full volume includes a small peak in the range 700 ;
800 HU corresponding to bone not shown in Figure 2.16 (b)]. Histograms of
this nature provide information useful in diagnosis as well as in the follow up
of the e ect of therapy. Methods for the analysis of histograms for application
in neuroblastoma are described in Section 9.9.
2.8 Entropy
The distribution of gray levels over the full available range is represented
by the histogram. The histogram provides quantitative information on the
Image Quality and Information Content 85
FIGURE 2.15
CT image of a patient with neuroblastoma. Only one sectional image out of a
total of 75 images in the study is shown. The size of the image is 512 512 =
262 144 pixels. The tumor, which appears as a large circular region on the left-
hand side of the image, includes calcied tissues that appear as bright regions.
The HU range of ;200 400] has been linearly mapped to the display range
of 0 255] see also Figures 2.16 and 4.4. Image courtesy of Alberta Children's
Hospital, Calgary.
86 Biomedical Image Analysis
2500
2000
1500
Number of pixels
1000
500
0
−200 −100 0 100 200 300 400
Hounsfield Units
(a)
4
x 10
10
7
Number of voxels
0
−200 −100 0 100 200 300 400
Hounsfield Units
(b)
FIGURE 2.16
(a) Histogram of the CT section image in Figure 2.15. (b) Histogram of the
entire CT study of the patient, with 75 sectional images. The histograms are
displayed for the range HU = ;200 400] only.
Image Quality and Information Content 87
probability of occurrence of each gray level in the image. However, it is often
desirable to express, in a single quantity, the manner in which the values of a
histogram or PDF vary over the full available range. Entropy is a statistical
measure of information that is commonly used for this purpose 9, 11, 126,
127, 128, 129].
The various pixels in an image may be considered to be symbols produced by
a discrete information source with the gray levels as its states. Let us consider
the occurrence of L gray levels in an image, with the probability of occurrence
of the lth gray level being p(l) l = 0 1 2 : : : L ; 1: Let us also treat the gray
level of a pixel as a random variable. A measure of information conveyed by an
event (a pixel or a gray level) may be related to the statistical uncertainty of
the event giving rise to the information, rather than the semantic or structural
content of the signal or image. Given the unlimited scope of applications of
imaging and the context-dependent meaning conveyed by images, a statistical
approach as above is appropriate to serve the general purpose of analysis of
the information content of images.
A measure of information h(p) should be a function of p(l), satisfying the
following criteria 9, 11, 126, 127]:
h(p) should be continuous for 0 < p < 1.
h(p) = 1 for p = 0: a totally unexpected event conveys maximal infor-
mation when it does indeed occur.
h(p) = 0 for p = 1: an event that is certain to occur does not convey
any information.
h(p2) > h(p1) if p2 < p1 : an event with a lower probability of occurrence
conveys more information when it does occur than an event with a higher
probability of occurrence.
If two statistically independent image processes (or pixels) f and g are
considered, the joint information of the two sources is given by the sum
of their individual measures of information: hf g = hf + hg .
These requirements are met by h(p) = ; log(p):
When a source generates a number of gray levels with di erent probabilities,
a measure of average information or entropy is dened as the expected value
of information contained in each possible level:
;1
LX
H= p(l) hp(l)]: (2.17)
l=0
Using ; log2 in place of h, we obtain the commonly used denition of entropy
as ;1
LX
H = ; p(l) log2 p(l)] bits: (2.18)
l=0
88 Biomedical Image Analysis
Because the gray levels are considered as individual entities in this denition,
that is, no neighboring elements are taken into account, the result is known
as the zeroth-order entropy 130].
The entropies of the images in Figures 1.3 and 2.13, with the corresponding
histogram or PDF in Figures 2.11 and 2.14, are 4:96 and 6:92 bits, respectively.
Observe that the histogram in Figure 2.14 has a broader spread than that in
Figure 2.11, which accounts for the correspondingly higher entropy.
Di erentiating the function in Equation 2.18 with respect to p(l), it can
be shown that the maximum possible entropy occurs when all the gray levels
occur with the same probability (equal to L1 ), that is, when the various gray
levels are equally likely:
;1 1
LX
1 = log L:
Hmax = ; L log 2 L 2 (2.19)
l=0
If the number of gray levels in an image is 2K , then Hmax is K bits the
maximum possible entropy of an image with 8-bit pixels is 8 bits.
It should be observed that entropy characterizes the statistical information
content of a source based upon the PDF of the constituent events, which are
treated as random variables. When an image is characterized by its entropy,
it is important to recognize that the measure is not sensitive to the pictorial,
structural, semantic, or application-specic (diagnostic) information in the
image. Entropy does not account for the spatial distribution of the gray levels
in a given image. Regardless, the entropy of an image is an important measure
because it gives a summarized measure of the statistical information content of
an image, an image-generating source, or an information source characterized
by a PDF, as well as the lower bound on the noise-free transmission rate and
storage capacity requirements.
Properties of entropy: A few important properties of entropy 9, 11,
126, 127, 128, 129] are as follows:
Hp 0 with Hp = 0 only for p = 0 or p = 1: no information is conveyed
by events that do not occur or occur with certainty.
The joint information H(p1 p2 p ) conveyed by n events, with probabil-
ities of occurrence p1 p2 pn , is governed by H(p1 p2 p ) log(n),
n
where the summation is over all possible sequences fln g with (n + 1) pix-
els. (Note: Some variations exist in the literature regarding the denition of
higher-order entropy. In the denition given above, n refers to the number
of neighboring or additional elements considered, not counting the initial or
zeroth element this is consistent with the denition of the zeroth-order en-
tropy in Equation 2.18.) Hn is a monotonically decreasing function of n, and
approaches the true entropy of the source as n ! 1 9, 126, 127].
90 Biomedical Image Analysis
Mutual information: A measure that is important in the analysis of
transmission of images over a communication system, as well as in the analysis
of storage in and retrieval from an archival system, with potential loss of
information, is mutual information, dened as
If jg = Hf + Hg ; Hf g = Hf ; Hf jg = Hg ; Hgjf : (2.24)
This measure represents the information received or retrieved with the follow-
ing explanation: Hf is the information input to the transmission or archival
system in the form of the image f . Hf jg is the information about f given that
the received or retrieved image g has been observed. (In this analysis, g is
taken to be known, but f is considered to be unknown, although g is expected
to be a good representation of f .) Then, if g is completely correlated with f ,
we have Hf jg = 0, and If jg = Hf : this represents the case where there is no
loss or distortion in image transmission and reception (or in image storage and
retrieval). If g is independent of f , Hf jg = Hf , and If jg = 0: this represents
the situation where there is complete loss of information in the transmission
or archival process.
Entropy and mutual information are important concepts that are useful in
the design and analysis of image archival, coding, and communication systems
this topic is discussed in Chapter 11.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.17
(a) An ideal point source. (b) A Gaussian-shaped point spread function.
xo of the delta function is sifted or selected from all of its values. The expression
may be extended to all x as
Z1
f ( x) = f () (x ; ) d (2.28)
=;1
which may also be interpreted as resolving the arbitrary signal f (x) into a weighted
combination of mutually orthogonal delta functions. A common denition of the
delta function is in terms of its integrated strength as
Z1
(x) dx = 1 (2.29)
;1
with the conditions
(x) = undened at x = 0 (2.30)
0 otherwise:
The delta function is also dened as the limiting condition of several ordinary func-
tions, one of which is
(x) = lim 1 exp ; jxj : (2.31)
!0 2
The delta function may be visualized as the limit of a function with a sharp peak
of undened value, whose integral over the full extent of the independent variable is
maintained as unity while its temporal or spatial extent is compressed toward zero.
The image obtained when the input is a point or impulse function is known
as the impulse response or point spread function (PSF) see Figure 2.17 (b).
Assuming the imaging system to be linear and shift-invariant (or position-
invariant or space-invariant, abbreviated as LSI), the image g(x y) of an ob-
ject f (x y) is given by the 2D convolution integral 8, 9, 11, 131]
Z 1 Z 1
g(x y) = h(x ; y ; ) f ( ) d d (2.32)
=;1 =;1
92 Biomedical Image Analysis
Z 1 Z 1
= h( ) f (x ; y ; ) d d
=;1 =;1
= h(x y)
f (x y)
where h(x y) is the PSF, and are temporary variables of integration, and
represents 2D convolution.
(Note: For details on the theory of linear systems and convolution, refer to
Lathi 1], Oppenheim et al. 2], Oppenheim and Schafer 7], and Gonzalez and
Woods 8]. In extending the concepts of LSI system theory from time-domain
signals to the space domain of images, it should be observed that causality is
not a matter of concern in most applications of image processing.)
Some examples of the cause of blurring are:
Focal spot: The physical spot on the anode (target) that generates
X rays is not an ideal dimensionless point, but has nite physical di-
mensions and an area of the order of 1 ; 2 mm2 . Several straight-line
paths would then be possible from the X-ray source, through a given
point in the object being imaged, and on to the lm. The image so
formed will include not only the main radiographic shadow (the \um-
bra"), but also an associated blur (the \penumbra"), as illustrated in
Figure 2.18. The penumbra causes blurring of the image.
Thickness of screen or crystal: The screen used in screen-lm X-
ray imaging and the scintillation crystal used in gamma-ray imaging
generate visible light when struck by X or gamma rays. Due to the
nite thickness of the screen or crystal, a point source of light within the
detector will be sensed over a wider region on the lm (see Figure 1.10)
or by several PMTs (see Figure 1.25): the thicker the crystal or screen,
the worse the blurring e ect caused as above.
Scattering: Although it is common to assume straight-line propagation
of X or gamma rays through the body or object being imaged, this is not
always the case in reality. X, gamma, and ultrasound rays do indeed
get scattered within the body and within the detector. The e ect of
rays that are scattered to a direction that is signicantly di erent from
the original path will likely be perceived as background noise. However,
scattering to a smaller extent may cause unsharp edges and blurring in
a manner similar to those described above.
Point, line, and edge spread functions: In practice, it is often not
possible or convenient to obtain an image of an ideal point: a microscopic hole
in a sheet of metal may not allow adequate X-ray photons to pass through and
create a useful image an innitesimally small drop of a radiopharmaceutical
may not emit sucient gamma-ray photons to record an appreciable image on
a gamma camera. However, it is possible to construct phantoms to represent
ideal lines or edges. For use in X-ray imaging, a line phantom may be created
Image Quality and Information Content 93
Ideal Finite
point focal
source spot
X rays
Object
being
imaged
Umbra Umbra
Penumbra
(blur)
FIGURE 2.18
The e ect of a nite focal spot (X-ray-generating portion of the target) on
the sharpness of the image of an object.
δ (x,y) y f (x,y)
l
y fe (x,y) y
x x x
Integrate Integrate
FIGURE 2.19
The relationship between point (impulse function), line, and edge (step) im-
ages. The height of each function represents its strength.
ure 2.19. Therefore, the derivative of the ESF gives the LSF of the system.
Then, the PSF may be estimated from the LSF as described above.
Blurred or
unsharp edge
Intensity
f(x)
f(a)
x=a x=b
Distance x
FIGURE 2.20
Blurring of an ideal sharp edge into an unsharp edge by an imaging system.
Thus the ESF may be used to obtain the LSF, which may further be used
to obtain the PSF and MTF as already explained. (Observe the use of the
generalized delta function to derive the discontinuous line and edge functions
in this section.)
In addition to the procedures and relationships described above, based upon
the Fourier slice theorem (see Section 9.2 and Figure 9.2), it can be shown
that the Fourier transform of a prole of the LSF is equal to the radial prole
Image Quality and Information Content 97
of the Fourier transform of the PSF at the angle of placement of the line
source. If the imaging system may be assumed to be isotropic in the plane of
the line source, a single radial prole is adequate to reconstruct the complete
2D Fourier transform of the PSF. Then, an inverse 2D Fourier transform
provides the PSF. This method, which is essentially the Fourier method of
reconstruction from projections described in Section 9.2, was used by Hon et
al. 132] and Boulfelfel 86] to estimate the PSF of a SPECT system.
Example of application: In the work of Boulfelfel 86], a line source
was prepared using a plastic tube of internal radius 1 mm, lled with 1 mCi
(milli Curie) of 99m Tc. The phantom was imaged using a gamma camera at
various source-to-collimator distances, using an energy window of width of
14 keV centered at 140 keV . Figure 2.21 shows a sample image of the line
source. Figure 2.22 shows a sample prole of the LSF and the averaged prole
obtained by averaging the 64 rows of the LSF image.
FIGURE 2.21
Nuclear medicine (planar) image of a line source obtained using a gamma
camera. The size of the image is 64 64 pixels, with an e ective width of
100 mm. The pixel size is 1:56 mm.
180
160
140
120
Scaled counts
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Distance in mm
FIGURE 2.22
Sample prole (dotted line) and averaged prole (solid line) obtained from
the image in Figure 2.21. Either prole may be taken to represent the LSF
of the gamma camera.
Image Quality and Information Content 99
tance, and the intervening medium. The LSF was used to estimate the PSF
as explained above. The FWHM of the PSF of the SPECT system studied
was observed to vary between 1:3 cm and 3:0 cm.
See Section 2.12 for illustrations of the ESF and LSF of a CT imaging
system. See Chapter 10 for descriptions of methods for deblurring images.
2.10 Resolution
The spatial resolution of an imaging system or an image may be expressed in
terms of the following:
The sampling interval (in, for example, mm or m).
The width of (a prole of) the PSF, usually FWHM (in mm).
The size of the laser spot used to obtain the digital image by scanning
an original lm, or the size of the solid-state detector used to obtain the
digital image (in m).
The smallest visible object or separation between objects in the image
(in mm or m).
The nest grid pattern that remains visible in the image (in lp=mm).
The typical resolution limits of a few imaging systems are 6]:
X-ray lm: 25 ; 100 lp=mm.
screen-lm combination: 5 ; 10 lp=mm
mammography: up to 20 lp=mm.
CT: 0:7 lp=mm
CT: 50 lp=mm or 10 m
SPECT: < 0:1 lp=mm.
M N : (2.42)
m=0 n=0
For complete recovery of f (m n) from F (k l), the latter should be computed
for k = 0 1 : : : M ; 1, and l = 0 1 : : : N ; 1 at the minimum 7, 8, 9].
Then, the inverse transform gives back the original image with no error or
loss of information as
;1 NX
MX ;1
f (m n) = F (k l) exp +j 2
mk
M N+ nl (2.43)
k=0 l=0
Image Quality and Information Content 101
for m = 0 1 : : : M ; 1, and n = 0 1 : : : N ; 1: This expression may be
interpreted as resolving the given image into a weighted sum of mutually or-
thogonal exponential (or sinusoidal) basis functions. The eight sine functions,
for k = 0 1 2 : : : 7, that form the imaginary part of the basis functions of
the 1D DFT for M = 8 are shown in Figure 2.23. Figures 2.24 and 2.25 show
the rst 64 cosine and sine basis functions (for k l = 0 1 2 : : : 7) that are
the components of the 2D exponential function in Equation 2.43.
FIGURE 2.23
The rst eight sine basis functions of the 1D DFT k = 0 1 2 : : : 7 from top
to bottom. Each function was computed using 64 samples.
In order to use the FFT algorithm, it is common to pad the given image
with zeros or some other appropriate background value and convert the image
to a square of size N N where N is an integral power of 2. Then, all indices
in Equation 2.42 may be made to run from 0 to N ; 1 as
;1 NX
NX ;1
2
(mk + nl)
F (k l) = N1 f (m n) exp ;j
N (2.44)
m=0 n=0
102 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 2.24
The rst 64 cosine basis functions of the 2D DFT. Each function was computed
using a 64 64 matrix.
Image Quality and Information Content 103
FIGURE 2.25
The rst 64 sine basis functions of the 2D DFT. Each function was computed
using a 64 64 matrix.
104 Biomedical Image Analysis
with k = 0 1 : : : N ; 1, and l = 0 1 : : : N ; 1. The inverse transform is
given as
;1 NX
NX ;1
f (m n) = N1 F (k l) exp +j 2N
(mk + nl) : (2.45)
k=0 l=0
In Equations 2.44 and 2.45, the normalization factor has been divided equally
between the forward and inverse transforms to be N1 for the sake of symme-
try 8].
Example | the rectangle function and its Fourier transform: A
2D function with a rectangular base of size X Y and height A is dened as
f (x y) = A if 0 x X 0 y Y (2.46)
= 0 otherwise:
The 1D version of the rectangle function is also known as the gate function.
The 2D Fourier transform of the rectangle function above is given by
F (u v) = AXY sin(
uX ) exp(;j
uX ) sin(
vY ) exp(;j
vY ) : (2.47)
uX
vY
Observe that the Fourier transform of a real image is, in general, a complex
function. However, an image with even symmetry about the origin will have
a real Fourier transform. The exp ] functions in Equation 2.47 indicate the
phase components of the spectrum.
A related function that is commonly used is the rect function, dened as
8
< 1 if jxj < 21 jy j < 1
2
rect(x y) = : (2.48)
0 if jxj > 12 jyj > 1:
2
The Fourier transform of the rect function is the sinc function:
rect(x y) , sinc(u v) (2.49)
where
sinc(u v) = sinc(u) sinc(v) = sin(
u
u) sin(
v
v) (2.50)
and , indicates that the two functions form a forward and inverse Fourier-
transform pair.
Figure 2.26 shows three images with rectangular (square) objects and their
Fourier log-magnitude spectra. Observe that the smaller the box, the greater
the energy content in the higher-frequency areas of the spectrum. At the lim-
its, we have the Fourier transform of an image of an innitely large rectangle,
that is, the transform of an image with a constant value of unity for all space,
equal to (0 0) and the Fourier transform of an image with an innitesimally
Image Quality and Information Content 105
small rectangle, that is, an impulse, equal to a constant of unity, represent-
ing a \white" spectrum. The frequency axes have been shifted such that
(u v) = (0 0) is at the center of the spectrum displayed. The frequency coor-
dinates in this mode of display of image spectra are shown in Figure 2.27 (b).
Figure 2.28 shows the log-magnitude spectrum in Figure 2.26 (f) with and
without shifting the shifted (or centered or folded) mode of display as in
Figure 2.28 (b) is the preferred mode of display of 2D spectra.
The rectangle image in Figure 2.26 (e) as well as its magnitude spectrum
are also shown as mesh plots in Figure 2.29. The mesh plot demonstrates
more clearly the sinc nature of the spectrum.
Figure 2.30 shows three images with rectangular boxes oriented at 0o , 90o ,
and 135o , and their log-magnitude spectra. The sinc functions in the Fourier
domain in Figure 2.30 are not symmetric in the u and v coordinates, as was
the case in the spectra of the square boxes in Figure 2.26. The narrowing of
the rectangle along a spatial axis results in the widening of the lobes of the
sinc function and the presence of increased high-frequency energy along the
corresponding frequency axis. The rotation of an image in the spatial domain
results in a corresponding rotation in the Fourier domain.
Example | the circle function and its Fourier transform: Circular
apertures and functions are encountered often in imaging and image process-
ing. The circ function, which represents a circular disc or aperture, is dened
as
circ(r) = 10 ifif rr < 1
> 1 (2.51)
p
where r = (x2 + y2 ).pThe Fourier transform of circ(r) may be shown to be
1
J1 (2
), where = (u + v ) represents radial frequency in the 2D (u v )
2 2
plane, and J1 is the rst-order Bessel function of the rst kind 3, 9].
Figure 2.31 shows an image of a circular disc and its log-magnitude spec-
trum. The disc image as well as its magnitude spectrum are also shown as
mesh plots in Figure 2.32. Ignoring the e ects due to the representation of
the circular shape on a discrete grid, both the image and its spectrum are
isotropic. Figure 2.33 shows two proles of the log-magnitude spectrum in
Figure 2.31 (b) taken along the central horizontal axis. The nature of the
Bessel function is clearly seen in the 1D plots the conjugate symmetry of
the spectrum is also readily seen in the plot in Figure 2.33 (a). In displaying
proles of 2D system transfer functions, it is common to show only one half
of the prole for positive frequencies, as in Figure 2.33 (b). If such a prole
is shown, it is to be assumed that the system possesses axial or rotational
symmetry that is, the system is isotropic.
Examples of Fourier spectra of biomedical images: Figure 2.34
shows two TEM images of collagen bers in rabbit ligament samples (in
cross-section), and their Fourier spectra. The Bessel characteristics of the
spectrum due to the circular shape of the objects in the image are clearly
106 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.26
(a) Rectangle image, with total size 128128 pixels and a rectangle (square) of
size 40 40 pixels. (b) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (a). (c) Rect-
angle size 20 20 pixels. (d) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (c).
(e) Rectangle size 10 10 pixels. (f) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image
in (e). The spectra have been scaled to map the range 5 12] to the display
range 0 255]. See also Figures 2.28 and 2.29.
Image Quality and Information Content 107
(0, -V/2)
(0, V) (U, V)
v v
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.27
Frequency coordinates in (a) the unshifted mode and (b) the shifted mode of
display of image spectra. U and V represent the sampling frequencies along
the two axes. Spectra of images with real values possess conjugate symmetry
about U=2 and V=2. Spectra of sampled images are periodic, with the periods
equal to U and V along the two axes. It is common practice to display one
complete period of the shifted spectrum, including the conjugate symmetric
parts, as in (b). See also Figure 2.28.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.28
(a) Log-magnitude spectrum of the rectangle image in Figure 2.26 (e) without
shifting. Most FFT routines provide spectral data in this format. (b) The
spectrum in (a) shifted or folded such that (u v) = (0 0) is at the center. It
is common practice to display one complete period of the shifted spectrum,
including the conjugate symmetric parts, as in (b). See also Figure 2.27.
108 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 2.29
(a) Mesh plot of the rectangle image in Figure 2.26 (e), with total size 128128
pixels and a rectangle (square) of size 10 10 pixels. (b) Magnitude spectrum
of the image in (a).
Image Quality and Information Content 109
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.30
(a) Rectangle image, with total size 128 128 pixels and a rectangle of size
10 40 pixels. (b) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (a). (c) Rectangle
size 40 10 pixels this image may be considered to be that in (a) rotated
by 90o . (d) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (c). (e) Image in (c)
rotated by 45o using nearest-neighbor selection. (f) Log-magnitude spectrum
of the image in (e). Spectra scaled to map 5 12] to the display range 0 255].
See also Figure 8.1.
110 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.31
(a) Image of a circular disc. The radius of the disc is 10 pixels the size of the
image is 128 128 pixels. (b) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (a).
See also Figures 2.32 and 2.33.
seen in Figure 2.34 (d). (Compare the examples in Figure 2.34 with those in
Figure 2.31.)
Figure 2.35 shows two SEM images of collagen bers as seen in freeze-
fractured surfaces of rabbit ligament samples, and their Fourier spectra. The
highly oriented and piecewise linear (rectangular) characteristics of the bers
in the normal sample in Figure 2.35 (a) are indicated by the concentrations of
energy along radial lines at the corresponding angles in the spectrum in Fig-
ure 2.35 (b). The scar sample in Figure 2.35 (c) lacks directional preference,
which is reected in its spectrum in Figure 2.35 (d). (Compare the examples
in Figure 2.35 with those in Figure 2.30.)
250
200
150
100
50
0
120
100
120
80 100
60 80
40 60
40
20 20
(a)
4
x 10
120
100
120
80 100
60 80
40 60
40
20 20
(b)
FIGURE 2.32
(a) Mesh plot of the circular disc in Figure 2.31 (a). The radius of the disc is
10 pixels the size of the image is 128 128 pixels. (b) Magnitude spectrum
of the image in (a).
112 Biomedical Image Analysis
11
10
9
log magnitude spectrum
3
20 40 60 80 100 120
sample number
(a)
11
10
9
log magnitude spectrum
3
10 20 30 40 50 60
sample number
(b)
FIGURE 2.33
(a) Prole of the log-magnitude spectrum in Figure 2.31 (b) along the central
horizontal axis. (b) Prole in (a) shown only for positive frequencies. The
frequency axis is indicated in samples the true frequency values depend upon
the sampling frequency.
Image Quality and Information Content 113
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 2.34
(a) TEM image of collagen bers in a normal rabbit ligament sample. (b) Log-
magnitude spectrum of the image in (a). (c) TEM image of collagen bers in
a scar tissue sample. (d) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (c). See
also Figure 1.5 and Section 1.4.
114 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 2.35
(a) SEM image of collagen bers in a normal rabbit ligament sample. (b) Log-
magnitude spectrum of the image in (a). (c) SEM image of collagen bers in
a scar tissue sample. (d) Log-magnitude spectrum of the image in (c). See
also Figure 1.8 and Section 1.4.
Image Quality and Information Content 115
1. The kernel function of the Fourier transform is separable and symmetric.
This property facilitates the evaluation of the 2D DFT as a set of 1D
row transforms, followed by a set of 1D column transforms. We have
1 ;1
NX
2
;1
NX
2
F (k l) = N exp ;j N mk f (m n) exp ;j N nl :
m=0 n=0
(2.52)
1D FFT routines may be used to obtain 2D and multidimensional Fourier
transforms in the following manner:
";1
NX #
1
F (m l) = N N 2
= f (m n) ; 2 f (m ; 1 n) + f (m ; 2 n) (2.79)
(using matrix notation). Causality is usually not a matter of concern
in image processing, and it is often desirable to have operators use col-
lections of pixels that are centered about the pixel being processed.
Applying a shift of one pixel to the result above (specically, adding 1
to the rst index of each term) leads to
fy (m n) f (m + 1 n) ; 2 f (m n) + f (m ; 1 n)
00
(2.80)
= f (m ; 1 n) ; 2 f (m n) + f (m + 1 n):
Similarly, we get
fx (m n) f (m n ; 1) ; 2 f (m n) + f (m n + 1):
00
(2.81)
The Laplacian could then be implemented as
fL (m n) = f (m;1 n)+f (m n;1);4f (m n)+f (m+1 n)+f (m n+1):
(2.82)
This operation is achieved by convolving the image with the 3 3 mask
or operator 2 3
0 1 0
4 1 ;4 1 5 : (2.83)
0 1 0
Examples: Figure 2.39 shows the Laplacian of the rectangle image
in Figure 2.36 (a) and its log-magnitude spectrum. Similar results are
shown in Figures 2.40 and 2.41 for the myocyte image in Figure 2.37 (a)
and the knee MR image in Figure 2.38 (a). The Laplacian operator
Image Quality and Information Content 121
has extracted all edges in all directions correspondingly, high-frequency
components in all directions in the spectrum have been strengthened.
Observe that the images have lost gray-scale on intensity information
correspondingly, the (u v) = (0 0) component has been removed from
the spectra.
17. Integration of an image leads to smoothing or blurring, and lowpass
ltering: Z x
f ( y) d , j 21
u F (u v) (2.84)
=;1
Z y
f (x ) d , j 21
v F (u v): (2.85)
=;1
The weighting factors that apply to F (u v) diminish with increasing
frequency, and hence high-frequency components are attenuated by this
operation.
The integration of an image from ;1 to the current x or y position is
seldom encountered in practice. Instead, it is common to encounter the
integration of an image over a small region or aperture surrounding the
current position, in the form
Z A=2 Z B=2
g(x y) = 1 f (x + y + ) d d (2.86)
AB =;A=2 =;B=2
where the region of integration is a rectangle of size A B . The normal-
ization factor AB1 leads to the average intensity being computed over
the area of integration. This operation may be interpreted as a moving-
average (MA) lter.
In discrete terms, averaging over a 3 3 aperture or neighborhood is
represented as
1 1
g(m n) = 19
X X
f (m + n + ): (2.87)
=;1 =;1
This equation may be expanded as
g(m n) = 19
f (m ; 1 n ; 1) +f (m ; 1 n) +f (m ; 1 n + 1)
+f (m n ; 1) +f (m n) +f (m n + 1) (2.88)
+f (m + 1 n ; 1) +f (m + 1 n) +f (m + 1 n + 1) ] :
The same operation is also achieved via convolution of the image f (m n)
with the array 2 3
1 4 11 11 11 5 (2.89)
9 1 1 1
122 Biomedical Image Analysis
which may be viewed as the PSF of a lter. It follows that the corre-
sponding e ect in the frequency domain is multiplication of the Fourier
transform of the image with a 2D sinc function.
Integration or averaging as above but only along the horizontal or verti-
cal directions may be performed via convolution with the arrays 13 1 1 1]
or 13 1 1 1]T , respectively.
Examples: Figure 2.42 shows an image of a rectangle with ideal edges,
followed by the results of averaging along the horizontal and vertical
directions via convolution with the arrays 13 1 1 1] and 13 1 1 1]T ,
respectively the log-magnitude spectra of the images are also shown.
Figure 2.43 shows the result of averaging the rectangle image using
the 3 3 mask in Equation 2.89, as well as its spectrum. It is seen
that averaging results in the smoothing of edges and a reduction in
the strength of the high-frequency components in the direction(s) of
averaging.
Similar results are shown in Figures 2.44 and 2.45 for an image of a my-
ocyte, and in Figures 2.46 and 2.47 for an MR image of a knee joint. It is
seen that minor details and artifacts in the images have been suppressed
or removed by the averaging operation.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.36
(a) Image of a rectangular box. (c) Horizontal and (e) vertical derivatives of
the image in (a), respectively. (b), (d), and (f): Log-magnitude spectra of
the images in (a), (c), and (e), respectively. The images in (c) and (e) were
obtained by mapping the range ;200 200] to the display range of 0 255].
Negative di erences appear in black, positive di erences in white. The spectra
show values in the range 5 12] mapped to 0 255].
124 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.37
(a) Image of a myocyte. (c) Horizontal and (e) vertical derivatives of the
image in (a), respectively. (b), (d), and (f): Log-magnitude spectra of the
images in (a), (c), and (e), respectively. Images in (c) and (e) were obtained
by mapping the range ;20 20] to the display range of 0 255]. The spectra
show values in the range 3 12] mapped to 0 255].
Image Quality and Information Content 125
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.38
(a) MR image of a knee. (c) Horizontal and (e) vertical derivatives of the image
in (a), respectively. (b), (d), and (f): Log-magnitude spectra of the images
in (a), (c), and (e), respectively. The images in (c) and (e) were obtained
by mapping the range ;50 50] to the display range of 0 255]. Negative
di erences appear in black, positive di erences in white. The spectra show
values in the range 3 12] mapped to 0 255].
126 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.39
(a) Laplacian of the rectangle image in Figure 2.36 (a). (b) Log-magnitude
spectrum of the image in (a).
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.40
(a) Laplacian of the myocyte image in Figure 2.37 (a). (b) Log-magnitude
spectrum of the image in (a).
Image Quality and Information Content 127
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.41
(a) Laplacian of the MR image in Figure 2.38 (a). (b) Log-magnitude spec-
trum of the image in (a).
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.42
(a) Image of a rectangular box. Results of averaging using three pixels in
the (c) horizontal and (e) vertical directions, respectively. (b), (d), and (f):
Log-magnitude spectra of the images in (a), (c), and (e), respectively. The
spectra show values in the range 5 12] mapped to 0 255].
Image Quality and Information Content 129
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.43
(a) Result of 3 3 averaging of the rectangle image in Figure 2.42 (a). (b) Log-
magnitude spectrum of the image in (a).
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.44
(a) Image of a myocyte. Results of averaging using three pixels in the
(c) horizontal and (e) vertical directions, respectively. (b), (d), and (f): Log-
magnitude spectra of the images in (a), (c), and (e), respectively. The spectra
show values in the range 3 12] mapped to 0 255].
Image Quality and Information Content 131
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.45
(a) Result of 3 3 averaging of the myocyte image in Figure 2.44 (a). (b) Log-
magnitude spectrum of the image in (a).
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 2.46
(a) MR image of a knee. Results of averaging using three pixels in the
(c) horizontal and (e) vertical directions, respectively. (b), (d), and (f): Log-
magnitude spectra of the images in (a), (c), and (e), respectively. The spectra
show values in the range 3 12] mapped to 0 255].
Image Quality and Information Content 133
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2.47
(a) Result of 3 3 averaging of the knee MR image in Figure 2.46 (a). (b) Log-
magnitude spectrum of the image in (a).
FIGURE 2.48
MTFs of a DR system (II-TV = image-intensier television) and a screen-
lm system at the same X-ray dose. FS = focal spot. Reproduced with
permission from Y. Higashida, Y. Baba, M. Hatemura, A. Yoshida, T. Takada,
and M. Takahashi, \Physical and clinical evaluation of a 2 048 2 048-matrix
image intensier TV digital imaging system in bone radiography", Academic
Radiology, 3(10):842{848. 1996.
c Association of University Radiologists.
134 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 2.49
Contrast-detail curves of a DR system (II-TV = image-intensier television)
and a screen-lm system. The DR system was operated at the same X-
ray dose as the screen-lm system (iso-dose) and at a low-dose setting. Re-
produced with permission from Y. Higashida, Y. Baba, M. Hatemura, A.
Yoshida, T. Takada, and M. Takahashi, \Physical and clinical evaluation of
a 2 048 2 048-matrix image intensier TV digital imaging system in bone
radiography", Academic Radiology, 3(10):842{848. 1996.
c Association of
University Radiologists.
Image Quality and Information Content 135
FIGURE 2.50
MTF curves of an amorphous selenium (aSe) detector system for direct digital
mammography, a screen-lm system (S-F), and an indirect digital imaging
system. c=mm = cycles=mm. Figure courtesy of J.E. Gray, Lorad, Danbury,
CT.
have
g = f + (2.92)
where represents the mean (average) of the process indicated by the sub-
script. In many cases, the mean of the noise process is zero. The variances
(2 ) of the processes are related as
g2 = f2 + 2 : (2.93)
SNR is a measure used to characterize objectively the relative strengths
of the true image (signal) and the noise in an observed (noisy or degraded)
image. Several denitions of SNR exist, and are used depending upon the
information available and the feature of interest. A common denition of
SNR is " #
2
SNR1 = 10 log10 f2 dB: (2.94)
The variance of noise may be estimated by computing the sample variance of
pixels selected from areas of the given image that do not contain, or are not
expected to contain, any image component. The variance of the true image
as well as that of noise may be computed from the PDFs of the corresponding
processes if they are known or if they can be estimated.
136 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 2.51
(a) Edge spread function, (b) line spread function, and (c) MTF of a CT
system. 1 micron = 1 m. Reproduced with permission from M. Pateyron,
F. Peyrin, A.M. Laval-Jeantet, P. Spanne, P. Cloetens, and G. Peix, \3D
microtomography of cancellous bone samples using synchrotron radiation",
Proceedings of SPIE 2708: Medical Imaging 1996 { Physics of Medical Imag-
ing, Newport Beach, CA, pp 417{426.
c SPIE.
Image Quality and Information Content 137
In some applications, the variance of the image may not provide an appro-
priate indication of the useful range of variation present in the image. For this
reason, another commonly used denition of SNR is based upon the dynamic
range of the image, as
SNR2 = 20 log10 fmax ; fmin dB: (2.95)
Video signals in modern CRT monitors have SNR of the order of 60 ; 70 dB
with noninterlaced frame repetition rate in the range 70;80 frames per second.
Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) is a measure that combines the contrast or
the visibility of an object and the SNR, and is dened as
CNR = f ; b (2.96)
b
where f is an ROI (assumed to be uniform, such as a disc being imaged using
X rays), and b is a background region with no signal content (see Figure 2.7).
Comparing this measure to the basic measure of simultaneous contrast in
Equation 2.8, the di erence lies in the denominator, where CNR uses the
standard deviation. Whereas simultaneous contrast uses a background region
that encircles the ROI, CNR could use a background region located elsewhere
in the image. CNR is well suited to the analysis of X-ray imaging systems,
where the density of an ROI on a lm image depends upon the dose: the
visibility of an object is dependent upon both the dose and the noise.
In a series of studies on image quality, Schade reported on image gradation,
graininess, and sharpness in television and motion-picture systems 135] on
an optical and photoelectric analog of the eye 136] and on the evaluation of
photographic image quality and resolving power 137]. The sine-wave, edge-
transition, and square-wave responses of imaging systems were discussed in
detail. Schade presented a detailed analysis of the relationships between re-
solving power, contrast sensitivity, number of perceptible gray-scale steps, and
granularity with the \three basic characteristics" of an imaging system: in-
tensity transfer function, sine-wave response, and SNR. Schade also presented
experimental setups and procedures with optical benches and equipment for
photoelectric measurements and characterization of optical and imaging sys-
tems.
Burke and Snyder 138] reported on quality metrics of digital images as
related to interpreter performance. Their test set included a collection of 250
transparencies of 10 digital images, each degraded by ve levels of blurring
and ve levels of noise. Their work addressed the question \How can we
measure the degree to which images are improved by digital processing?"
The results obtained indicated that although the main e ect of blur was not
signicant in their interpretation experiment (in terms of the extraction of
the \essential elements of information"), the e ect of noise was signicant.
However, in medical imaging applications such as SPECT, high levels of noise
138 Biomedical Image Analysis
are tolerated, but blurring of edges caused by lters used to suppress noise is
not accepted.
Tapiovaara and Wagner 139] proposed a method to measure image quality
in the context of the image information available for the performance of a
specied detection or discrimination task by an observer. The method was
applied to the analysis of uoroscopy systems by Tapiovaara 140].
Normal
b(3) Background
b(2)
b(1)
f(1)
f(2)
Boundary
f(3)
Foreground
(Object)
FIGURE 2.52
Computation of di erences along the normals to a region in order to derive a
measure of acutance. Four sample normals are illustrated, with three pairs of
pixels being used to compute di erences along each normal.
2.16 Remarks
We have reviewed several notions of image quality and information content in
this chapter. We explored many methods and measures designed to character-
ize various image attributes associated with quality and information content.
It should be observed that image quality considerations vary from one appli-
cation of imaging to another, and that appropriate measures should be chosen
after due assessment of the particular problem on hand. In medical diagnostic
applications, emphasis is usually placed on the assessment of image quality
in terms of its e ect on the accuracy of diagnostic interpretation by human
observers and specialists: methods related to this approach are discussed in
Sections 4.11, 12.8, and 12.10. The use of measures of information content in
the analysis of methods for image coding and data compression is described
in Chapter 11.
151
152 Biomedical Image Analysis
or Bendat and Piersol 168] for background material on probability, random
variables, and stochastic processes.)
Consider a random process that is characterized by the PDF p ( ). The
process could be a function of time as (t), or of space in 1D, 2D, or 3D
as (x), (x y), or (x y z ) it could also be a spatio-temporal function as
(x y z t). The argument of the PDF represents the value that the random
process can assume, which could be a voltage in the case of a function of time,
or a gray level in the case of a 2D or 3D image. The use of the same symbol
for the function and the value it can assume when dealing with PDFs is useful
when dealing with several random processes.
The mean of the random process is given by the rst-order moment
of the PDF, dened as
Z1
= E ] = p ( )d (3.1)
;1
where E ] represents the statistical expectation operator. It is common to
assume the mean of a random noise process to be zero.
The mean-squared (MS) value of the random process is given by the
second-order moment of the PDF, dened as
Z1
E 2] = 2p ( )d : (3.2)
;1
The variance 2 of the process is dened as the second central moment:
Z1
2 = E ( ; )2 ] = ( ; )2 p ( ) d : (3.3)
;1
The square root of the variance gives the standard deviation (SD) of the
process. Note that 2 = E 2 ] ; 2 . If the mean is zero, it follows that
2 = E 2 ], that is, the variance and the MS values are the same.
Observe the use of the same symbol to represent the random variable,
the random process, and the random signal as a function of time or space.
The subscript of the PDF or the statistical parameter derived indicates the
random process of concern. The context of the discussion or expression should
make the meaning of the symbol clear.
When the values of a random process form a time series or a function of
time, we have a random signal (or a stochastic process) (t) see Figure 3.1.
When one such time series is observed, it is important to note that the entity
represents but one single realization of the random process. An example of a
random function of time is the current generated by a CCD detector element
due to thermal noise when no light is falling on the detector (known as the
dark current ). The statistical measures described above then have physical
meaning: the mean represents the DC component, the MS value represents the
average power, and the square root of the mean-squared value (the root mean-
squared or RMS value) gives the average noise magnitude. These measures
Removal of Artifacts 153
are useful in calculating the SNR, which is commonly dened as the ratio of
the peak-to-peak amplitude range of the signal to the RMS value of the noise,
or as the ratio of the average power of the desired signal to that of the noise.
Special-purpose CCD detectors are cooled by circulating cold air, water, or
liquid nitrogen to reduce thermal noise and improve the SNR.
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
noise value
−0.05
−0.1
−0.15
−0.2
−0.25
FIGURE 3.1
A time series composed of random noise samples with a Gaussian PDF having
= 0 and 2 = 0:01. MS value = 0:01 RMS = 0:1. See also Figures 3.2 and
3.3.
FIGURE 3.2
An image composed of random noise samples with a Gaussian PDF having
= 0 and 2 = 0:01. MS value = 0:01 RMS = 0:1. The normalized
pixel values in the range ;0:5 0:5] were linearly mapped to the display range
0 255]. See also Figure 3.3.
0.016
0.014
0.012
Probability of occurrence
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
−0.5 −0.4 −0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Normalized gray level
FIGURE 3.3
Normalized histogram of the image in Figure 3.2. The samples were generated
using a Gaussian process with = 0 and 2 = 0:01. MS value = 0:01 RMS
= 0:1. See also Figures 3.1 and 3.2.
Removal of Artifacts 155
allows for the statistical characterization of sample-to-sample or person-to-
person variations in a collection of images of the same organ, system, or type.
For example, although almost all CT images of the brain show the familiar
cerebral structure, variations do exist from one person to another. A brain CT
image may be represented as a random process that exhibits certain character-
istics on the average. Statistical averages representing populations of images
of a certain type are useful in designing lters, data compression techniques,
and pattern classication procedures that are optimal for the specic type of
images. However, it should be borne in mind that, in diagnostic applications,
it is the deviation from the normal or the average that is present in the image
on hand that is of critical importance.
When an image f (x y) is observed in the presence of random noise , the
detected image g(x y) may be treated as a realization of another random
process g. In most cases, the noise is additive, and the observed image is
expressed as
g(x y) = f (x y) + (x y): (3.4)
Each of the random processes f , , and g is characterized by its own PDF
pf (f ), p ( ), and pg (g), respectively.
In most practical applications, the random processes representing an image
of interest and the noise aecting the image may be assumed to be statisti-
cally independent processes. Two random processes f and are said to be
statistically independent if their joint PDF pf (f ) is equal to the product of
their individual PDFs given as pf (f ) p ( ). It then follows that the rst-order
moment and second-order central moment of the processes in Equation 3.4
are related as
E g] = g = f + = f = E f ] (3.5)
E (g ; g ) ] = g = f +
2 2 2 2 (3.6)
2
where represents the mean and represents the variance of the random
process indicated by the subscript, and it is assumed that = 0.
Ensemble averages: When the PDFs of the random processes of con-
cern are not known, it is common to approximate the statistical expectation
operation by averages computed using a collection or ensemble of sample
observations of the random process. Such averages are known as ensemble av-
erages . Suppose we have M observations of the random process f as functions
of (x y): f1 (x y) f2 (x y) : : : fM (x y) see Figure 3.4. We may estimate the
mean of the process at a particular spatial location (x1 y1 ) as
1 X
M
f (x1 y1 ) = Mlim
!1 M fk (x1 y1 ): (3.7)
k=1
The autocorrelation function (ACF) f (x1 x1 + y1 y1 + ) of the random
process f is dened as
f (x1 x1 + y1 y1 + ) = E f (x1 y1 ) f (x1 + y1 + )] (3.8)
156 Biomedical Image Analysis
which may be estimated as
where and are spatial shift parameters. If the image f (x y) is complex,
one of the versions of f (x y) in the products above should be conjugated most
biomedical images that are encountered in practice are real-valued functions,
and this distinction is often ignored. The ACF indicates how the values of
an image at a particular spatial location are statistically related to (or have
characteristics in common with) the values of the same image at another
shifted location. If the process is stationary, the ACF depends only upon the
shift parameters, and may be expressed as f ( ).
f (x, y)
M
.
.
. .
.
. f (x, y)
k
µ (k)
spatial average f
.
. .
. .
.
f (x, y)
2
f (x, y)
1
ensemble average
µ (x , y )
f 1 1
FIGURE 3.4
Ensemble and spatial averaging of images.
The three equations above may be applied to signals that are functions
of time by replacing the spatial variables (x y) with the temporal variable
t, replacing the shift parameter with to represent temporal delay, and
making a few other related changes.
Removal of Artifacts 157
When f (x1 y1 ) is computed for every spatial location or pixel, we get an
average image that could be expressed as f(x y). The image f may be used
to represent the random process f as a prototype. For practical use, such an
average should be computed using sample observations that are of the same
size, scale, orientation, etc. Similarly, the ACF may also be computed for all
possible values of its indices to obtain an image.
Temporal and spatial averages: When we have a sample observation of
a random process fk (t) as a function of time, it is possible to compute time
averages or temporal statistics by integrating along the time axis 31]:
1 Z T=2
f (k) = Tlim
!1 T fk (t) dt: (3.10)
;T=2
The integral would be replaced by a summation in the case of sampled or
discrete-time signals. The time-averaged ACF f ( k) is given by
f (x, y, t)
.
.
. .
.
. f (x, y, t )
1
spatial or
intraframe
.
statistics
. .
. .
.
FIGURE 3.5
Spatial and temporal statistics of a video signal.
Removal of Artifacts 159
by their ensemble and/or spatial statistics. Figure 3.4 shows the distinction
between ensemble and spatial averaging. Figure 3.5 illustrates the combined
use of spatial and temporal statistics to analyze a video signal in (x y t).
The mean does not play an important role in 1D signal analysis: it is usually
assumed to be zero, and often subtracted out if it is not zero. However, the
mean of an image represents its average intensity or density removal of the
mean leads to an image with only the edges and the uctuations about the
mean being depicted.
The ACF plays an important role in the characterization of random pro-
cesses. The Fourier transform of the ACF is the power spectral density (PSD)
function, which is useful in frequency-domain analysis. Statistical functions
as above are useful in the analysis of the behavior of random processes, and in
modeling, spectrum analysis, lter design, data compression, and data com-
munication.
0.35
0.3
0.25
Gaussian PDFs
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
−8 −6 −4 −2 0 2 4 6 8 10
x
FIGURE 3.6
Three Gaussian PDFs. Solid line: = 0 = 1. Dashed line: = 0 = 2.
Dotted line: = 3 = 1.
PDFs corresponding to random processes with values spread over the ranges
(;10 10) and (;5 5). The quantization of gray levels in an image to a nite
number of integers leads to an error or noise that is uniformly distributed.
Poisson: The counting of discrete random events such as the number of
photons emitted by a source or detected by a sensor in a given interval of
time leads to a random variable with a Poisson PDF. The discrete nature
of the packets of energy (that is, photons) and the statistical randomness in
their emission and detection contribute to uncertainty, which is reected as
Removal of Artifacts 161
0.12
0.1
0.08
Uniform PDFs
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
−10 −5 0 5 10
x
FIGURE 3.7
Two uniform PDFs. Solid line: = 0, range = (;10 10). Dashed line: = 0,
range = (;5 5).
162 Biomedical Image Analysis
quantum noise, photon noise, mottle, or Poisson noise in images. Shot noise
in electronic devices may also be modeled as Poisson noise.
One of the formulations of the Poisson PDF is as follows: The probability
that k photons are detected in a certain interval is given by
k
P (k) = exp(;) k! : (3.17)
Here, is the mean of the process, which represents the average number of
photons counted in the specied interval over many trials. The values of P (k)
for all (integer) k is the Poisson PDF. The variance of the Poisson PDF is
equal to its mean.
The Poisson PDF tends toward the Gaussian PDF for large mean values.
Figure 3.8 shows two Poisson PDFs along with the Gaussians for the same
parameters it is seen that the Poisson and Gaussian PDFs for = 2 = 20
match each other well.
0.2
0.18
0.16
Poisson and Gaussian PDFs
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
k
FIGURE 3.8
Two Poisson PDFs with the corresponding Gaussian PDFs superimposed.
Bars with and dashed envelope: = 2 = 4. Bars with and solid
envelope: = 2 = 20.
Removal of Artifacts 163
Laplacian: The Laplacian PDF is given by the function
( p )
p (x) = p 1 exp ; 2 jx ; x j (3.18)
x x
2 x
where x and x2 are the mean and variance, respectively, of the process.
Figure 3.9 shows two Laplacian PDFs. Error values in linear prediction have
been observed to display Laplacian PDFs 174].
0.7
0.6
0.5
Laplacian PDFs
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
−8 −6 −4 −2 0 2 4 6 8 10
x
FIGURE 3.9
Two Laplacian PDFs with = 0 2 = 1 (solid) and = 0 2 = 4 (dashed).
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
Rayleigh PDF
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
x
FIGURE 3.10
Rayleigh PDF with a = 1 and b = 4.
#
@
FIGURE 3.11
Block-by-block processing of an image. Statistics computed by using the pixels
within the window shown with solid lines (3 3 pixels) are applicable to the
pixel marked with the @ symbol. Statistics for use when processing the pixel
marked with the # symbol (5 5 pixels) are computed by using the pixels
within the window shown with dashed lines.
same technique may also be extended to imaging the heart: In gated blood-
pool imaging, nuclear medicine images of the heart are acquired in several
parts over short intervals of time. Images acquired at the same phases of the
cardiac cycle | determined by using the ECG signal as a reference, trigger, or
\gating" signal | are accumulated over several cardiac cycles. A sequence of
such gated and averaged frames over a full cardiac cycle may then be played
as a video or a movie to visualize the time-varying size and contents of the
left ventricle. (See Section 3.10 for illustration of gated blood-pool imaging.)
In the expression above, g2 (m n) and g (m n) are the variance and the mean
of the noisy image at the point (m n), respectively.
Transformation of signal-dependent noise to signal-independent
noise: In the model used by Naderi and Sawchuk 182] and Arsenault et al.
189, 190], the signal-independent component of the noise as in Equation 3.28
is assumed to be zero. In this case, it has been shown 189, 190, 191] that by
applying an appropriate transformation to the whole image, the noise can be
made signal-independent. One of the transformations proposed is 189, 190]
p
T g(m n)] = g(m n) (3.32)
where is an appropriate normalizing constant. It has been shown that the
noise in the transformed image is additive, has a Gaussian distribution, is
unbiased, and has a standard deviation that no longer depends on the signal
but is given by 2 :
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.12
(a) \Shapes": a 128 128 test image with various geometrical objects placed
at random. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise added, with = 0 2 = 0:01
(normalized), RMS error = 19:32. (c) Second version of noisy image, RMS
error = 19:54. Result of multiframe averaging using (d) the two frames in (b)
and (c), RMS error = 15:30 (e) four frames, RMS error = 12:51 (f) eight
frames, RMS error = 10:99.
174 Biomedical Image Analysis
# #
@ @
FIGURE 3.13
Moving-window ltering of an image. The size of the moving window in the
illustration is 5 5 pixels. Statistics computed by using the pixels within the
window are applied to the pixel at the same location in the output image.
The moving window is shown for two pixel locations marked # and @.
Removal of Artifacts 175
(a) 3x3 square (b) 4-connected (c) 3x1 bar (d) 1x3 bar
(8-connected) or integer
distance 1
(e) 5x5 square (f) cross (g) 5x1 bar (h) 1x5 bar
FIGURE 3.14
A few commonly used moving-window neighborhood shapes for image lter-
ing. The result computed by using the pixels within a window is applied to
the pixel at the location of its center, shown shaded, in the output image.
176 Biomedical Image Analysis
3.3.1 The mean
lter
If we were to select the pixels in a small neighborhood around the pixel to be
processed, the following assumptions may be made:
the image component is relatively constant that is, the image is quasis-
tationary and
the only variations in the neighborhood are due to noise.
Further assumptions regarding the noise process that are typically made are
that it is additive, is independent of the image, and has zero mean. Then, if we
were to take the mean of the pixels in the neighborhood, the result will tend
toward the true pixel value in the original, uncorrupted image. In essence,
a spatial collection of pixels around the pixel being processed is substituted
for an ensemble of pixels at the same location from multiple frames in the
averaging process that is, the image-generating process is assumed to be
ergodic.
It is common to use a 3 3 or 8-connected neighborhood as in Figure 3.14
(a) for mean ltering. Then, the output of the lter g(m n) is given by
X
1 X
1
g(m n) = 19 f (m + n + ) (3.37)
=;1 =;1
where f (m n) is the input image. The summation above may be expanded
as
g(m n) = 91
f (m ; 1 n ; 1) +f (m ; 1 n) +f (m ; 1 n + 1)
+f (m n ; 1) +f (m n) +f (m n + 1) (3.38)
+f (m + 1 n ; 1) +f (m + 1 n) +f (m + 1 n + 1) ] :
The same result is also achieved via convolution of the image f (m n) with
the 3 3 array or mask 2 3
1 4 11 11 11 5 : (3.39)
9 1 1 1
Note that the operation above cannot be directly applied at the edges of
the input image array it is common to extend the input array with a border
of zero-valued pixels to permit ltering of the pixels at the edges. One may
also elect not to process the pixels at the edges, or to replace them with the
average of the available neighbors.
The mean lter can suppress Gaussian and uniformly distributed noise ef-
fectively in relatively homogeneous areas of an image. However, the operation
leads to blurring at the edges of the objects in the image, and also to the loss
of ne details and texture. Regardless, mean ltering is commonly employed
Removal of Artifacts 177
to remove noise and smooth images. The blurring of edges may be prevented
to some extent by not applying the mean lter if the dierence between the
pixel being processed and the mean of its neighbors is greater than a certain
threshold this condition, however, makes the lter nonlinear.
150
(a) original
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
150
(b) noisy
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
150
(c) mean
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
150
(d) median
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
index
FIGURE 3.15
(a) A 1D test signal with a rectangular pulse. (b) Degraded signal with
impulse or shot noise. Result of ltering the degraded signal using (c) the
mean and (d) the median operation with a sliding window of N = 3 samples.
Removal of Artifacts 179
150
(a) original
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
150
(b) noisy
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
150
(c) mean
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
150
(d) median
100
50
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
index
FIGURE 3.16
(a) A 1D test signal with two rectangular pulses. (b) Degraded signal with uni-
formly distributed noise. Result of ltering the degraded signal using (c) the
mean, and (d) the median operation with a sliding window of N = 5 samples.
180 Biomedical Image Analysis
Figure 3.17 shows the original test image \Shapes", the test image degraded
by the addition of Gaussian-distributed random noise with = 0 and 2 =
0:01 (normalized), and the results of ltering the noisy image with the 3 3
and 5 5 mean and median lters. The RMS errors of the noisy and ltered
images with respect to the test image are given in the gure caption. All of
the lters except the 3 3 median have led to an increase in the RMS error.
The blurring eect of the mean lter is readily seen in the results. Close
observation of the result of 3 3 median ltering Figure 3.17 (d)] shows that
the lter has resulted in distortion of the shapes, in particular, clipping of
the corners of the objects. The 5 5 median lter has led to the complete
removal of small objects see Figure 3.17 (f). Observe that the results of the
3 3 mean and 5 5 median lters have similar RMS error values however,
the blurring eect in the former case, and the distortion of shape information
as well as the loss of small objects in the latter case need to be considered
carefully.
Figure 3.18 gives a similar set of images with the noise being Poisson dis-
tributed. A comparable set with speckle noise is shown in Figure 3.19. Al-
though the lters have reduced the noise to some extent, the distortions in-
troduced have led to increased RMS errors for all of the results.
Figures 3.20 and 3.21 show two cases with salt-and-pepper noise, the density
of pixels aected by noise being 0:05 and 0:1, respectively. The 3 3 median
lter has given good results in both cases with the lowest RMS error and the
least distortion. The 5 5 median lter has led to signicant shape distortion
and the loss of a few small features.
Figure 3.22 shows the normalized histograms of the Shapes test image and
its degraded versions with Gaussian, Poisson, and speckle noise. It is evident
that the signal-dependent Poisson noise and speckle noise have aected the
histogram in a dierent manner compared to the signal-independent Gaussian
noise.
Figure 3.23 shows the results of ltering the Peppers test image aected
by Gaussian noise. Although the RMS errors of the ltered images are low
compared to that of the noisy image, the lters have introduced a mottled
appearance and ne texture in the smooth regions of the original image. Fig-
ure 3.24 shows the case with Poisson noise, where the 55 lters have provided
visually good results, regardless of the RMS errors.
All of the lters have performed reasonably well in the presence of speckle
noise, as illustrated in Figure 3.25, in terms of the reduction of RMS error.
However, the visual quality of the images is poor.
Figures 3.26 and 3.27 show that the median lter has provided good results
in ltering salt-and-pepper noise. Although the RMS values of the results
of the mean lters are lower than those of the noisy images, visual inspec-
tion of the results indicates the undesirable eects of blurring and mottled
appearance.
The RMS error (or the MSE) is commonly used to compare the results of
various image processing operations however, the examples presented above
Removal of Artifacts 181
illustrate the limitations in using the RMS error in comparing images with
dierent types of artifact and distortion. In some of the results shown, an im-
age with a higher RMS error may present better visual quality than another
image with a lower RMS error. Visual inspection and analysis of the results
by qualied users or experts in the domain of application is important. It is
also important to test the proposed methods with phantoms or test images
that demonstrate the characteristics that are relevant to the specic applica-
tion being considered. Assessment of the advantages provided by the ltered
results in further processing and analysis, such as the eects on diagnostic
accuracy in the case of medical images, is another approach to evaluate the
results of ltering.
3.3.3 Order-statistic
lters
The class of order-statistic lters 193] is large, and includes several nonlinear
lters that are useful in ltering dierent types of noise in images. The rst
step in order-statistic ltering is to rank-order, from the minimum to the
maximum, the pixel values in an appropriate neighborhood of the pixel being
processed. The ith entry in the list is the output of the ith order-statistic
lter. A few order-statistic lters of particular interest are the following:
Min lter: the rst entry in the rank-ordered list, useful in removing
high-valued impulse noise (isolated bright spots or \salt" noise).
Max lter: the last entry in the rank-ordered list, useful in removing
low-valued impulse noise (isolated dark spots or \pepper" noise).
Min/Max lter: sequential application of the Min and Max lters, useful
in removing salt-and-pepper noise.
Median lter: the entry in the middle of the list. The median lter is
the most popular and commonly used lter among the order-statistic
lters see Section 3.3.2 for detailed discussion and illustration of the
median lter.
-trimmed mean lter: the mean of a reduced list where the rst and
the last of the list is rejected, with 0 < 0:5. Outliers, that is
pixels with values very dierent from the rest of the pixels in the list,
are rejected by the trimming process. A value close to 0:5 for rejects
the entire list except the median or a few values close to it, and the
output is close to or equal to that of the median lter. The mean of
the trimmed list provides a compromise between the generic mean and
median lters.
L-lters: a weighted combination of all of the elements in the rank-
ordered list. The use of appropriate weights can provide outputs equal
182 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.17
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise added, with
= 0 2 = 0:01 (normalized), RMS error = 19:56. Result of ltering the
noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 22:62 (d) 3 3 median,
RMS error = 15:40 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 28:08 (f) 5 5 median,
RMS error = 22:35.
Removal of Artifacts 183
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.18
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with Poisson noise, RMS error = 5:00.
Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error =
19:40 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error = 13:19 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error =
25:85 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error = 23:35.
184 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.19
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with speckle noise, with = 0 2 =
0:04 (normalized), RMS error = 12:28. Result of ltering the noisy image in
(b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 20:30 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error
= 15:66 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 26:32 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error =
24:56.
Removal of Artifacts 185
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.20
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with salt-and-pepper noise added,
with density = 0:05, RMS error = 40:99. Result of ltering the noisy image
in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 24:85 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error
= 14:59 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 28:24 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error =
23:14.
186 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.21
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with salt-and-pepper noise added,
with density = 0:1, RMS error = 56:32. Result of ltering the noisy image in
(b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 29:87 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error
= 15:42 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 31:25 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error =
23:32.
Removal of Artifacts 187
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.22
Normalized histograms of (a) the Shapes test image and of the image with
(b) Gaussian noise, (c) Poisson noise, and (d) speckle noise. The rst his-
togram has been scaled to display the range of probability (0 0:05) only the
remaining histograms have been scaled to display the range (0 0:015) only
in order to show the important details. The probability values of gray lev-
els 0 and 255 have been clipped in some of the histograms. Each histogram
represents the gray-level range of 0 255].
188 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.23
(a) \Peppers": a 512 512 test image. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise added,
with = 0 2 = 0:01 (normalized), RMS error = 25:07. Result of
ltering the
noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 13:62 (d) 3 3 median,
RMS error = 13:44 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 16:17 (f) 5 5 median, RMS
error = 13:47.
Removal of Artifacts 189
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.24
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with Poisson noise, RMS error =
10:94. Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS
error = 11:22 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error = 8:56 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error
= 15:36 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error = 10:83.
190 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.25
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with speckle noise, with = 0 2 =
0:04 (normalized), RMS error = 26:08. Result of ltering the noisy image in
(b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 13:68 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error
= 15:73 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 16:01 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error =
14:66.
Removal of Artifacts 191
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.26
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with salt-and-pepper noise added,
with density = 0:05, RMS error = 30:64. Result of ltering the noisy image
in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 15:17 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error
= 7:38 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 16:96 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error =
10:41.
192 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.27
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with salt-and-pepper noise added,
with density = 0:1, RMS error = 43:74. Result of ltering the noisy image in
(b) using: (c) 3 3 mean, RMS error = 18:98 (d) 3 3 median, RMS error
= 8:62 (e) 5 5 mean, RMS error = 18:71 (f) 5 5 median, RMS error =
11:11.
Removal of Artifacts 193
to those of all of the lters listed above, and facilitate the design of
several order-statistic-based nonlinear lters.
Order-statistic lters represent a family of nonlinear lters that have gained
popularity in image processing due to their characteristics of removing several
types of noise without blurring edges, and due to their simple implementation.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 3.28
(a) The magnitude transfer function of an ideal lowpass lter. The cuto
frequency D0 is 0:4 times the maximum frequency (that is, 0:2 times the
sampling frequency). (b) The magnitude transfer function of a Butterworth
lowpass lter, with normalized cuto D0 = 0:4 and order n = 2. The (u v) =
(0 0) point is at the center. The gain is proportional to the brightness (white
represents 1:0 and black represents 0:0.)
196 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.8
Filter gain
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
−0.5 −0.4 −0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Normalized frequency
FIGURE 3.29
Proles of the magnitude transfer functions of an ideal lowpass lter (solid
line) and a Butterworth lowpass lter (dashed line), with normalized cuto
D0 = 0:4 and order n = 2.
Removal of Artifacts 197
fact that the inverse Fourier transform of the circular ideal lter dened in
Equation 3.41 is a Bessel function (see Figure 2.31 for the circle { Bessel
Fourier transform pair). Multiplication of the Fourier transform of the image
with the circle function is equivalent to convolution of the image in the space
domain with the corresponding Bessel function. The ripples or lobes of the
Bessel function lead to echoes of strong edges, an artifact known as the ringing
artifact. The example illustrates that the \ideal" lter's abrupt transition
from the passband to the stopband is, after all, not a desirable characteristic.
The Butterworth lowpass
lter: Prevention of the ringing artifacts
encountered with the ideal lowpass lter requires that the transition from the
passband to the stopband (and vice-versa in the case of highpass lters) be
smooth. The Butterworth lter is a commonly used frequency-domain lter
due to its simplicity of design and the property of a maximally at magnitude
response in the passband. For a 1D Butterworth lowpass lter of order n, the
rst 2n ; 1 derivatives of the squared magnitude response are zero at ! = 0,
where ! represents the radian frequency. The Butterworth lter response is
monotonic in the passband as well as in the stopband. (See Rangayyan 31]
for details and illustrations of 1D the Butterworth lter.)
In 2D, the Butterworth lowpass lter is dened as 8]
1
H (u v) = p h ) i2n (3.42)
1 + ( 2 ; 1) D(Duv
0
p
where n is the order of the lter, D(u v) = u2 + v2 , and D0 is the half-
power 2D radial cuto frequency the scale factor in the denominator leads to
the gain of the lter being p12 at D(u v) = D0 ]. The lter's transition from
the passband to the stopband becomes steeper as the order n is increased.
Figures 3.28 (b) and 3.29 illustrate the magnitude (gain) of the Butterworth
lowpass lter with the normalized cuto D0 = 0:4 and order n = 2.
Example: The result of ltering the noisy Shapes image in Figure 3.30 (b)
with the Butterworth lowpass lter as above is shown in Figure 3.30 (d). It
is seen that noise has been suppressed in the ltered image without causing
the ringing artifact however, the lter has caused some blurring of the edges
of the objects in the image.
Example: Figure 3.32 (a) shows a test image of a clock. The image was
contaminated by a signicant amount of noise, suspected to be due to poor
shielding of the video-signal cable between the camera and the digitizing frame
buer. Part (b) of the gure shows the log-magnitude spectrum of the image.
The sinc components due to the horizontal and vertical lines in the image are
readily seen on the axes of the spectrum. Radial concentrations of energy are
also seen in the spectrum, related to the directional (or oriented) components
of the image. Part (c) of the gure shows the result of application of the
ideal lowpass lter with cuto D0 = 0:4. The strong ringing artifacts caused
by the lter render the image useless, although some noise reduction has
198 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.30
(a) The Shapes test image. (b) The test image with Gaussian noise having
a normalized variance of 0:01 added. (c) The result of ideal lowpass ltering
the noisy image, with normalized cuto D0 = 0:4 see Figure 3.28. (d) The
result of ltering with a Butterworth lowpass lter having D0 = 0:4 and order
n = 2. See also Figure 3.31.
Removal of Artifacts 199
(a) (b)
FIGURE 3.31
The centered (folded) Fourier log-magnitude spectrum of (a) the Shapes im-
ages in Figure 3.30 (a) and (b) the noisy Shapes image in Figure 3.30 (b).
been achieved. Part (d) of the gure shows the result of ltering using a
Butterworth lowpass lter, with D0 = 0:4 and order n = 2. The noise in the
image has been suppressed well without causing any artifact (except blurring
or smoothing).
See Section 3.9 for illustration of the application of frequency-domain low-
pass lters to an image obtained with a confocal microscope.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.32
(a) Clock test image (101 101 pixels). (b) Log-magnitude spectrum of the
image. (c) Result of the ideal lowpass lter, D0 = 0:4. (d) Result of the
Butterworth lowpass lter, with D0 = 0:4 and order n = 2.
Removal of Artifacts 201
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.33
(a) Part of an image of a mammographic phantom with grid artifact see
also Figure 3.34. (b) Log-magnitude Fourier spectrum of the image in (a).
(c) Filtered image. (d) Filtered version of the spectrum in (b). Phantom
image courtesy of L.J. Hahn, Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
202 Biomedical Image Analysis
Figure 3.34 (a) shows a corresponding image of the phantom acquired with
the bucky moving in the recommended manner the image is free of the grid-
line artifact. Figure 3.34 (b) shows the corresponding log-magnitude Fourier
spectrum, which is also free of the artifactual components that are seen in the
spectrum in Figure 3.33 (b). It should be noted that removing the artifactual
components as indicated by the spectrum in Figure 3.33 (d) leads to the loss
of the frequency-domain components of the desired image in the same regions,
which could lead to some distortion in the ltered image.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 3.34
(a) Part of an image of a mammographic phantom with no grid artifact com-
pare with the image in Figure 3.33 (a). (b) Log-magnitude Fourier spectrum
of the image in (a). Phantom image courtesy of L.J. Hahn, Foothills Hospital,
Calgary.
2 4
3 7
1 2 3 4 2
4 5 6 5 5
7 8 9 6 8
7 3
8 6
9 9
FIGURE 3.35
(a) Matrix representation of a 3 3 image. Vector representation of the image
in (a) by: (b) row ordering and (c) column ordering or stacking.
where f m = f (m 1) f (m 2) f (m N )]T is the mth row vector. Column
ordering may also be performed Figure 3.35 illustrates the conversion of an
image to a vector in schematic form.
Using the vector notation, we get the energy of the image as
X
MN
E = fT f = f f = f 2 (i) (3.46)
i=1
which is the inner product or dot product of the vector with itself. The energy
of the image may also be computed using the outer product as
E = Tr f f T ] (3.47)
where Tr ] represents the trace (the sum of the main diagonal elements) of
the resulting MN MN matrix.
If the image elements are considered to be random variables, images may
be treated as samples of stochastic processes, and characterized by their sta-
tistical properties as follows:
6
= l: (3.53)
t0
The functions are said to be orthonormal if C = 1.
The coecients ak may be obtained as
Z t +T
ak = C1 f (t) 'k (t) dt
0
(3.54)
t0
k = 0 1 2 1 that is, ak is the projection of f (t) on to 'k (t).
The set of functions f'k (t)g is said to be complete or closed if there exists
no square-integrable function f (t) for which
Z t +T
f (t) 'k (t) dt = 0 8k
0
(3.55)
t0
that is, the function f (t) is orthogonal to all of the members of the set f'k (t)g.
If such a function exists, it should be a member of the set in order for the set
to be closed or complete.
When the set f'k (t)g is complete, it is said to be an orthogonal basis,
and may be used for accurate representation of signals. For example, the
Fourier series representation of periodic signals is based upon the use of an
innite set of sine and cosine functions of frequencies that are integral multi-
ples (harmonics) of the fundamental frequency of the given signal. In order for
such a transformation to exist, the functions f (t) and 'k (t) must be square-
integrable.
With a 1D sampled signal expressed as an N 1 vector or column matrix,
we may represent transforms using an N N matrix L as
F = L f and f = LT F (3.56)
with L LT = I. The matrix operations are equivalent to
;1
NX ;1
NX
F (k) = L(k n) f (n) and f (n) = L (n k) F (k) (3.57)
n=0 k=0
for k or n going 0 1 N ; 1 respectively. For the DFT,; we need to dene
the matrix L with its elements given by L(k n) = exp ;j 2N kn . With
Removal of Artifacts 207
;
the notation WN = exp ;j 2N , we have L(k n) = WNkn . Then, the following
representations of the DFT in array or series format and matrix multiplication
format are equivalent:
NX;1
F (k) = f (n) exp ;j 2N kn k = 0 1 N ; 1: (3.58)
n=0
2 F (0) 3
66 F (1) 77
66 F (2) 77
66 .. 77 =
64 . 7
F (N ; 2) 5
F (N ; 1)
2W0 W0 WN 0
WN0 WN0 32 3
N N
1(N ;2) 1(N ;1)
f (0)
66 WN0 WN11 WN 12
WN WN 7
7 6 f (1) 77
66 WN0 WN21 WN22 WN2(N ;2) WN2(N ;1) 77 666 f (2) 77
66 . . . . . . 77 6 . 77 :
66 .. .. .. . . .. .. 77 66 .. 7
4 WN0 WN(N ;2)1 WN(N ;2)2 WN(N ;2)(N ;2) WN(N ;2)(N ;1) 5 4 f (N ; 2) 5
WN0 WN(N ;1)1 WN(N ;1)2 WN(N ;1)(N ;2) WN(N ;1)(N ;1) f (N ; 1)
(3.59)
However, because of the periodicity of the exponential function, we have
WNm(N ;1) = WN;m = WNN ;m for any integer m note that WNN = 1. Thus, for
a given N , there are only N distinct functions WNk , k = 0 1 2 N ; 1. Fig-
ure 3.36 illustrates the vectors (or phasors) representing W8k , k = 0 1 2 7.
This property of the exponential function reduces the W matrix to one with
only N distinct values, leading to the relationship
2 F (0) 3 2 WN0 WN0 WN0 WN0 WN0 3 2 f (0) 3
66 F (1) 77 66 WN0 WN1 WN2 WN(N ;2) WN(N ;1) 77 66 f (1) 77
66 F (2) 77 66 WN0 WN2 WN4 WN(N ;4) WN(N ;2) 77 66 f (2) 77
66 ... 7 = 66 . . . . . . 77 6 . 7:
64 F (N ; 2) 775 66 .. 0 .. (N ;2) .. (N ;4) . . .. 4 .. 2 77 664 ..f (N ; 2) 775
4 WN WN WN WN WN 5
F (N ; 1) WN0 WN(N ;1) WN(N ;2) WN2 WN1 f (N ; 1)
(3.60)
For N = 8, we get
2 F (0) 3 2 W 0 W 0 W 0 W 0 W 0 W 0 W 0 W 0 3 2 f (0) 3
66 F (1) 77 66 W 0 W 1 W 2 W 3 W 4 W 5 W 6 W 7 77 66 f (1) 77
66 F (2) 77 66 W 0 W 2 W 4 W 6 W 0 W 2 W 4 W 6 77 66 f (2) 77
66 F (3) 77 = 66 W 0 W 3 W 6 W 1 W 4 W 7 W 2 W 5 77 66 f (3) 77 (3.61)
66 F (4) 77 66 W 0 W 4 W 0 W 4 W 0 W 4 W 0 W 4 77 66 f (4) 77
66 F (5) 77 66 W 0 W 5 W 2 W 7 W 4 W 1 W 6 W 3 77 66 f (5) 77
4 F (6) 5 4 W 0 W 6 W 4 W 2 W 0 W 6 W 4 W 2 5 4 f (6) 5
F (7) W 0 W 7 W 6 W 5 W 4 W 3 W 2 W 1 f (7)
208 Biomedical Image Analysis
where the subscript N = 8 to W has been suppressed in order to show the
structure of the matrix clearly.
6
W imaginary
8
5 7
W W
8 8
4 0
W W real
8 8
3 1
W W
8 8
2
W
8
FIGURE 3.36
Vectors (or phasors) representing ; the
N = 8 roots of unity, or W8k , k =
0 1 2 7, where W8 = exp ;j 8 . Based upon a similar gure by Hall 9].
2
;1 NX
NX ;1
f (m n) = N1 F (k l) (m n k l) (3.63)
k=0 l=0
where '(m n k l) is the forward transform kernel and (m n k l) is the
inverse transform kernel. The kernel is said to be separable if '(m n k l) =
'1 (m k) '2 (n l), and symmetric in addition if '1 and '2 are functionally
equal. Then, the 2D transform may be computed in two simpler steps of 1D
Removal of Artifacts 209
row transforms followed by 1D column transforms (or vice versa) as follows:
;1
NX
F1 (m l) = f (m n) '(n l) m l = 0 1 N ; 1 (3.64)
n=0
;1
NX
F (k l) = F1 (m l) '(m k) k l = 0 1 N ; 1: (3.65)
m=0
In the case of the 2D Fourier transform, we have the kernel
2
'(m n k l) = exp ;j (mk + nl)
N
2 2
= exp ;j N mk exp ;j N nl : (3.66)
The kernel is separable and symmetric. The 2D DFT may be expressed as
F = W f W (3.67)
where f is the
N N image
matrix, and W is a symmetric N N matrix with
WNkm = exp ;j 2N km however, due to the periodicity of the WN function,
the matrix W has only N distinct values, as shown in Equations 3.60 and
3.61.
The DFT matrix W is symmetric, with its rows and columns being mutually
orthogonal:
NX;1 N k = l
mk ml
WN WN = 0 k 6= l : (3.68)
m=0
Then, W;1 = N1 W , which leads to
f = 1 W F W :
N2 (3.69)
A number of transforms such as the Fourier, Walsh{Hadamard, and discrete
cosine may be expressed as F = A f A, with the matrix A constructed using
the relevant basis functions. The transform matrices may be decomposed into
products of matrices with fewer nonzero elements, reducing redundancy and
computational requirements. The DFT matrix may be factored into a product
of 2 ln N sparse and diagonal matrices, leading to the FFT algorithm 9, 194].
The Walsh{Hadamard Transform: The orthonormal, complete set of
1D Walsh functions dened over the interval 0 x 1 is given by the iterative
relationships 8, 9]
8 ' n (2x)
>
< ] 2
x < 21
'n (x) = > ' n ] (2x ; 1) x 21 n odd (3.70)
: ; ' n ] (2x ; 1) x 21 n even
2
2
210 Biomedical Image Analysis
where n2 is the integral part of n2 ,
'0 (x) = 1 (3.71)
and 8 1 x< 1
< 2
'1 (x) = : (3.72)
;1 x 12 :
The nth function 'n is generated by compression of the function ' n2 ] into
its rst half and ' n2 ] into its second half. Figure 3.37 shows the rst eight
Walsh functions sampled with 100 samples over the interval (0 1), obtained
using the denition in Equation 3.70. (Note: The ordering of the Walsh
functions varies with the formulation of the functions.)
n=0
n=1
n=2
n=3
n=4
n=5
n=6
+1
n=7
−1
x=0 x=1
FIGURE 3.37
The rst eight Walsh functions sampled with 100 samples over the interval
(0 1).
FIGURE 3.38
The rst 64 Walsh{Hadamard 2D basis functions. Black represents a pixel
value of ;1, and white +1. Each function was computed as an 8 8 matrix.
n: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
f(n): 4 1 3 1
h(n): 3 2 1 0
k: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
f(k): 4 1 3 1 0 0 0 0
h(0-k): 0 1 2 3
h(1-k): 0 1 2 3
h(2-k): 0 1 2 3
h(3-k): 0 1 2 3
h(4-k): 0 1 2 3
h(5-k): 0 1 2 3
h(6-k): 0 1 2 3
g(n): 12 11 15 10 5 1 0 0
n: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
FIGURE 3.40
Illustration of the linear convolution of two 1D signals. Observe the reversal
of h(n), shown as h(0 ; k), and the shifting of the reversed signal, shown as
h(1 ; k), h(2 ; k), etc.
218 Biomedical Image Analysis
pixel of the input image. Figure 3.41 illustrates linear 2D convolution per-
formed as described above. Note that, in the case of a PSF having symmetry
about both of its axes, the reversal step has no eect and is not required.
Matrix representation of 2D convolution is described in Section 3.5.6.
1 4 7 7 4 1 9 6 3
2 5 8 8 5 2 8 5 2
3 6 9 9 6 3 7 4 1
1 6 16 19 12 13 17 23 18 7
1 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 5 22 46 36 33 45 55 60 57 22
9 6 3
3 1 1 2 3 2 4 2 10 35 72 67 62 72 90 94 95 39
8 5 2
1 2 2 1 2 1 3 2 14 44 90 79 93 96 93 90 86 41
7 4 1
3 2 3 4 1 2 0 1 10 38 88 105 107 98 63 62 51 26
3 12 24 27 15 12 6 12 6 9
(d) (e)
FIGURE 3.41
Illustration of the linear convolution of two 2D functions. Observe the reversal
of the PSF in parts (a) { (c), and the shifting of the reversed PSF as a mask
placed on the image to be ltered, in part (d). The shifted mask is shown for
two pixel locations. Observe that the result needs to be written in a dierent
array. The result, of size 10 10 and shown in part (e), has two rows and two
columns more than the input image (of size 8 8).
220 Biomedical Image Analysis
;
of W;1 is N1 exp ;j 2N nk . We then have W W;1 = W;1 W = I, where I
is the N N identity matrix. The columns of W are linearly independent.]
The eigenvalue relationship may be written as
W = C W (3.95)
where all the terms are N N matrices, and is a diagonal matrix whose
elements are equal to
(k), k = 0 1 N ; 1. The expression above may be
modied to
C = WW;1 : (3.96)
Thus, we see that a circulant matrix is diagonalized by the DFT operator W.
Returning to the relationships of periodic convolution, because h is circu-
lant, we have
h = W Dh W;1 (3.97)
where Dh is a diagonal matrix (corresponding to in the preceding discus-
sion). The elements of Dh are given by multiplying the rst row of the matrix
h in Equation 3.85 with W nk , n = 0 1 2 N ; 1 as in Equation 3.91:
H (k) = h(0) + h(N ; 1)W k + h(N ; 2)W 2k + + h(1)W (N ;1)k (3.98)
which is a DFT relationship that is, H (k) is the DFT of h(n). Note: The
series of h above represents h(N ; n), n = 0 1 2 N ; 1 which is equal
to h(;n) due to periodicity. The series of W values represents exp(+j 2N nk),
n = 0 1 2 N ; 1. The expression may be converted to the usual forward
DFT form by substituting ;n = m.]
It follows that the result of the convolution operation is given by
g = W Dh W;1 f : (3.99)
The interpretation of the matrix relationships above is as follows: W;1 f is
the (forward) DFT of f (with a scale factor of N1 ). The multiplication of this
expression by Dh corresponds to point-by-point transform-domain ltering
with the DFT of h. The multiplication by W corresponds to the inverse
DFT (except for the scale factor N1 ). We now have the following equivalent
relationships that represent convolution:
g(n) = h(n) f (n)
G(k) = H (k) F (k)
g=hf
g = W Dh W ;1 f : (3.100)
Note: The representation of the Fourier transform operator above is dier-
ent from that in Equation 3.67.
Removal of Artifacts 221
3.5.6 Block-circulant matrix representation of a 2D
lter
In the preceding sections, we saw how a 1D LSI lter may be represented by
the matrix relationship g = h f , with the special case of periodic convolution
being represented as above with h being a circulant matrix. Now, let us
consider the matrix representation of 2D lters. Let f represent an original
image or the input image to a 2D lter, and let g represent the corresponding
ltered image, with the 2D arrays having been converted to vectors or column
matrices by row ordering (see Figure 3.35). Let us assume that all of the
images have been padded with zeros and extended to M N arrays, with M
and N being large such that circular convolution yields a result equivalent to
that of linear convolution. The images may be considered to be periodic with
the period M N . The matrices f and g are of size MN 1.
The 2D periodic convolution expression in array form is given by
;1 NX
MX ;1
g(m n) = f ( ) h( m ; ] mod M n ; ] mod N ) (3.101)
=0 =0
for m = 0 1 2 M ; 1 and n = 0 1 2 N ; 1. The result is also periodic
with the period M N .
In order for the expression g = h f to represent 2D convolution, we need
to construct the matrix h as follows 8, 9]:
2h hM ;1 hM ;2 h2 h1 3
66 h01 h0 hM ;1 h3 h2 77
h = 666 h. 2 h1 h0 h4 h3 77
.. .. 75 (3.102)
4 .. . . . .. ..
. . . .
hM ;1 hM ;2 hM ;3 h1 h0
where the submatrices are given by
2 h(m 0) h(m N ; 1) h(m N ; 2) h(m 1) 3
66 h(m 1) h(m 0) h(m N ; 1) h(m 2) 77
hm = 666 h. (m 2) h(m 1)
.
h(m 0)
.
h(m 3) 77 : (3.103)
75
4 .. .. .. . . . ..
.
h(m N ; 1) h(m N ; 2) h(m N ; 3) h(m 0)
The matrix h is of size MN MN . Each N N submatrix hm is a circulant
matrix. The submatrices of h are subscripted in a circular manner: h is
known as a block-circulant matrix.
Example: Let us consider ltering the image f (m n) given by
20 0 0 0 03
66 0 1 2 3 0 77
f (m n) = 66 0 6 5 4 0 77 :
40 7 8 9 05
0 0 0 0 0
222 Biomedical Image Analysis
Although the image has nonzero pixels over only a 3 3 region, it has been
padded with zeros to the extent of a 5 5 array to allow for the result of con-
volution to be larger without wrap-around errors due to periodic convolution.
The 3 3 subtracting Laplacian operator, also extended to a 5 5 array,
is given by 20 0 0 0 03
66 0 0 1 0 0 77
h(m n) = 66 0 1 ;4 1 0 77 :
40 0 1 0 05
0 0 0 0 0
However, this form of the operator has its origin at the center of the array,
whereas the origin of the image f (m n) as above would be at the top-left
corner in matrix-indexing order. Therefore, we need to rewrite h(m n) as
follows: 2 ;4 1 0 0 1 3
66 1 0 0 0 0 77
h(m n) = 66 0 0 0 0 0 77 :
4 0 0 0 0 05
1 0 0 0 0
Observe that due to the assumption of periodicity, the values of h(m n) cor-
responding to negative indices now appear on the opposite ends of the matrix.
The matrices corresponding to the relationship g = h f are given in Fig-
ure 3.42. The resulting image g(m n) in array format is
20 1 2 3 0
3
66 1 4 1 ;6 3 77
g(m n) = 66 6 ;11 0 1 4 77 :
4 7 ;14 ;11 ;24 95
0 7 8 9 0
Diagonalization of a block-circulant matrix: Let us dene the
j 2follow-
ing functions that are
related
to the 2D DFT 8]: wM (k m ) = exp M km
and wN (l n) = exp j 2N ln . Let us dene a matrix W of size MN MN ,
containing M 2 partitions each of size N N . The (k m)th partition of W is
W(k m) = wM (k m) WN (3.104)
for k m = 0 1 2 M ; 1, where WN is an N N matrix with its elements
given by wN (l n) for l n = 0 1 2 N ; 1.
Removal of Artifacts
2
;4 1 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 1 0 0 0 032 0 3 2
0 3
6
6 1 ;4 1 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 076 0 7 6 1 77
6
6 0 1 ;4 1 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 777 666 0 7
7
7
6
6
6 2 77
6
6 0 0 1 ;4 1 j 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 1 076 0 7 6 3 77
6
6 1 0 0 1 ;4 j 0 0 0 0 1 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 1 777 666 0 7
7 6
6 0 7
6
6 ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; 7 6
; 77 66 ;; 77 66 ;; 777
6
6 1 0 0 0 0 j ;4 1 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 076 0 7 6 1 7
6
6 0 1 0 0 0 j 1 ;4 1 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 777 666 1 777 666 4 777
6
6 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 1 ;4 1 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 076 2 7 6 1 7
6
6 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 1 ;4 1 j 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 777 666 3 777 666 ;6 777
6
6 0 0 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 1 ;4 j 0 0 0 0 1 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 076 0 7 6 3 7
6
6 ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ; 777 666 ;; 777 666 ;; 777
6
6 0 0 0 0 0 j 1 0 0 0 0 j ;4 1 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 076 0 7 6 6 7
6
6 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 j 1 ;4 1 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 777 666 6 777 666 ;11 777
6
6 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 1 ;4 1 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 77 66 5 77 = 66 0 77 :
6
6
0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 1 ;4 1 j 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 0 0 076 4 7 6 1 7
6
6
0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 1 ;4 j 0 0 0 0 1 j 0 0 0 0 0 777 666 0 777 666 4 777
6
6
; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ; 77 66 ;; 77 66 ;; 77
6
6
0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 1 0 0 0 0 j ;4 1 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 0 076 0 7 6 7 7
6
6
0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 j 1 ;4 1 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 777 666 7 777 666 ;14 777
6
6
0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 1 ;4 1 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 7 6 8 7 6 ;11 7
6 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 1 ;4 1 j 0 0 0 1 0 77 66 9 77 66 ;24 77
6
6 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 1 ;4 j 0 0 0 0 1 77 66 0 77 66 9 77
6
6 ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ; 777 666 ;; 777 666 ;; 777
6
6 1 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 1 0 0 0 0 j ;4 1 0 0 176 0 7 6 0 7
6
6 0 1 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 1 0 0 0 j 1 ;4 1 0 0 77 66 0 77 66 7 77
6
6 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 1 0 0 j 0 1 ;4 1 0 77 66 0 77 66 8 77
4 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 1 0 j 0 0 1 ;4 154 0 5 4 9 5
0 0 0 0 1 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 0 1 j 1 0 0 1 ;4 0 0
FIGURE 3.42
Matrices and vectors related to the application of the Laplacian operator to an image.
223
224 Biomedical Image Analysis
Now, W;1 is also a matrix of size MN MN , with M 2 partitions of size
N N . The (k m)th partition of W;1 is
W;1 (k m) = 1 w;1 (k m)W;1
M M N (3.105)
where wM ;1 (k m) = exp
;j 2M km, for k m = 0 1 2 M ; 1. The matrix
WN;1 has its elements given by N1 wN;1 (l n) where wN;1 (l n) = exp ;j 2N ln
for l n = 0 1 2 N ;1. The denitions above lead to WW;1 = W;1 W =
I, where I is the MN MN identity matrix. If h is a block-circulant matrix,
it can be shown 196] that h = W Dh W;1 or Dh = W;1 h W, where Dh is
a diagonal matrix whose elements are related to the DFT of h(m n), that is,
to H (k l).
Similar to the 1D case expressed by the relationships in Equation 3.100, we
have the following equivalent relationships that represent 2D convolution:
g(m n) = h(m n) f (m n)
G(k l) = H (k l) F (k l)
g=hf
g = W Dh W;1 f : (3.106)
Note: Considering an N N image f (m n), the N N DFT matrix W
2 2
above is dierent from the N N DFT matrix W in Equation 3.67. The image
matrix f in Equation 3.67 is of size N N , whereas the image is represented
as an N 2 1 vector in Equation 3.106.
Dierentiation of functions of matrices: The major advantage of ex-
pressing images and image processing operations in matrix form as above is
that mathematical procedures for optimization and estimation may be applied
with ease. For example, we have the following derivatives: given the vectors
f and g and a symmetric matrix W,
@ T @ T
@ f (f g) = @ f (g f ) = g (3.107)
and
@ (f T Wf ) = 2 Wf : (3.108)
@f
Several derivations in Sections 3.6.1 and 3.7.1, as well as in Chapters 10 and
11, demonstrate how optimization of lters may be performed using matrix
representation of images and image processing operations as above.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.43
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian-distributed noise added,
with = 0 normalized 2 = 0:01 RMS error = 19:56. (c) Log-magnitude
spectrum of the image in (b). (d) Gain of the Wiener lter in the frequency
domain, that is, the magnitude transfer function. Result of ltering the noisy
image in (b) using: (e) the Wiener lter as in (d), RMS error = 52:89 (f) the
local LMMSE lter with a 5 5 window, RMS error = 13:78.
230 Biomedical Image Analysis
This model is equivalent to that in Equation 3.109, but has been shown in
the 2D array form with the indices (m n) to indicate the pixel location in
order to demonstrate the locally adaptive nature of the lter to be derived.
The original image f is considered to be a realization of a nonstationary
random eld, characterized by spatially varying moments (mean, standard
deviation, etc.). The noise process may be either signal-independent or
signal-dependent, and could be nonstationary as well.
The LMMSE approach computes at every spatial location (m n) an estimate
f~(m n) of the original image value f (m n) by applying a linear operator to
the available corrupted image value g(m n). Scalars a(m n) and b(m n) are
sought such that the value f~(m n) computed as
f~(m n) = a(m n) g(m n) + b(m n) (3.124)
minimizes the local MSE
h i2
"2 (m n) = f~(m n) ; f (m n) (3.125)
where the bar above the expression indicates some form of averaging (statisti-
cal expectation, ensemble averaging, or spatial averaging). We have the local
MSE in expanded form as
"2 (m n) = a(m n) g(m n) + b(m n) ; f (m n)]2 : (3.126)
2
The values a(m n) and b(m n) that minimize " (m n) are computed by
taking the partial derivatives of "2 (m n) with respect to a(m n) and b(m n),
setting them to zero, and solving the resulting equation, as follows:
@"2 (m n) = 2fa(m n) g(m n) + b(m n) ; f (m n)g = 0 (3.127)
@b(m n)
which leads to
b(m n) = f (m n) ; a(m n) g(m n): (3.128)
Now, replacing b(m n) in Equation 3.126 with its value given by Equa-
tion 3.128, we get the local MSE as
"2 (m n) = a(m n)fg(m n) ; g(m n)g ; ff (m n) ; f (m n)g 2 : (3.129)
Dierentiating this expression with respect to a(m n) and setting the result
to zero, we get:
a(m n)fg(m n) ; g(m n)g ; ff (m n) ; f (m n)g fg(m n) ; g(m n)g = 0:
(3.130)
Now, we may allow g(m n) ; g (m n)]2 = g2 (m n) to represent the local
variance of g, and g(m n) ; g(m n)] f (m n) ; f (m n)] = fg (m n), the
local covariance between f and g. This leads to
a(m n) = fg2 ((m
m n) :
n) (3.131)
g
Removal of Artifacts 231
With a(m n) given by Equation 3.131 and b(m n) given by Equation 3.128,
the LMMSE estimate formula in Equation 3.124 becomes
f~(m n) = f (m n) + fg2 ((m
m n) g(m n) ; g(m n)]:
n) (3.132)
g
Because the true statistics of both the original and the corrupted image
as well as their joint statistics are usually unknown in a practical situation,
Lee proposed to estimate them locally in a spatial neighborhood of the pixel
(m n) being processed, leading to the local LMMSE (that is, the LLMMSE)
estimate. Using a rectangular window of size (2P + 1) (2Q + 1) centered
at the pixel (m n) being processed, we get local estimates of the mean and
variance of the noisy image g as
X
P X
Q
g (m n) = (2P + 1)1(2Q + 1) g(m + p n + q) (3.133)
p=;P q=;Q
and
X
P X
Q
g2 (m n) = (2P + 1)1(2Q + 1) g(m + p n + q) ; g (m n)]2 :
p=;P q=;Q
(3.134)
It should be noted that the parameters are expressed as functions of space
and are space-variant entities. The LLMMSE estimate is then approximated
by the following pixel-by-pixel operation:
" #
2 (m n) ; 2 (m n)
f~(m n) = g (m n) + g 2 (m n) g(m n) ; g (m n)]: (3.135)
g
(For other derivations of the LLMMSE lter, also known as the Wiener lter,
see Lim 199].)
Comparing Equation 3.132 with 3.135, observe that f (m n) is approxi-
mated by g (m n), and that fg (m n) is estimated by the dierence between
the local variance of the degraded image and that of the noise process. The
LLMMSE lter is rendered spatially adaptive | and nonlinear | by the
space-variant estimation of the statistical parameters used.
In deriving Equation 3.135 from Equation 3.132, the assumption that the
noise is uncorrelated with the image is taken into account. The variance of
the noise 2 (m n) is constant over the whole image if the noise is assumed to
be signal-independent, but varies if the noise is signal-dependent in the latter
case 2 (m n) should be estimated locally with a knowledge of the type of the
noise that corrupts the image. Lee's lter was originally derived to deal with
signal-independent additive noise and signal-dependent multiplicative noise,
but may be adapted to other types of signal-dependent noise, such as Poisson
or lm-grain noise 201].
232 Biomedical Image Analysis
The interpretation of Equation 3.135 is as follows: if the processing window
overlaps a uniform region in which any variation is due mostly to the noise, the
second term will be small. Thus, the LLMMSE estimate is equal to the local
mean of the noisy image the noise is thereby reduced. If, on the contrary,
there is an edge in the processing window, the variance of the noisy image is
larger than the variance of the noise. The LLMMSE estimate in this case is
closer to the actual noisy value g(m n), and the edge does not get blurred.
The lter provides good noise attenuation over uniform areas, but poor noise
ltering near edges.
Aghdasi et al. 202] proposed detailed models of degradation of mammo-
grams, including Poisson noise, lm-grain noise, and blurring by several com-
ponents along the chain of image acquisition systems. They applied the local
LMMSE lter as above to remove noise, and compared its performance with
a Bayesian lter. The parametric Wiener lter (see Section 10.1.3) was then
applied to deblur the noise-free mammograms.
Matrix representation: A matrix or vectorial version of Equation 3.132
may also be derived as follows: The LMMSE estimate is expressed as
~f = Ag + b: (3.136)
The MSE between the estimate and the unknown original image may be
expressed as h n oi
"2 = E Tr (f ; ~f )(f ; ~f )T : (3.137)
Substituting the expression in Equation 3.136, we get
"2 = E Tr (f ; Ag ; b)(f ; Ag ; b)T
= E Tr f f T ; f gT AT ; f bT ; Agf T + AggT AT + AgbT
; bf T + bgT AT + bbT :
(3.138)
Dierentiating the expression above with respect to b and setting it to zero,
we get
E Tr f;f + Ag ; f + Ag + 2bg] = 0 (3.139)
solving which we get
b = f ; Ag (3.140)
where indicates some form of averaging.
Using the expression derived for b above, we get the following:
f ; ~f = f ; Ag ; b
= f ; Ag ; f + Ag
= (f ; f ) ; A(g ; g )
= f1 ; Ag1 (3.141)
Removal of Artifacts 233
where f1 = f ; f and g1 = g ; g for the sake of compactness in further
derivation. Now, the MSE becomes
"2 = E Tr (f1 ; Ag1 )(f1 ; Ag1 )T
= E Tr f1 f1T ; f1 g1T AT ; Ag1 f1T + Ag1 g1T AT : (3.142)
Dierentiating the expression above with respect to A and setting it to zero,
we get
E ;2f1 g1T + 2Ag1 g1T = 0: (3.143)
T
T
Now, E g1 g
1 = E (g ; g )(g ; g ) = g , the covariance matrix of g.
Similarly, E f1 g1T = fg , the cross-covariance matrix of f and g. Thus, we
get A = fg ;g 1 . Finally, we obtain the LMMSE estimate as
~f = g + fg ;g 1 (g ; g ): (3.144)
This expression reduces to Equation 3.135 when local statistics are substituted
for the expectation-based statistical parameters.
Due to the similarity of the optimization criterion used, the LLMMSE lter
as above is also referred to as the Wiener lter in some publications 199, 203].
The use of local statistics overcomes the limitations of the Wiener lter due to
the assumption of stationarity the procedure also removes the need to invert
large matrices. Nonlinearity, if it is of concern, is the price paid in order to
gain these advantages.
Example: Figure 3.43 (f) shows the result of application of the LLMMSE
lter as in Equation 3.135, using a 5 5 window, to the noisy test image in
part (b) of the same gure. The noise in the uniform background regions in
the image, as well as within the geometric objects with uniform gray levels,
has been suppressed well by the lter. However, the noise on and around the
edges of the objects has not been removed. Although the lter has led to a
reduction in the RMS error, the leftover noise around edges has led to a poor
appearance of the result.
Re
ned LLMMSE
lter: In a rened version of the LLMMSE lter 204],
if the local signal variance g2 (m n) is high, it is assumed that the processing
window is overlapping an edge. With the further assumption that the edge is
straight, which is reasonable for small windows, the direction of the edge is
computed using a gradient operator with eight possible directions for the edge.
According to the direction of the edge detected, the processing window is split
into two sub-areas, each of which is assumed to be uniform see Figure 3.44.
Then, the statistics computed within the sub-area that holds the pixel being
processed are used in Equation 3.135 to estimate the output for the current
pixel. This step reduces the noise present in the neighborhood of edges without
blurring the edges. Over uniform areas where g2 (m n) has reasonably small
values, the statistics are computed over the whole area overlapped by the
processing window.
Results of application of the rened LLMMSE lter are presented in Sec-
tion 3.8.
234 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 3.44
Splitting of a 77 neighborhood for adaptive ltering based upon the direction
of a local edge detected within the neighborhood in a rened version of the
local LMMSE lter 204]. One of the eight cases shown is selected according
to the direction of the gradient within the 7 7 neighborhood. Pixels in the
partition containing the pixel being processed are used to compute the local
statistics and the output of the lter. Based upon a similar gure in J.S. Lee,
\Rened ltering of image noise using local statistics", Computer Graphics
and Image Processing, 15:380{389, 1981.
By iterating the lter, noise is substantially reduced even in areas near edges.
In order to avoid the blurring of edges, a dierent (smaller) processing window
size may be chosen for each iteration. Jiang and Sawchuk 179] demonstrated
Removal of Artifacts 235
the use of the NURW lter to improve the quality of images degraded with
additive, multiplicative, and Poisson noise.
Results of application of the NURW lter are presented in Section 3.8.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.45
(a) \Shapes3": a 128 128 test image with various geometrical objects placed at
random. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise added, RMS error = 14:24. Result of
ltering the image in (b) with: (c) the 2D LMS
lter, RMS error = 15:40 (d) two
passes of the ARW-LMS
lter, RMS error = 7:07 (e) the ANNS
lter, RMS error =
6:68 (f) two passes of the ANNS
lter, RMS error = 5:10. Reproduced with permis-
sion from R.B. Paranjape, T.F. Rabie, and R.M. Rangayyan, \Image restoration by
adaptive-neighborhood noise subtraction", Applied Optics, 33(14):2861{2869, 1994.
c Optical Society of America.
Removal of Artifacts 239
Implementation of the ARW-LMS
lter: In implementing Equa-
tion 3.154, it is necessary to make the assumption that the image pixel values
in the immediate neighborhood of a pixel (m n) are samples from the same
ensemble as that of f (m n) that is, a globally nonstationary process can be
considered to be locally stationary and ergodic over a small region. Thus, if we
can accurately determine the size of a neighborhood in which the image values
have the same statistical parameters, the sample statistics can approximate
the a posteriori parameters needed for the estimate in Equation 3.154.
The view taken by Song and Pearlman 207, 208, 209] was to identify the size
of a stationary square region for each pixel in the image, and to calculate the
local statistics of the image within that region. The size of the window changes
according to a measure of signal activity an eective algorithm was proposed
to determine the window size that improved the performance of various point
estimators. The eect of the improved performance was greater smoothing
in relatively at (signal-free) regions in the image and less smoothing across
edges.
In deriving the local sample statistics denoted as ~g (m n) and ~f2 (m n),
Mahesh et al. 210] made use of ARWs of length Lr in the row direction and
Lc in the column direction. Because the window is required to be centered
about the pixel being processed, the ARW lengths need to be odd. Except
near the borders of the image, the ARW dimensions can be expressed as
Lr = 2Nr + 1 and Lc = 2Nc + 1, where Nr and Nc are the dimensions of the
one-sided neighborhood. Within this window, the local mean and variance
are calculated as
+X
Nr +X
Nc
~g (m n) = L 1L g(m + p n + q) (3.155)
r c p=;Nr q=;Nc
and
+X
Nr +X
Nc
~g2 (m n) = L 1L g(m + p n + q) ; ~g (m n)]2 : (3.156)
r c p=;Nr q=;Nc
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.46
Illustration of the growth of an adaptive neighborhood (left to right and top
to bottom). The neighborhood being grown is shown in a light shade of gray.
The black pixels within the neighborhood have the same gray level as that of
the seed from where the process was commenced: they are called redundant
seed pixels. The last gure shows a region in a darker shade of gray that
surrounds the foreground region: this is known as the adaptive background
region. Figure courtesy of W.M. Morrow 215].
244 Biomedical Image Analysis
is prevented because such neighborhoods are not expected to transgress the
boundaries of the objects or features in the image. They also showed that the
method could be iterated to improve the results.
Example: Figures 3.47 (a) and (b) show a test image and its noisy version
with additive Gaussian-distributed noise. Parts (c) and (d) of the gure show
the results of ltering the noisy image using the 3 3 mean and median,
respectively. The blurring of edges caused by the mean, and the distortion
of shape caused by the median, are clearly seen in the results. Parts (e)
and (f) of the gure illustrate the results of the adaptive-neighborhood mean
and median lters, respectively. Both methods have been equally eective
in removing the noise without causing any blurring or distortion of edges.
However, in other experiments with high levels of noise, and when the process
was iterated, it was observed that the adaptive-neighborhood lters could
lead to the loss of objects that have small gray-level dierences with respect
to their surroundings. The adaptive neighborhood, in such a case, could mix
an object and its surroundings if the threshold is low compared to the noise
level and the contrast of the object.
Adaptive-neighborhood noise subtraction (ANNS): Paranjape et
al. 212] proposed the ANNS method to remove additive, signal-independent
noise. The algorithm estimates the noise value at the seed pixel g(m n) by
using an adaptive neighborhood, and then subtracts the noise value from the
seed pixel to obtain an estimate of the original undegraded value f~(m n).
The strategy used in deriving the ANNS lter is based upon the same prin-
ciples as those of the ARW-LMS algorithm the image process f is assumed
to be a zero-mean process of variance f2 that is observed in the presence of
additive white Gaussian noise, resulting in the image g. The noise process
is assumed to have zero mean and variance of 2 , and assumed to be uncor-
related to f . An estimate of the additive noise at the pixel (m n) is obtained
from the corresponding adaptive neighborhood grown in the corrupted image
g as
~(m n) = g(m n) (3.165)
where is a scale factor which depends on the characteristics of the adaptive
neighborhood grown. Then, the estimate of f (m n) is
f~(m n) = g(m n) ; ~(m n) (3.166)
which reduces to
f~(m n) = g(m n) (3.167)
where = 1 ; .
As described in Section 3.7.4 on the ARW-LMS algorithm, if the images
used are of nonzero mean, the estimate of Equation 3.167 can be used by rst
subtracting the mean of each image from both sides of the equation. Then,
the estimate may be expressed as
f~(m n) = g (m n) + (1 ; ) g(m n) ; g (m n)] (3.168)
Removal of Artifacts 245
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.47
(a) \Shapes2": a 128 128 test image with various geometrical objects placed
at random. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise added, RMS error = 8:24.
Result of ltering the image in (b) with: (c) the 3 3 mean, RMS error =
9:24 (d) the 3 3 median, RMS error = 6:02 (e) the adaptive-neighborhood
mean, RMS error = 3:16 (f) the adaptive-neighborhood median, RMS error
= 4:01. Images courtesy of R.B. Paranjape.
246 Biomedical Image Analysis
where g is the a posteriori mean of the degraded image g(m n), which is
also equal to the a priori mean f of the original image f (m n) for zero-mean
noise.
The problem now is to nd the factor , which is based upon the criterion
that the estimated noise variance 2~ be equal to the original noise variance
2 . The solution is obtained as follows:
2 = E ~2 ]
h i
= E f g(m n) ; g ]g2
= 2 g2
= 2 (f2 + 2 ): (3.169)
The noise estimation factor is then given by
s
2
= 2 + 2 : (3.170)
f
Thus, the estimate of Equation 3.168 becomes
s !
2 (m n)
f~(m n) = g (m n) + 1 ; 2 (m n) + 2 (m n) g(m n) ; g (m n) ]:
f
(3.171)
The indices (m n) have been introduced in the expression above to em-
phasize the point that the statistical parameters are computed for every pixel
(using the corresponding adaptive neighborhood). The estimate f~(m n) given
by Equation 3.171 may be considered to be an approximation of the original
image f (m n) if we are able to obtain accurate values for the statistical pa-
rameters g (m n) and f2 (m n).
Implementation of the ANNS
lter: In implementing Equation 3.171,
we need to derive the local (sample) statistics from the adaptive neighborhood
grown at every seed pixel location (m n) in the degraded image. This could
be achieved in a manner similar to that described in Section 3.7.4 for the
ARW-LMS lter.
Paranjape et al. 212] dened the tolerance used for growing adaptive neigh-
borhoods in an adaptive manner, depending upon the signal activity in the
region and the features surrounding it, as follows. A limit of Q pixels is set
for the adaptive neighborhoods. An initial region is rst grown with the tol-
erance set to the full dynamic range of the input image (that is, T = 256).
This results in a square region of size Q pixels being formed. Using the fore-
ground pixels in the adaptive neighborhood, a measure of the uncorrupted
signal activity in the adaptive neighborhood of the seed pixel is given by the
local signal variance ~f2 . The signal variance in the adaptive neighborhood is
then compared with the noise variance 2 , and if ~f2 > 22 , it is assumed that
Removal of Artifacts 247
the adaptive neighborhood has identied a region with signicant structural
characteristics such as an edge, or other distinct objects. This is contrary to
the desired characteristics of an adaptive neighborhood. An adaptive neigh-
borhood is to be formed such that it includes relatively uniform structures
(or background) in the original image, so that the primary source of variation
in the adaptive neighborhood is the additive noise. Therefore, the gray-level
tolerance used to dene the adaptive neighborhood is modied to T = 2~f ,
with the notion that the signal standard deviation ~f be used to dene the
new adaptive neighborhood. The adaptive neighborhood is grown again using
the new tolerance. Because the tolerance has been reduced, the new adaptive
neighborhood developed, presumably, will not contain edges or structural fea-
tures in the image, but will rather grow up to but not include such features.
Using this approach to dene the adaptive neighborhoods, the statistics of
the adaptive neighborhoods are used in Equation 3.171 to estimate the un-
corrupted image at each pixel location. In the situation that the foreground
has only one pixel, the adaptive neighborhood is enlarged to include the back-
ground layer of pixels (of size 3 3) this approach is particularly useful in
the presence of impulse noise or outliers in the corrupted image.
The advantage of the ANNS method lies in the fact that, in at or slowly
varying regions, the signal variance will be small compared to 22 , and the
adaptive neighborhood foreground will grow to the maximum foreground
bound of Q pixels (but of arbitrary shape depending upon the local image
features). On the other hand, in busy regions where the signal variance is
high compared to 22 , the tolerance will be reduced and the foreground will
grow up to any edge present but not across the edge. This results in the
removal of noise up to the edges present in the image, which the ARW-LMS
lter fails to do see Figure 3.45 (d)].
Example: Figure 3.45 (e) shows the result of application of the ANNS
method to the noisy test image in part (b) of the same gure. The maxi-
mum adaptive neighborhood size Q was set to 25 pixels this allows for direct
comparison of the performance of the ANNS method against the ARW-LMS
method. However, the ANNS algorithm uses a variable-shape window (adap-
tive neighborhood) in order to compute the ltered image, whereas the ARW-
LMS method is restricted to rectangular windows. Unlike the ARW-LMS
lter window, the size of the adaptive neighborhood is not compromised near
the edges in the image rather, its shape changes according to the contextual
details present in the image. This aspect of the ANNS method allows for
better estimation of the noise near edges, and thus permits greater noise sup-
pression in such areas. Both the ANNS and ARW-LMS methods appear to
have reduced the noise equally well in relatively uniform regions of the image
however, the ARW-LMS lter output contains residual noise around the edges
of the objects in the image.
Repeated (iterative) application is a powerful and useful attribute of the
ARW-LMS and ANNS methods. Figure 3.45 (f) shows the result of two-pass
ANNS ltering of the test image in part (b) of the gure. The ARW-LMS
248 Biomedical Image Analysis
output in part (d) of the gure was obtained using two iterations. For both of
the algorithms, updated values of the noise variance are required for the second
and subsequent passes through the lter. The second-pass noise variance was
estimated by calculating the variance of the output image after the rst pass,
and subtracting from it an estimate of the variance of the noise-free image
f (m n). The resulting images see Figures 3.45 (d) and (f)] show signicant
improvement over the results from a single pass through the algorithms. The
major artifact after the rst pass through the algorithms was the retention of
noise around distinct edges in the image. With both algorithms, such layers
of noise were greatly reduced after the second application the ANNS method
performed better than the ARW-LMS method after the second pass. A second
artifact that was observed was the patchy appearance of the originally uniform
background regions in the result after the rst pass this artifact too was
reduced after the second pass with both algorithms.
Extension to
lter signal-dependent noise: Rangayyan et al. 201]
used the same basic region-growing procedure as above, because most types
of noise (Poisson, lm-grain, and speckle) can be modeled as additive noise,
with modications with respect to the fact that the noise is signal-dependent.
The rst modication is to let the threshold T vary across the image according
to the local statistics of noise, which depend upon the average brightness of
the corrupted area. It is obvious that the performance of the lter strongly
depends upon the threshold value. A small T would lead to small regions
over which the noise statistics cannot be reliably estimated, whereas a large T
would lead to regions that may grow over edges present in the image, with the
result that stationarity in such regions is no longer guaranteed. A reasonable
value for T , large enough to allow inclusion in the region of representative
samples of noise and small enough to prevent the region from growing over
edges, is the local standard deviation of noise:
T = (m n): (3.172)
Before growing the region for the pixel located at the coordinates (m n),
one has to estimate (m n). A coarse estimation would consist of taking
the actual value of the seed g(m n) for the statistical expectation values
in Equation 3.27 for Poisson noise, Equation 3.29 for lm-grain noise, and
Equation 3.31 for speckle noise. However, when the noise level is high, more
accurate estimation is required, because the corrupted seed value may dier
signicantly from its average (expected value).
Estimation of seed and threshold values: Rangayyan et al. 201] de-
ned an initial estimate for the seed pixel value g(m n), dened as the -
trimmed mean value gTM (m n) or the median, computed within a 3 3
window. This step was found to be useful in order to prevent the use of a
pixel signicantly altered by noise (an outlier) for region growing. Then, the
noise standard deviation was computed using the initial estimate in place of
E fg(m n)g in Equation 3.27, 3.29, or 3.31, depending upon the type of noise.
Removal of Artifacts 249
The threshold T was dened as in Equation 3.172, and the seed's neighbors
were inspected for inclusion in the region according to Equation 3.164, in
which the actual seed value g(m n) was replaced by the initial estimate. Be-
cause the initial estimate provides only a basic estimate of the seed value, the
estimated noise standard deviation and, consequently, the threshold value T
might dier from their true or optimal values. To overcome this drawback, T
may be continuously updated while the region is being grown, its value being
computed as before, but by using the mean of the pixels already included in
the region, for the expectation values in Equation 3.27, 3.29, or 3.31.
Revising the region to reduce bias: While the region is being grown,
pixels that are inspected but do not meet the inclusion criterion are marked as
background pixels. After the region-growing procedure stops, there are three
types of pixels: region (or foreground) pixels, background pixels, and pixels
that were not inspected as they are not connected to any pixel in the region.
The area that holds the foreground pixels is 8-connected, although not neces-
sarily compact, whereas the background is composed of several disconnected
areas, many of which may be, at most, two pixels-wide, and could be lying
within the foreground area as well. As a region is desired to be compact, that
is, it does not contain holes with one or two pixels, some of the background
pixels could be further checked for inclusion in the region. One can interpret
such pixels as belonging to the same region as the seed, that, due to noise, did
not meet the inclusion criterion in the rst step of region growing. Ignoring
such pixels would result in biased estimation of the signal or noise statistics.
On the other hand, there would be background pixels that are adjacent to
the external border of the foreground area that should not be included in the
region because they, most likely, belong to other objects. For these reasons,
Rangayyan et al. 201] derived a criterion for further inclusion of selected
background pixels in the region: they included in the region all background
pixels whose 8-connected neighbors are all either in the foreground or in the
background. If only one of a background pixel's neighbor was not inspected in
the initial region-growing step, then that pixel was exempted from inclusion
in the foreground. This criterion was found to work eciently in many trials
with dierent types of noise. Figure 3.48 presents a owchart of the adaptive
region-growing procedure.
The criterion for the inclusion of background pixels in the region described
above does not take into account the values of the background pixels, and is
based only on their spatial relationships. It was implicitly assumed that all
objects in the image are at least three pixels wide in any direction. However,
for images that may contain small objects or regions (as in ne texture), the
values of the inspected background pixels should also be taken into account.
It was suggested that, in such a case, if a background pixel fullls the spatial
inclusion criterion, it should be added to the region only if its value does
not dier signicantly from the average value of the pixels in the region (for
example, the absolute dierence between the inspected background pixel value
250 Biomedical Image Analysis
START
Update threshold
Yes No (optional).
Inclusion condition
fulfilled?
All FQ
Yes pixels inspected No
OR FQ size >
limit?
STOP
FIGURE 3.48
Flowchart of the adaptive region-growing procedure. Reproduced with permission
from R.M. Rangayyan, M. Ciuc, and F. Faghih, \Adaptive neighborhood
ltering
of images corrupted by signal-dependent noise", Applied Optics, 37(20):4477{4487,
1998.
c Optical Society of America.
Removal of Artifacts 251
and the average value of the pixels in the region is smaller than twice the local
variance of the noise).
Figure 3.49 illustrates a sample result of the adaptive region-growing pro-
cedure. The foreground region size was limited to a predetermined number of
pixels (100) in order to reduce computing time.
Adaptive-region-based LLMMSE
lter: Once an adaptive region is
grown, statistics of the signal, and, according to them, statistics of the noise,
are computed using the pixels in the foreground region obtained. The mean
and variance of the noisy signal are computed using the pixels in the fore-
ground instead of using a rectangular window as commonly done. The vari-
ance of the noise is computed using Equation 3.27, 3.29, or 3.31, depending
upon the type of noise. Finally, the LLMMSE estimate is computed according
to Equation 3.135 and assigned to the seed pixel location in the output image.
The second term in the LLMMSE estimate formula can be interpreted as a
correction term whose contribution to the nal result is important when the
variance of the signal is much larger than the variance of the noise. Over at
regions, where the variations in the image are due mostly to the noise, the
major contribution is given by the rst term that is, the mean of the noisy
signal. This is always the case within a region that is grown to be relatively
uniform, as in adaptive region growing. Hence, the mean of the foreground
pixels by itself represents a good estimator of the noise-free seed pixel this is
advantageous when computational time specications are restrictive.
Example: Figure 3.50 (a) shows a test image of a clock. The image con-
tains a signicant amount of noise, suspected to be due to poor shielding of the
video-signal cable between the camera and the digitizing frame buer. Parts
(b){(f) of the gure show the results of application of the 3 3 mean, 3 3 me-
dian, rened LLMMSE, NURW, and adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE lters
to the test image. The lters have suppressed noise to similar levels how-
ever, the mean lter has caused signicant blurring of the image, the median
has resulted in some shape distortion in the numerals of the clock, and the
rened LLMMSE has led to a patchy appearance. The NURW and adaptive-
neighborhood LLMMSE lters have provided good noise suppression without
causing edge degradation.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.50
(a) Clock test image. Result of ltering the image in (a) using: (b) 3 3
mean (c) 3 3 median (d) the rened LLMMSE lter (e) NURW lter
and (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE lter. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc,
Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica
Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
254 Biomedical Image Analysis
Additive, Gaussian noise: Random noise with Gaussian distribution
having zero mean and standard deviation of 20 was added to the test images.
Figures 3.51 and 3.52 show the original images, their noisy versions, and the
results of a few selected lters. The MSE values of the noisy and ltered
images are listed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2. The application of the LLMMSE lter
using the adaptive-neighborhood paradigm led to the best results with both
images. The NURW and adaptive-neighborhood mean lters also provided
good results with the Peppers image.
Additive, uniformly distributed noise: The Shapes and Peppers test
images were corrupted by adding uniformly distributed noise with = 0 =
20. The results of ltering the noisy images are shown in Figures 3.53 and 3.54.
The MSE values of the images are listed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2. The application
of the LLMMSE lter using the adaptive-neighborhood paradigm led to the
best result with the Shapes image. With the Peppers image, the NURW lter
provided better results than the adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE lter.
Poisson noise: The test images were corrupted by Poisson noise with
= 0:1. The results of ltering the noisy images are shown in Figures 3.55
and 3.56. The MSE values of the images are listed in in Tables 3.1 and
3.2. The application of the LLMMSE lter using the adaptive-neighborhood
paradigm led to the best result with the Shapes image. With the Peppers
image, the NURW lter provided results comparable to those of the adaptive-
neighborhood mean and LLMMSE lters.
Film-grain noise: The test images were corrupted by purely signal-de-
pendent lm-grain noise, with 2 (m n) = 0, = 3:3, and 1 = 1 in the
model given in Equation 3.28. The results of ltering the noisy images are
shown in Figures 3.57 and 3.58. The MSE values of the images are listed
in Tables 3.1 and 3.2. The LLMMSE lter using the adaptive-neighborhood
paradigm provided the best result with the Shapes image. With the Peppers
image, the NURW lter provided results comparable to those of the adaptive-
neighborhood mean and LLMMSE lters.
Speckle noise: Speckle noise was simulated by multiplicative noise, the
noise having exponential distribution given by
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.51
(a) Shapes: a 128 128 test image. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise
added, with = 0 = 20, MSE = 228:75. Result of ltering the noisy
image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 LLMMSE, MSE = 108:39 (d) NURW, MSE
= 132:13 (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean, MSE = 205:04 and (f) adaptive-
neighborhood LLMMSE, MSE = 78:58. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Labo-
ratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica Bu-
cure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
256 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.52
(a) 512 512 Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with Gaussian noise
added, with = 0 = 20, MSE = 389:87. Result of ltering the noisy
image in (b) using: (c) rened LLMMSE, MSE = 69:49 (d) NURW, MSE
= 54:70 (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean, MSE = 55:21 and (f) adaptive-
neighborhood LLMMSE, MSE = 52:32. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Labo-
ratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica Bu-
cure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
TABLE 3.1
Removal of Artifacts
MSE values of the Noisy and Filtered Versions of the 128 128 Shapes Image.
Noise type Noisy 3 Mean 3 Med. 5 Mean 5 Med. 3 LL 5 LL R-LL NURW AN Mean AN Med. AN LL
Gaussian 228.75 469.26 213.71 772.76 518.17 108.39 122.29 124.88 132.13 205.04 197.93 78.58
Uniform 226.20 479.68 236.55 785.62 530.75 113.83 130.51 133.63 144.71 216.52 204.90 93.08
Poisson 241.07 441.04 266.85 743.73 657.35 108.70 130.14 131.47 147.87 215.18 249.41 62.57
Film-grain 275.11 450.92 283.74 746.90 665.78 119.81 147.27 141.64 166.42 236.27 296.81 69.98
Speckle 255.43 445.61 278.76 749.00 665.02 119.15 147.43 138.49 166.75 236.09 286.90 68.01
Salt & pepper 1740.86 642.20 206.63 835.46 557.75 1739.37 1405.09 1739.10 1740.84 213.02 205.72 1686.13
257
258
TABLE 3.2
MSE Values of the Noisy and Filtered Versions of the 512 512 Peppers Image.
Noise type Noisy 3 Mean 3 Med. 5 Mean 5 Med. 3 LL 5 LL R-LL NURW AN Mean AN Med. AN LL
Gaussian 389.87 74.89 93.55 84.88 71.80 86.53 68.19 69.49 54.70 55.21 57.50 52.32
Uniform 391.43 75.09 129.08 85.30 89.10 76.17 63.02 65.25 54.39 62.53 70.98 58.62
Poisson 1132.56 159.29 239.26 116.29 139.50 197.87 121.71 133.82 85.32 88.83 110.10 87.48
Film-grain 1233.43 168.25 245.77 119.59 135.32 212.03 125.25 117.54 88.83 90.54 101.19 89.07
Speckle 988.84 142.62 204.39 110.91 119.98 172.35 105.67 100.76 77.59 81.53 91.45 79.26
Salt & pepper 947.69 144.01 22.93 117.02 38.70 886.03 832.25 821.88 872.37 34.49 29.27 861.01
Discussion: The results presented above indicate that the LLMMSE esti-
mate, especially when computed using the adaptive-neighborhood paradigm
or when applied repeatedly, can successfully remove several types of signal-
independent and signal-dependent noise. The use of local statistics in an
adaptive and nonlinear lter is a powerful approach to remove noise while
retaining the edges in the images with minimal distortion. In the case of salt-
and-pepper noise, the local median is the most appropriate method, due to
the high incidence of outliers that render the use of the local variance inap-
propriate. Although the use of the 3 3 median as the initial estimate for
region growing in the adaptive-neighborhood procedure led to clipping of the
corners in some cases, the application of the LLMMSE lter within the same
context corrected this distortion to some extent.
The large number of examples provided also illustrate the diculty in com-
paring the results provided by several lters. Although the MSE or the RMS
error is commonly used for this purpose and has been provided with several
illustrations in this chapter, it is seen that, in some cases, an image with a
larger MSE may be preferred to one with a lower MSE but with some distor-
tion present. In practical applications, it is important to obtain an assessment
of the results by the end-user or by a specialist in the relevant area of appli-
cation.
260 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.53
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with uniformly distributed noise
added, with = 0 = 20 MSE = 226:20. Result of ltering the noisy image
in (b) using: (c) 3 3 LLMMSE MSE = 113:83. (d) NURW MSE = 144:71.
(e) adaptive-neighborhood mean MSE = 216:52. (f) adaptive-neighborhood
LLMMSE MSE = 93:08. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Anal-
iza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest,
Romania.
Removal of Artifacts 261
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.54
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with uniformly distributed noise
added, with = 0 = 20 MSE = 391:43. Result of ltering the noisy image
in (b) using: (c) rened LLMMSE MSE = 65:25. (d) NURW MSE = 54:39.
(e) adaptive-neighborhood mean MSE = 62:53. (f) adaptive-neighborhood
LLMMSE MSE = 58:62. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Anal-
iza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest,
Romania.
262 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.55
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with Poisson noise, with
= 0:1. MSE
= 241:07. Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 LLMMSE
MSE = 108:70. (d) NURW MSE = 147:87. (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean
MSE = 215:18. (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE MSE = 62:57. Figure
courtesy of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Uni-
versitatea Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
Removal of Artifacts 263
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.56
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with Poisson noise, with
= 0:1.
MSE = 1132:56. Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) re-
ned LLMMSE MSE = 133:82. (d) NURW MSE = 85:32. (e) adaptive-
neighborhood mean MSE = 88:83. (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE
MSE = 87:48. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelu-
crarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
264 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.57
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with lm-grain noise MSE = 275:11.
Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 LLMMSE MSE =
119:81. (d) NURW MSE = 166:42. (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean MSE =
236:27. (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE MSE = 69:98. Figure courtesy
of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea
Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
Removal of Artifacts 265
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.58
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with lm-grain noise MSE = 1233:43.
Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) rened LLMMSE MSE =
117:54. (d) NURW MSE = 88:83. (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean MSE =
90:54. (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE MSE = 89:07. Figure courtesy
of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea
Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
266 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.59
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with speckle noise, MSE = 255:43.
Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 LLMMSE, MSE =
119:15 (d) NURW, MSE = 116:75 (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean, MSE =
236:09 (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE, MSE = 68:01. Figure courtesy
of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea
Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
Removal of Artifacts 267
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.60
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with speckle noise, MSE = 988:84.
Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) rened LLMMSE, MSE =
100:76 (d) NURW, MSE = 77:59 (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean, MSE =
81:54 (f) adaptive-neighborhood LLMMSE, MSE = 79:26. Figure courtesy
of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea
Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
268 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.61
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Image in (a) with salt-and-pepper noise, MSE =
1740:86. Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 3 3 mean,
MSE = 642:20 (d) 3 3 median, MSE = 206:63 (e) adaptive-neighborhood
mean, MSE = 213:02 (f) adaptive-neighborhood median, MSE = 205:72.
Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor,
Universitatea Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
Removal of Artifacts 269
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.62
(a) Peppers test image. (b) Image in (a) with salt-and-pepper noise, MSE =
947:69. Result of ltering the noisy image in (b) using: (c) 5 5 mean, MSE =
117:02 (d) 33 median, MSE = 22:93 (e) adaptive-neighborhood mean, MSE
= 34:49 (f) adaptive-neighborhood median, MSE = 29:27. Figure courtesy
of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea
Politehnica Bucure$sti, Bucharest, Romania.
270 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c)
FIGURE 3.63
(a) The red-dye (cell nuclei) component of the confocal microscope image of
the nucleus pulposus of a dog. (b) The green-dye (actin lament structure)
component. (c) Combination of the images in (a) and (b) into a composite im-
age. The images would be viewed in the colors mentioned on the microscope.
The width of each image corresponds to 145 m. Each image was acquired
by averaging eight frames. Images courtesy of C.J. Hunter, J.R. Matyas,
and N.A. Duncan, McCaig Centre for Joint Injury and Arthritis Research,
University of Calgary.
Removal of Artifacts 273
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.64
(a) A single-frame acquisition of the composite image of the nucleus pulposus
see also Figure 3.63. (b) A second example of a single-frame acquisition as in
(a). (c) The result of averaging four frames including the two in (a) and (b).
(d) The result of averaging eight frames including the two in (a) and (b). The
width of each image corresponds to 145 m. Images courtesy of C.J. Hunter,
J.R. Matyas, and N.A. Duncan, McCaig Centre for Joint Injury and Arthritis
Research, University of Calgary.
274 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.65
Results of ltering the single-frame acquisition of the composite image of the
nucleus pulposus in Figure 3.64 (a) with: (a) the 3 3 mean lter (b) the
3 3 median lter (c) the 5 5 mean lter and (d) the 5 5 median lter.
Removal of Artifacts 275
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.66
Results of ltering the single-frame acquisition of the composite image of
the nucleus pulposus in Figure 3.64 (a) with: (a) the 5 5 LLMMSE lter
(b) the rened LLMMSE lter (c) the NURW lter and (d) the adaptive-
neighborhood LLMMSE lter. Figure courtesy of M. Ciuc, Laboratorul
de Analiza $si Prelucrarea Imaginilor, Universitatea Politehnica Bucure$sti,
Bucharest, Romania.
276 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 3.67
(a) The single-frame acquisition of the composite image of the nucleus pulpo-
sus of a dog, as in Figure 3.64 (a). (b) Fourier log-magnitude spectrum of the
image in (a). Results of ltering the image in (a) with: (c) the ideal lowpass
lter with cuto D0 = 0:4, as in Figure 3.28 (a) and (d) the Butterworth
lowpass lter with cuto D0 = 0:4 and order n = 2, as in Figure 3.28 (b).
Removal of Artifacts 277
minimum and maximum values are mapped to the display range of 0 255].
Also shown is a schematic representation of the section: the circles represent
cross-sections of cylindrical holes in a plexiglass block the diameter of the
entire phantom is 200 mm the two large circles at the extremes of the two
sides are of diameter 39 mm the two inner arrays have circles of diameter
22 17 14 12 9 8 6 and 5 mm. The phantom was lled with a radiopharma-
ceutical such that the cylindrical holes would be lled with the radioactive
material. It is evident that the image quality improves as the photon counting
time is increased. The circles of diameter 9 and 8 mm are distinctly visible
only in image (c). However, the circles of diameter 5 mm are not visible in
any image.
Figure 3.69 shows six nuclear medicine (planar) images of the chest of
a patient in the gated blood-pool mode of imaging the heart using 99m Tc.
Frame (a) displays the left ventricle in its fully relaxed state (at the end of
diastole). The subsequent frames show the left ventricle at various stages of
contraction through one cardiac cycle. Frame (d) shows the left ventricle at
its smallest, being fully contracted in systole. Frame (f) completes the cycle
at a few milliseconds before the end of diastole. Each frame represents the
sum of 16 gated frames acquired over 16 cardiac cycles. The ECG signal was
used to time photon counting such that each frame gets the photon counts
acquired during an interval equal to 161 th of the duration of each heart beat, at
exactly the same phase of the cardiac cycle see Figure 3.70. This procedure
is akin to synchronized averaging, with the dierence that the procedure may
be considered to be integration instead of averaging the net result is the same
except for a scale factor. (Clinical imaging systems do not provide the data
corresponding to the intervals of an individual cardiac cycle, but provide only
the images integrated over 16 or 32 cardiac cycles.)
3.11 Remarks
In this chapter, we have studied several types of artifacts that could arise
in biomedical images, and developed a number of techniques to characterize,
model, and remove them. Starting with simple averaging over multiple image
frames or over small neighborhoods within an image, we have seen how sta-
tistical parameters may be used to lter noise of dierent types. We have also
examined frequency-domain derivation and application of lters. The class of
lters based upon mathematical morphology 8, 192, 220, 221, 222] has not
been dealt with in this book.
The analysis of the results of several lters has demonstrated the truth
behind the adage prevention is better than cure : attempts to remove one type
of artifact could lead to the introduction of others! Regardless, adaptive and
278 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c)
(d)
FIGURE 3.68
128 128 SPECT images of a resolution phantom obtained by counting pho-
tons over: (a) 2 s (b) 15 s and (c) 40 s. (d) Schematic representation of the
section. Images courtesy of L.J. Hahn, Foothills Hospital, Calgary.
Removal of Artifacts 279
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 3.69
(a) 64 64 gated blood-pool images at six phases of the cardiac cycle, obtained
by averaging over 16 cardiac cycles. Images courtesy of L.J. Hahn, Foothills
Hospital, Calgary.
280 Biomedical Image Analysis
R R
P T P T
Q S Q S
FIGURE 3.70
Use of the ECG signal in synchronized averaging or accumulation of photon
counts in gated blood-pool imaging. Two cycles of cardiac activity are shown
by the ECG signal. The ECG waves have the following connotation: P |
atrial contraction QRS | ventricular contraction (systole) T | ventricular
relaxation (diastole). Eight frames representing the gated images are shown
over each cardiac cycle. Counts over the same phase of the cardiac cycle are
added to the same frame over several cardiac cycles.
Removal of Artifacts 281
nonlinear lters have proven themselves to be useful in removing noise without
creating signicant artifacts. Preprocessing of images to remove artifact is an
important step before other methods may be applied for further enhancement
or analysis of the features in the images.
Notwithstanding the models that were used in deriving some of the lters
presented in this chapter, most of the methods applied in practice for noise re-
moval are considered to be ad hoc approaches: methods that have been shown
to work successfully in similar situations encountered by other researchers are
tried to solve the problem on hand. Diculties arise due to the fact that some
of the implicit models and assumptions may not apply well to the image or
noise processes of the current problem. For this reason, it is common to try
several previously established techniques. However, the assessment of the re-
sults of ltering operations and the selection of the most appropriate lter for
a given application remain a challenge. Although several measures of image
quality are available (see Chapter 2), visual assessment of the results by a
specialist in the area of application may remain the most viable approach for
comparative analysis and selection.
In spite of the signi cant advances made in biomedical imaging techniques over
the past few decades, several practical factors often lead to the acquisition
of images with less than the desired levels of contrast, visibility of detail,
or overall quality. In the preceding chapters, we reviewed several practical
limitations, considerations, and trade-os that could lead to poor images.
When the nature of the artifact that led to the poor quality of the image
is known, such as noise as explained in Chapter 3, we may design speci c
methods to remove or reduce the artifact. When the degradation is due to a
blur function, deblurring and restoration techniques, described in Chapter 10,
may be applied to reverse the phenomenon. In some applications of biomedical
imaging, it becomes possible to include additional steps or modi cations in the
imaging procedure to improve image quality, although at additional radiation
dose to the subject in the case of some X-ray imaging procedures, as we shall
see in the sections to follow.
In several situations, the understanding of the exact cause of the loss of
quality is limited or nonexistent, and the investigator is forced to attempt to
improve or enhance the quality of the image on hand using several techniques
applied in an ad hoc manner. In some applications, a nonspeci c improve-
ment in the general appearance of the given image may suce. Researchers
in the eld of image processing have developed a large repertoire of image en-
hancement techniques that have been demonstrated to work well under certain
conditions with certain types of images. Some of the enhancement techniques,
indeed, have an underlying philosophy or hypothesis, as we shall see in the
following sections however, the practical application of the techniques may
encounter diculties due to a mismatch between the applicable conditions or
assumptions and those that relate to the problem on hand.
A few biomedical imaging situations and applications where enhancement
of the feature of interest would be desirable are:
Microcalci cations in mammograms.
Lung nodules in chest X-ray images.
Vascular structure of the brain.
Hair-line fractures in the ribs.
285
286 Biomedical Image Analysis
Some of the features listed above could be dicult to see in the given im-
age due to their small size, subtlety, small dierences in characteristics with
respect to their surrounding structures, or low contrast others could be ren-
dered not readily visible due to superimposed structures in planar images.
Enhancement of the contrast, edges, and general detail visibility in the im-
ages, without causing any distortion or artifacts, would be desirable in the
applications mentioned above.
In this chapter, we shall explore a wide range of image enhancement tech-
niques that can lead to improved contrast or visibility of certain image fea-
tures such as edges or objects of speci c characteristics. In extending the
techniques to other applications, it should be borne in mind that ad hoc
procedures borrowed from other areas may not lead to the best possible or
optimal results. Regardless, if the improvement so gained is substantial and
consistent as judged by the users and experts in the domain of application,
one may have on hand a practically useful technique. (See the July 1972 and
May 1979 issues of the Proceedings of the IEEE for reviews and articles on
digital image processing, including historically signi cant images.)
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.1
(a) Mask image of the head of a patient for DSA. (b) Live image. (c) DSA
image of the cerebral artery network. (d) DSA image after correction of mo-
tion artifacts. Image data courtesy of E.H.W. Meijering and M.A. Viergever,
Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The
Netherlands. Reproduced with permission from E.H.W. Meijering, K.J.
Zuiderveld, and M.A. Viergever, \Image registration for digital subtraction
angiography", International Journal of Computer Vision, 31(2/3): 227 { 246,
1999. c Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Image Enhancement 289
Energy-subtraction imaging as above has been found to be useful in de-
tecting fracture of the ribs, in assessing the presence of calci cation in lung
nodules (which would indicate that they are benign, and hence, need not be
examined further or treated), and in detecting calci ed pleural plaques due
to prolonged exposure to asbestos 226, 227]. The bone-detail image in Fig-
ure 4.3 (a) shows, in enhanced detail, a small calci ed granuloma near the
lower-right corner of the image.
FIGURE 4.2
Full-spectrum PA chest image (CR) of a patient. See also Figure 4.3. Im-
age courtesy of H. MacMahon, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Repro-
duced with permission from H. MacMahon, \Improvement in detection of
pulmonary nodules: Digital image processing and computer-aided diagnosis",
RadioGraphics, 20(4): 1169{1171, 2000. c RSNA.
290
Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.3
(a) Bone-detail image, and (b) soft-tissue detail image obtained by energy subtraction. See also Figure 4.2. Images courtesy
of H. MacMahon, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Reproduced with permission from H. MacMahon, \Improvement in
detection of pulmonary nodules: Digital image processing and computer-aided diagnosis", RadioGraphics, 20(4): 1169{1171,
2000. c RSNA.
Image Enhancement 291
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.4
(a) CT image of a patient with neuroblastoma. The tumor, which appears as a
large circular region on the left-hand side of the image, includes calcied tissues that
appear as bright regions. The HU range of ;200 400] has been linearly mapped
to the display range of 0 255] see also Figures 2.15 and 2.16. Image courtesy of
Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary. (b) The image in (a) thresholded at the level
of 200 HU as in Equation 4.2. Values above 200 HU appear as white, and values
below this threshold appear as black. (c) The image in (a) thresholded at the level
of 200 HU as in Equation 4.3. Values above 200 HU appear at their original level,
and values below this threshold appear as black. (d) The HU range of 0 400] has
been linearly mapped to the display range of 0 255] as in Equation 4.4. Pixels
corresponding to tissues lighter than water appear as black. Pixels greater than
400 HU are saturated at the maximum gray level of 255.
294 Biomedical Image Analysis
stretching to the full range. Note that the range 0 1] in the result needs to
be mapped to the display range available, such as 0 255], which is achieved
by simply multiplying the normalized values by 255. Details (pixels) below
the lower limit f1 will be eliminated (rendered black) and those above the
upper limit f2 will be saturated (rendered white) in the resulting image. The
details within the range f1 f2 ] will be displayed with increased contrast and
latitude, utilizing the full range of display available.
Example: A CT slice image of a patient with neuroblastoma is shown
in Figure 4.4 (a). This image displays the range of ;200 400] HU linearly
mapped to the display range of 0 255] as given by Equation 4.4. The full
range of HU values in the image is ;1000 1042] HU . Part (d) of the gure
shows another display of the same original data, but with mapping of the
range 0 400] HU to 0 255] as given by Equation 4.4. In this result, pixels
corresponding to tissues lighter than water appear as black pixels greater
than 400 HU are saturated at the maximum gray level of 255. Gray-level
thresholding and mapping are commonly used for detailed interpretation of
CT images.
Example: Figure 4.5 (a) shows a part of the chest X-ray image in Fig-
ure 1.11 (b), downsampled to 512 512 pixels. The histogram of the image is
shown in Figure 4.6 (a) observe the large number of pixels with the gray level
zero. Figure 4.6 (b) shows two linear gray-scale transformations (LUTs) that
map the range 0 0:6] (dash-dot line) and 0:2 0:7] (solid line) to the range
0 1] the results of application of the two LUTs to the image in Figure 4.5 (a)
are shown in Figures 4.5 (b) and (c), respectively. The image in Figure 4.5
(b) shows the details in and around the heart with enhanced visibility how-
ever, large portions of the original image have been saturated. The image in
Figure 4.5 (c) provides an improved visualization of a larger range of tissues
than the image in (b) regardless, the details with normalized gray levels less
than 0:2 and greater than 0:7 have been lost.
Example: Figure 4.7 (a) shows an image of a myocyte. Figure 4.8 (a)
shows the normalized histogram of the image. Most of the pixels in the image
have gray levels within the limited range of 50 150] the remainder of the
available range 0 255] is not used eectively.
Figure 4.7 (b) shows the image in (a) after the normalized gray-level range
of 0:2 0:6] was stretched to the full range of 0 1] by the linear transformation
in Equation 4.4. The details within the myocyte are visible with enhanced
clarity in the transformed image. The corresponding histogram in Figure 4.8
(b) shows that the image now occupies the full range of gray scale available
however, several gray levels within the range are unoccupied, as indicated by
the white stripes in the histogram.
(a) (b)
(c)
FIGURE 4.5
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. The histogram of the image is shown in
Figure 4.6 (a). (b) Image in (a) enhanced by linear mapping of the range
0 0:6] to 0 1]. (c) Image in (a) enhanced by linear mapping of the range
0:2 0:7] to 0 1]. See Figure 4.6 (b) for plots of the LUTs.
296 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.025
0.02
Probability of occurrence
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(a)
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
output gray level (normalized)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
input gray level (normalized)
(b)
FIGURE 4.6
(a) Normalized histogram of the chest X-ray image in Figure 4.5 (a) entropy =
7:55 bits. (b) Linear density-windowing transformations that map the ranges
0 0:6] to 0 1] (dash-dot line) and 0:2 0:7] to 0 1] (solid line).
Image Enhancement 297
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.7
(a) Image of a myocyte as acquired originally. (b) Image in (a) enhanced by
linear mapping of the normalized range 0:2 0:6] to 0 1]. See Figure 4.8 for
the histograms of the images.
high contrast however, the image may not utilize the full range of the available
gray scale. On the other hand, a system with a small could result in an
image with wide latitude but poor contrast. Gamma correction is a nonlinear
transformation process by which we may alter the transition from one gray
level to the next, and change the contrast and latitude of gray scale in the
image. The transformation may be expressed as 203]
g(m n) = f (m n)] (4.5)
where f (m n) is the given image with its gray scale normalized to the range
0 1], and g(m n) is the transformed image. (Note: Lindley 229] provides a
dierent de nition as
lnff (m n)g
g(m n) = exp (4.6)
which would be equivalent to the operation given by Equation 4.5 if the gray
levels were not normalized, that is, the gray levels were to remain in a range
such as 0 ; 255.) Gray-scale windowing as in Equation 4.4 could also be
incorporated into Equation 4.5.
Example: Figure 4.9 (a) shows a part of a chest X-ray image. Figure 4.10
illustrates three transforms with = 0:3 1:0 and 2:0. Parts (b) and (c) of
Figure 4.9 show the results of gamma correction with = 0:3 and = 2:0,
respectively. The two results demonstrate enhanced visibility of details in the
darker and lighter gray-scale regions (with reference to the original image).
298 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.09
0.08
0.07
Probability of occurrence
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(a)
0.09
0.08
0.07
Probability of occurrence
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(b)
FIGURE 4.8
Normalized histograms of (a) the image in Figure 4.7 (a), entropy = 4:96 bits
and (b) the image in Figure 4.7 (b), entropy = 4:49 bits.
Image Enhancement 299
(a) (b)
(c)
FIGURE 4.9
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. (b) Image in (a) enhanced with = 0:3.
(c) Image in (a) enhanced with = 2:0. See Figure 4.10 for plots of the
gamma-correction transforms (LUTs).
300 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.9
0.8
0.7
output gray level (normalized)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
input gray level (normalized)
FIGURE 4.10
Gamma-correction transforms with = 0:3 (solid line), = 1:0 (dotted line),
and = 2:0 (dash-dot line).
Image Enhancement 301
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.11
(a) Image of a girl in a snow cave (240 288 pixels). (b) Result of histogram
equalization. (c) Result of linear mapping (windowing) of the range 0 23]
to 0 255]. (d) Result of gamma correction with = 0:3. Image courtesy of
W.M. Morrow 215, 230].
Example: Figure 4.14 (a) shows a part of a chest X-ray image part (b)
of the same gure shows the corresponding histogram-equalized image. Al-
304 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.03
0.025
Probability of occurrence
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(a)
0.03
0.025
Probability of occurrence
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(b)
FIGURE 4.12
Normalized histograms of (a) the image in Figure 4.11 (a), entropy = 6:93 bits
and (b) the image in Figure 4.11 (b), entropy = 5:8 bits. See also Figure 4.13.
Image Enhancement 305
250
200
Output gray level
150
100
50
0
50 100 150 200 250
Input gray level
FIGURE 4.13
Histogram-equalizing transform (LUT) for the image in Figure 4.11 (a) see
Figure 4.12 for the histograms of the original and equalized images.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.14
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. The histogram of the image is shown in
Figure 4.6 (a). (b) Image in (a) enhanced by histogram equalization. The
histogram of the image is shown in Figure 4.15 (a). See Figure 4.15 (b) for a
plot of the LUT.
0.03
0.025
Probability of occurrence
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(a)
250
200
Output gray level
150
100
50
(b)
FIGURE 4.15
(a) Normalized histogram of the histogram-equalized chest X-ray image in
Figure 4.14 (b) entropy = 5:95 bits. (b) The histogram-equalizing transfor-
mation (LUT). See Figure 4.6 (a) for the histogram of the original image.
308 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.16
(a) Image of a myocyte. The histogram of the image is shown in Figure 4.8
(a). (b) Image in (a) enhanced by histogram equalization. The histogram of
the image is shown in Figure 4.17 (a). See Figure 4.17 (b) for a plot of the
LUT.
of the transform above, which we may express as t = T2;1 (q), will map the
gray levels q back to t.
Now, pg (s) and pe (q) are both uniform PDFs, and hence are identical func-
tions. The desired PDF may, therefore, be obtained by applying the transform
T2;1 to s that is, t = T2;1 (s). It is assumed here that T2;1 (s) exists, and is
a single-valued (unique) transform. Based on the above, the procedure for
histogram speci cation is as follows:
1. Specify the desired histogram and derive the equivalent PDF pd (t).
2. Derive the histogram-equalizing transform q = T2 (t).
3. Derive the histogram-equalizing transform s = T1 (r) from the PDF
pf (r) of the given image f .
4. Apply the inverse of the transform T2 to the PDF obtained in the previ-
ous step and obtain t = T2;1 (s). This step may be directly implemented
as t = T2;1 T1 (r)].
5. Apply the transform as above to the given image f the result provides
the desired image d with the speci ed PDF pd (t).
Although the procedure given above can theoretically lead us to an image
having the speci ed histogram, the method faces limitations in practice. Dif-
culty arises in the very rst step of specifying a meaningful histogram or
Image Enhancement 309
0.09
0.08
0.07
Probability of occurrence
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(a)
250
200
Output gray level
150
100
50
0
50 100 150 200 250
Input gray level
(b)
FIGURE 4.17
(a) Normalized histogram of the histogram-equalized myocyte image in Fig-
ure 4.16 (b). (b) The histogram-equalizing transformation (LUT). See Figure
4.8 (a) for the histogram of the original image.
310 Biomedical Image Analysis
PDF several trials may be required before a usable image is obtained. More
importantly, in a practical implementation with discrete gray levels, it will be
dicult, if not impossible, to derive the inverse transform T2;1 . The possi-
ble existence of many-to-one mapping segments in the histogram-equalizing
transform T2 , as we saw in the examples in Section 4.5.1, may render inversion
impossible. Appropriate speci cation of the desired PDF could facilitate the
design of an LUT to approximately represent T2;1 . The LUTs corresponding
to T1 and T2;1 may be combined into one LUT that may be applied to the
given image f to obtain the desired image d in a single step. Note that the
image obtained as above may have a histogram that only approximates the
one speci ed.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 4.18
(a) Image of a girl in a snow cave (240 288 pixels). (b) Result of global histogram
equalization. Results of LAHE with (c) a 11 11 window and (d) a 101 101
window. Results of adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization with (e) growth
tolerance 16 and background width 5 pixels, and (f) growth tolerance 64 and back-
ground width 8 pixels. Reproduced with permission from R.B. Paranjape, W.M.
Morrow, and R.M. Rangayyan, \Adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization for
image enhancement", CVGIP: Graphical Models and Image Processing, 54(3):259{
267, 1992. c Academic Press.
Image Enhancement 313
After obtaining the histogram of the local region, the equalizing transform
is derived, and applied only to the seed pixel from where the process was
started. The same value is applied to all redundant seed pixels in the region
that is, to the pixels that have the same gray-level value as the seed (for which
the same region would have been grown using a simple tolerance).
In an extension of adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization to color
images proposed by Ciuc et al. 235], instead of equalizing the local histogram,
an adaptive histogram stretching operation is applied to the local histograms.
The enhancement operation is applied only to the intensity of the image
undesired changes to the color balance (hue) are prevented by this method.
Example: Figure 4.19 shows a simple test image with square objects of dif-
ferent gray levels, as well as its enhanced versions using global, local-area, and
adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization. The limitations of global his-
togram equalization are apparent in the fact that the brighter, inner square on
the right-hand side of the image remains almost invisible. The result of LAHE
permits improved visualization of the inner squares however, the artifacts due
to block-wise processing are obvious and disturbing. Adaptive-neighborhood
histogram equalization has provided the best result, with enhanced visibility
of the inner squares and without any artifacts.
FIGURE 4.19
(a) A test image and its enhanced versions by: (b) global or full-frame his-
togram equalization, (c) LAHE, and (d) adaptive-neighborhood histogram
equalization. Image courtesy of R.B. Paranjape.
314 Biomedical Image Analysis
Example: The images in Figures 4.18 (e) and (f) show the results of ap-
plication of the adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization method to the
image in part (a) of the gure. The two images were obtained using growth
tolerance values of 16 and 64, and background width of 5 and 8 pixels. The
larger tolerance and larger background width provide for larger areas of the
local context to be included in the local histogram. The result of global his-
togram equalization is shown in part (b) of the gure for comparison. The
results of adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization provide improved vi-
sualization of details and image features both inside and outside the snow
cave. Furthermore, the result with the larger growth tolerance and back-
ground ribbon width is relatively free of the gray-level inversion (black patches
in otherwise white areas) present in the results of LAHE, shown in parts (c)
and (d) of the same gure.
Observe that the net sum of the values in the mask equals unity therefore,
there is no net change in the local average intensity.
The operation above may be generalized to permit the use of other local
window sizes and shapes as
fe (m n) = g(m n) ; g (m n)] + g(m n): (4.15)
This expression indicates that the pixel at the location (m n) in the enhanced
image fe (m n) is given as a weighted combination of the corresponding pixel
g(m n) in the given degraded image, and the dierence between the pixel
and the local mean g (m n). The expression is equivalent to the mask in
Equation 4.14, with = 1 and the local mean being computed as the average
of the eight neighbors of the pixel being processed. Note that because the
mask possesses symmetry about both the x and y axes, reversal has no eect,
and hence is not required, in performing convolution.
The relative weighting between the pixel being processed and the local
dierence could be modi ed depending upon the nature of the image and the
desired eect, leading to various values at the central location in the mask
given in Equation 4.14. Equivalently, dierent values of could be used in
Equation 4.15. Because the local dierence in Equation 4.15 is a measure of
the local gradient, and because gradients are associated with edges, combining
the given image with its local gradient could be expected to lead to edge
enhancement or high-frequency emphasis.
Example: Figure 4.20 (a) shows a test image of a clock part (b) of the
same gure shows the result of unsharp masking using the 3 3 mask in
Equation 4.14. It is evident that the details in the image, such as the numerals,
have been sharpened by the operation. However, it is also seen that the high-
frequency emphasis property of the lter has led to increased noise in the
image.
Figures 4.21 (a), 4.22 (a), 4.23 (a), and 4.24 (a) show the image of a myocyte,
a part of a chest X-ray image, an MR image of a knee, and the Shapes test
image the results of enhancement obtained by the unsharp masking operator
are shown in parts (b) of the same gures. The chest image, in particular, has
been enhanced well by the operation: details of the lungs in the dark region in
the lower-right quadrant of the image are seen better in the enhanced image
than in the original.
An important point to observe from the result of enhancement of the Shapes
test image is that the unsharp masking lter performs edge enhancement. Fur-
316 Biomedical Image Analysis
thermore, strong edges will have a clearly perceptible overshoot and under-
shoot this could be considered to be a form of ringing artifact. The images
in Figure 4.25 illustrate the artifact in an enlarged format. Although the ar-
tifact is not as strongly evident in the other test images, the eect is, indeed,
present. Radiologists often do not prefer edge enhancement, possibly for this
reason.
Note that the unsharp masking operation could lead to negative pixel values
in the enhanced image the user has to decide how to handle this aspect
when displaying the result. The illustrations in this section were prepared
by linearly mapping selected ranges of the results to the display range of
0 255], as stated in the gure captions compression of the larger dynamic
range in the enhanced image to a smaller display range could mute the eect
of enhancement to some extent.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.20
(a) Clock test image. (b) Result of unsharp masking display range ;50 250]
out of ;68 287]. (c) Laplacian (gradient) of the image display range ;50 50]
out of ;354 184]. (d) Result of the subtracting Laplacian display range
;50 250] out of ;184 250].
318 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.21
(a) Image of a myocyte the range from the minimum to the maximum of the
image has been linearly mapped to the display range 0 255]. (b) Result of
unsharp masking display range ;20 180] out of ;47 201]. (c) Laplacian
(gradient) of the image display range ;20 20] out of ;152 130]. (d) Result
of the subtracting Laplacian display range ;50 200] out of ;130 282].
Image Enhancement 319
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.22
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. (b) Result of unsharp masking display range
;30 230] out of ;59 264]. (c) Laplacian (gradient) of the image display
range ;5 5] out of ;134 156]. (d) Result of the subtracting Laplacian
display range ;50 250] out of ;156 328].
320 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.23
(a) MR image of a knee. (b) Result of unsharp masking display range
;40 250] out of ;72 353]. (c) Laplacian (gradient) of the image display
range ;50 50] out of ;302 365]. (d) Result of the subtracting Laplacian
display range ;50 250] out of ;261 549].
Image Enhancement 321
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.24
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Result of unsharp masking display range
;100 250] out of ;130 414]. See also Figure 4.25. (c) Laplacian (gradi-
ent) of the image display range ;50 50] out of ;624 532]. (d) Result of the
subtracting Laplacian display range ;300 300] out of ;532 832].
322 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.25
Enlarged views of a part of (a) the Shapes test image and (b) the result
of unsharp masking see also Figure 4.24 (a) and (b). Observe the edge-
enhancement artifact.
see also Equation 2.82 and the associated discussion. Observe that the net
weight of the coecients in the Laplacian mask is zero therefore, the mask
performs a dierentiation operation that will lead to the loss of intensity
information (that is, the result in an area of any uniform brightness value will
be zero).
Letting the weighting factor
= 1 in Equation 4.19, we get the following
3 3 mask known as the subtracting Laplacian:
2 3
0 ;1 0
4 ;1 5 ;1 5 : (4.21)
0 ;1 0
Because the net weight of the mask is equal to unity, the mask retains the
local average intensity in the image.
Comparing Equations 4.21 and 4.14, we see that they have a similar struc-
ture, the main dierence being in the number of the neighboring pixels used
in computing the local gradient or dierence. For this reason, the unsharp
masking lter is referred to as the generalized (subtracting) Laplacian by some
authors. On the same note, the subtracting Laplacian is also an unsharp mask-
ing lter. For the same reasons as in the case of the unsharp masking lter,
the subtracting Laplacian also leads to edge enhancement or high-frequency
emphasis see also Equation 2.82 and the associated discussion.
Example: Part (c) of Figure 4.20 shows the Laplacian of the test image
in part (a) of the same gure. The Laplacian shows large values (positive or
Image Enhancement 323
negative) at the strong edges that are present in the image. Part (d) of the
gure shows the result of the subtracting Laplacian, which demonstrates the
edge-enhancing property of the lter.
Figures 4.21 (c), 4.22 (c), 4.23 (c), and 4.24 (c) show the Laplacian of the
corresponding images in parts (a) of the same gures. Parts (d) of the g-
ures show the results of the subtracting Laplacian operator. The subtracting
Laplacian has provided higher levels of sharpening than the unsharp masking
lter in most cases the result is also noisier in the case of the Clock test
image.
Observe that the Laplacian does not maintain the intensity information
present in the image, whereas the subtracting Laplacian does maintain this
information the former results in a depiction of the edges (gradient) present
in the image, whereas the latter provides a sharper image. As in the case
of unsharp masking, the subtracting Laplacian could lead to negative pixel
values in the enhanced image the user has to decide how to handle this aspect
when displaying the result. The illustrations in this section were prepared by
linearly mapping selected ranges of the results to the display range of 0 255],
as stated in the gure captions compression of the larger dynamic range
in the enhanced image to a smaller display range could mute the eect of
enhancement to some extent, and also alter the intensity values of parts of
the image.
Similar to the artifact introduced by the unsharp-masking operator as illus-
trated in Figure 4.25, the subtracting Laplacian could also introduce disturb-
ing overshoot and undershoot artifacts around edges see Figure 4.24 (d). This
characteristic of the operator is illustrated using a 1D signal in Figure 4.26.
Such artifacts could aect the quality and acceptance of images enhanced
using the subtracting Laplacian.
FIGURE 4.26
Top to bottom: a rectangular pulse signal smoothed with a Gaussian blur
function the rst derivative of the signal the second derivative of the signal
and the result of a lter equivalent to the subtracting Laplacian. The deriva-
tives are shown with enlarged amplitude scales as compared to the original
and ltered signals.
Image Enhancement 325
consideration. Adaptive lters and operators are often desirable to address
these concerns.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.27
(a) The magnitude transfer function of an ideal highpass lter. The cuto
frequency D0 is 0:2 times the maximum frequency. (b) The magnitude transfer
function of a Butterworth highpass lter, with normalized cuto D0 = 0:2 and
order n = 2. The (u v) = (0 0) point is at the center. Black represents a gain
of zero, and white represents a gain of unity. See also Figure 4.28.
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
Filter gain
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
−0.5 −0.4 −0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Normalized frequency
FIGURE 4.28
Pro les of the magnitude transfer functions of an ideal highpass lter (solid
line), a Butterworth highpass lter (dash-dot line, normalized cuto D0 = 0:2
and order n = 2), and a Butterworth high-emphasis lter (dashed line). See
also Figure 4.27.
328 Biomedical Image Analysis
part (d) of the gure, demonstrates edge enhancement however, the relative
intensities of the objects have been altered.
Figures 4.30 (a), 4.31 (a), 4.32 (a), and 4.33 (a) show the image of a my-
ocyte, a part of a chest X-ray image, an MR image of a knee, and the Shapes
test image, respectively. The results of the ideal highpass lter, Butterworth
highpass lter, and Butterworth high-emphasis lter are shown in parts (b),
(c), and (d), respectively, of the same gures. The distinction between edge
enhancement and edge extraction is demonstrated by the examples.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.29
(a) Clock test image. Result of (b) the ideal highpass lter, display range
;50 50] out of ;79 113] (c) the Butterworth highpass lter, display range
;40 60] out of ;76 115] and (d) the Butterworth high-emphasis lter, dis-
play range ;40 160] out of ;76 204].
330 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.30
(a) Image of a myocyte the range from the minimum to the maximum of the
image has been linearly mapped to the display range 0 255]. Result of (b) the
ideal highpass lter, display range ;20 20] out of ;60 65] (c) the Butter-
worth highpass lter, display range ;20 20] out of ;61 61] and (d) the
Butterworth high-emphasis lter, display range ;20 100] out of ;52 138].
Image Enhancement 331
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.31
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. Result of (b) the ideal highpass lter, display
range ;5 5] out of ;74 91] (c) the Butterworth highpass lter, display
range ;5 5] out of ;78 95] and (d) the Butterworth high-emphasis lter,
display range ;50 130] out of ;78 192].
332 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.32
(a) MR image of a knee. Result of (b) the ideal highpass lter, display range
;50 50] out of ;117 127] (c) the Butterworth highpass lter, display range
;50 50] out of ;126 139] and (d) the Butterworth high-emphasis lter,
display range ;30 150] out of ;78 267].
Image Enhancement 333
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.33
(a) Shapes test image. Result of (b) the ideal highpass lter, display range
;100 100] out of ;154 183] (c) the Butterworth highpass lter, display
range ;100 100] out of ;147 176] and (d) the Butterworth high-emphasis
lter, display range ;100 200] out of ;147 296].
334 Biomedical Image Analysis
also Childers et al. 239] and Rangayyan 31] for details and illustrations of
application to biomedical signals. Because the procedure extends the applica-
tion of linear lters to multiplied and convolved images, it has been referred
to as generalized linear ltering. Furthermore, as the operations can be repre-
sented by algebraically linear transformations between the input and output
vector spaces, they have been called homomorphic systems.
As a simple illustration of a homomorphic system for multiplied images,
consider again the image
g(x y) = f (x y) s(x y): (4.25)
Given the goal of converting the multiplication operation to addition, it is
evident that a simple logarithmic transformation is appropriate:
logg(x y)] = logf (x y) s(x y)] = logf (x y)] + logs(x y)] (4.26)
f (x y) 6= 0 s(x y) 6= 0 8(x y): The logarithms of the two images are now
combined in an additive manner. Taking the Fourier transform, we get
Gl (u v) = Fl (u v) + Sl (u v) (4.27)
where the subscript l indicates that the Fourier transform has been applied
to a log-transformed version of the image.
Assuming that the logarithmic transformation has not aected the sepa-
rability of the Fourier components of the two images f (x y) and s(x y), a
linear lter (lowpass, highpass, etc.) may now be applied to Gl (u v) to sep-
arate them. An inverse Fourier transform will yield the ltered image in the
space domain. An exponential operation will complete the reversal procedure.
This procedure was proposed by Stockham 240] for image processing in the
context of a visual model.
Figure 4.34 illustrates the operations involved in a multiplicative homo-
morphic system (or lter). The symbol at the input or output of each block
indicates the operation that combines the image components at the corre-
sponding step. A system of this nature is useful in image enhancement, where
an image may be treated as the product of an illumination function and a
transmittance or reectance function. The homomorphic lter facilitates the
separation of the illumination function and correction for nonuniform lighting.
The method has been used to achieve simultaneous dynamic range compres-
sion and contrast enhancement 7, 8, 237, 240].
The extension of homomorphic ltering to separate convolved signals is
described in Section 10.3.
Example: The test image in Figure 4.35 (a) shows a girl inside a snow-
cave. The intensity of illumination of the scene diers signi cantly between
the outside and the inside of the snowcave. Although there is high contrast
between the outside and the inside of the snowcave, there is poor contrast of
the details within the snowcave. Because the image possesses a large dynamic
Image Enhancement 335
x + +
Logarithmic Fourier
transform transform
Input
image
+ +
Linear
filter
+ + x
Inverse Fourier Exponential
transform transform Filtered
image
FIGURE 4.34
Homomorphic ltering for enhancement of images combined by multiplication.
range, linear stretching of the gray-level range of the full image is not viable.
(However, a part of the range may be stretched to the full range, as illustrated
in Figure 4.11.)
Figure 4.35 (b) shows the result of logarithmic transformation of the image
in part (a) of the gure. Although the girl is now visible, the image is not
sharp. The image was ltered using a Butterworth high-emphasis lter, as
illustrated in Figure 4.36, within the context of the homomorphic system
shown in Figure 4.34. The lter was speci ed as in Equation 4.24, with
1 = 0:1, 2 = 0:5, D0 = 0:6 and n = 1. The result, shown in Figure
4.35 (c), demonstrates reduced dynamic range in terms of the dierence in
illumination between the inside and the outside of the snowcave, but increased
contrast and sharpness of the details within the snowcave. Application of the
Butterworth high-emphasis lter without the homomorphic system resulted
in the image in Figure 4.35 (d), which does not present the same level of
enhancement as seen in Figure 4.35 (c).
Example: A part of a mammogram containing calci cations is shown in
Figure 4.37 (a). The multiplicative model of an illuminated scene does not ap-
ply to X-ray imaging however, the image has nonuniform brightness (density)
that aects the visibility of details in the darker regions, and could bene t
from homomorphic enhancement. Figure 4.37 (b) shows the result of logarith-
mic transformation of the image in part (a) of the gure the result of ltering
using a Butterworth high-emphasis lter is shown in part (c). The log op-
eration has improved the visibility of the calci cations in the dark region in
the upper-central part of the image (arranged along an almost-vertical linear
pattern) application of the Butterworth high-emphasis lter (illustrated in
Figure 4.36) has further sharpened these features. The result Figure 4.37 (c)],
336 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.35
(a) Test image of a girl in a snowcave. Result of (b) log transformation (c) ho-
momorphic ltering including a Butterworth high-emphasis lter and (d) the
Butterworth high-emphasis lter only. The test image in this illustration is
of size 256 256 pixels, and is slightly dierent from that in Figures 4.11
and 4.18 regardless, comparison of the results indicates the advantages of
homomorphic ltering. The Butterworth high-emphasis lter used is shown
in Figure 4.36. Image courtesy of W.M. Morrow 215, 230].
Image Enhancement 337
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Filter gain
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
−0.5 −0.4 −0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Normalized frequency
FIGURE 4.36
Pro le of the high-emphasis Butterworth lter used to enhance high-frequency
components along with homomorphic ltering as illustrated in Figures 4.34,
4.35, and 4.37.
338 Biomedical Image Analysis
however, does not depict the distinction between high-density tissues (bright
areas) and low-density tissues (dark areas).
The result of application of the Butterworth high-emphasis lter without
the homomorphic system is shown in Figure 4.37 (d). This operation has also
resulted in improved depiction of the calci cations in the dark regions, albeit
not to the same extent as within the context of the homomorphic procedure.
Yoon et al. 241] extended the application of homomorphic high-emphasis
ltering to the wavelet domain for contrast enhancement of mammograms.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.37
(a) Original image of a part of mammogram with malignant calci cations.
Result of (b) log transformation (c) homomorphic ltering including a But-
terworth high-emphasis lter and (d) the Butterworth high-emphasis lter
only. See also Figures 4.40 and 4.41.
340 Biomedical Image Analysis
processing 242, 243, 244], feature-based processing, adaptive-neighborhood
processing, or object-oriented processing.
The fundamental step in adaptive-neighborhood image processing is de n-
ing the extent of regions in the image. Overlapping regions are used in this
application because disjoint segmentation of an image, with subsequent en-
hancement of the segments, would result in noticeable edge artifacts and an
inferior enhanced image.
Seed-ll region growing: Morrow et al. 123, 215] used a region-growing
technique based on a simple graphical seed- ll algorithm, also known as pixel
aggregation 8]. In this method, regions consist of spatially connected pix-
els that fall within a speci ed gray-level deviation from the starting or seed
pixel. For high-resolution digitized mammograms, 4-connectivity was found,
by visual comparison, to be adequate to allow accurate region growing, al-
though small features were better matched with 8-connected regions. The
use of 8-connectivity for region growing requires longer computing time than
4-connectivity.
The owchart in Figure 4.38 illustrates the region-growing algorithm. The
algorithm starts with the pixel being processed, called the seed pixel, or simply
the seed. The seed is placed in an initially empty queue that holds pixels to
be evaluated for inclusion in, or exclusion from, the region being grown. The
main loop is then entered. If the queue is empty, the program exits the loop
otherwise, the rst pixel is taken from the queue. This pixel is called the
current pixel if its gray level value is within the speci ed deviation from the
seed, it is labeled as a foreground pixel. The immediate neighbors (either
4-connected or 8-connected, as speci ed) of the current pixel could possibly
qualify to be foreground pixels, and are added to the queue, if they are not
already in the queue from being connected to previously checked pixels. If
the current pixel is outside the permitted gray-level range, it is marked as
a background pixel, and a border pixel of the region has been reached. A
region may have a number of internal borders, in addition to the encompassing
external border. Thus, the background may consist of more than one set of
pixels, with each such set being disconnected from the others. After all of the
current pixel's neighbors have been checked, control is directed back to the
start of the loop, to check the next pixel in the queue.
The nal step in growing a region around the seed is completing the back-
ground. This is done by starting with the existing background points, as
found during foreground region growing. The neighbors of this set of pixels
are examined to see if they belong to either the foreground or background. If
not, they are set to be the next layer of the background. The new layer is then
used to grow another layer, and so on, until the speci ed background width is
achieved. The region-growing procedure as described above does have ine-
ciencies, in that a given pixel may be checked more than once for placement in
the queue. More complicated algorithms may be used to grow regions along
line segments, and thereby partially eliminate this ineciency 245]. Prelimi-
nary testing of a scan-line based algorithm showed minimal improvement with
Image Enhancement 341
START
Yes
Is FQ empty?
No
Is
Yes background No
Is BQ empty? Increment BQ
width counter
adequate?
No Yes
Are
Yes current
pixel’s
neighbors
in Fg or
Bg?
No
FIGURE 4.38
Procedure for region growing for adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhance-
ment of mammograms. Reproduced with permission from W.M. Morrow,
R.B. Paranjape, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Region-based con-
trast enhancement of mammograms" IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
c IEEE.
11(3):392{406, 1992.
342 Biomedical Image Analysis
mammogram images, because the type of regions grown in mammograms are
usually complex.
The adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhancement procedure may be stated
in algorithmic form as follows 246]:
1. The rst pixel (or the next unprocessed pixel) in the image is taken as
the seed pixel.
2. The immediate neighbors (8-connected pixels) of the seed are checked
for inclusion in the region. Each neighbor pixel is checked to see if its
gray-level value is within the speci ed deviation from the seed pixel's
gray-level value. The growth tolerance or deviation is speci ed as
f (m n) ; seed
(4.28)
seed
where f (m n) is the gray-level value of the neighbor pixel being checked
for inclusion, and the threshold
= 0:05.
3. If a neighbor pixel's gray-level value is within the speci ed deviation, it
is added to a queue of foreground pixels that will make up the region
being grown. A pixel is added to the queue only if it has not already
been included while processing another connected pixel.
4. A pixel f (m n) is taken from the start of the foreground queue. This be-
comes the current pixel whose 8-connected neighbors are checked against
the seed's gray-level according to the tolerance speci ed, as in Steps 2
and 3 above.
5. If a neighbor pixel's gray-level value is outside the speci ed gray-level
tolerance range, it is marked as a background pixel. A background
pixel indicates that the border of the region has been reached at that
position. However, if a neighbor pixel's gray-level value is within the
speci ed deviation, it is added to the foreground.
6. Once all the current pixel's neighbors have been checked, the program
goes back to Step 4 to check the connected neighbor pixels of the next
pixel in the foreground queue.
7. Steps 4 ; 6 are repeated until region growing stops (that is, no more
pixels can be added to the foreground region).
8. The borders of the foreground region (marked as background pixels)
are expanded in all directions by a prespeci ed number of pixels (three
pixels in the work of Morrow et al.) to obtain a background region
that is molded to the shape of the foreground region. The foreground
and background regions together form the adaptive neighborhood of
the seed pixel that was used to start the region-growing procedure. See
Figure 3.46 for an example of region growing with an image.
Image Enhancement 343
9. The contrast of the region is computed as per Equation 2.7, and en-
hanced as desired see Figure 4.39. The gray-level value of the seed
pixel is modi ed as per Equation 4.30. All pixels in the foreground
region having the same gray-level value as the seed, referred to as the
redundant seed pixels, are also modi ed to the same value as for the
seed pixel.
10. Steps 1 ; 9 are executed until all the pixels in the image have been
processed.
It should be noted that each pixel in the connected foreground that has the
same gray level as the seed will lead to the same foreground and background.
These pixels are called the region's redundant seed pixels. Considerable com-
putation may be saved by using this redundancy and obviating the repeated
growing of the same regions. Furthermore, the same nal transformation
that is applied to the region's seed pixel is also applicable to the region's re-
dundant seed pixels. In high-resolution mammogram images, redundant seed
pixels were seen to account for over 75% of the pixels in a given image this
large percentage is partially due to the dark background in the image o the
projection of the breast, and due to the relatively smooth variations in gray
levels in mammograms. The number of redundant seeds is also dependent
upon the growth tolerance used for region growing.
Parameters for region growing: The crucial parameter in controlling
seed- ll region growing is the criterion used to decide whether a pixel is to
be included or excluded in the region. This criterion is de ned by the growth
tolerance,
. The growth tolerance indicates the deviation (positive or nega-
tive) about the seed pixel's gray level that is allowed within the foreground
region. For example, with a growth tolerance of 0:05, any pixel with a gray
value between 0:95 and 1:05 times the seed pixel's value, which also satis es
the spatial-connectivity criterion, is included in the region. The reason for
using this type of growth tolerance is found from a closer examination of the
de nition of contrast. Seed- ll region growing results in regions having con-
trast greater (in magnitude) than a certain minimum contrast, Cmin . It is
desired that this minimum contrast be independent of a region's gray level,
so that the results of enhancement will be independent of a multiplicative
transformation of the image. A region with the minimum positive contrast
Cmin will have a mean foreground value of f and a mean background value of
(1 ;
)f . Using Equation 2.7, the minimum contrast Cmin is
Cmin = ff +
; (1 ;
)f
(1 ;
)f = 2 ;
2 : (4.29)
The contrast Cmin is thus independent of the foreground gray level or the
background gray level, and depends only upon the region-growing tolerance
parameter
. Weber's ratio of 2% for a just-noticeable feature suggests that
the growth tolerance should be about 4%, in order to grow regions that are
344 Biomedical Image Analysis
barely noticeable prior to enhancement (and are subsequently enhanced to
a contrast above the Weber ratio). A lower bound on
may be established
empirically, or, depending upon the class of images being enhanced, through
an analysis of the noise present in the images.
Contrast enhancement: Equation 2.7 de nes a region's contrast as a
function of the mean gray levels of the foreground f and background b. The
contrast of a region may be increased by changing f or b. Rearranging Equa-
tion 2.7, and replacing C with an increased contrast Ce gives
fe = b 11 + Ce (4.30)
;C e
where fe is the new foreground value. Only the seed pixel and the redundant
seed pixels in the foreground are modi ed to the value fe . The remaining
pixels in the foreground obtain new values when they, in turn, act as seed
pixels and are used to grow dierent regions. (If all the pixels in the foreground
were replaced by fe , the output image would depend on the order in which
regions are grown furthermore, the gray-level variations and details within
each region would be lost, and the resulting image would be a collection of
uniform regions.) The new contrast Ce for the region may be calculated using
an analytic function of C 242, 243, 244, 247], or an empirically determined
relationship between Ce and C . Morrow et al. 123] proposed an empirical
relationship between Ce and C as shown in Figure 4.39, which was designed
to boost the perceptibility of regions with low-to-moderate contrast (in the
range 0:02 ; 0:5), while not aecting high-contrast regions.
Example | Contrast enhancement of a cluster of calcications:
Figure 4.40 (a) shows a part of a mammogram with a cluster of calci cations.
Some of the calci cations are linearly distributed, suggesting that they are
intraductal. Cancer was suspected because of the irregular shape and size of
the individual constituents of the calci cation cluster, although hyperdense
tissue could not be clearly seen in this area of the image. A biopsy was
subsequently performed on the patient, which con rmed the presence of an
invasive intraductal carcinoma.
Figure 4.40 (b) shows the same part of the image as in (a), after adaptive-
neighborhood contrast enhancement was applied to the entire mammogram.
The curve shown in Figure 4.39 was used as the contrast transformation curve,
the growth tolerance was 3%, and a background width of three pixels was used.
Increased contrast is apparent in the enhanced image, and subtle details are
visible at higher contrast. Observe the presence of sharper edges between
features the contrast of the calci cations has been greatly increased in the
processed image. The closed-loop feature immediately below the cluster of
calci cations is possibly the cross-sectional projection of a mammary duct.
If this interpretation is correct, the distorted geometry (dierent from the
normally circular cross-section) could be indicative of intraductal malignancy.
This feature is not readily apparent in the original image.
Image Enhancement 345
0.5
contrast specified for the output image
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
contrast of region in input image
FIGURE 4.39
An empirical relationship between the contrast C of an adaptive neighborhood
and the increased contrast Ce for enhancement of mammograms 123]. Ce = C
for C 0:5.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 4.40
(a) Part of a mammogram with a cluster of calci cations, true size 4343 mm.
Results of enhancement by (b) adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhancement
(c) gamma correction and (d) unsharp masking. See also Figures 4.37 and
4.41. Reproduced with permission from W.M. Morrow, R.B. Paranjape, R.M.
Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Region-based contrast enhancement of
mammograms" IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3):392{406, 1992.
c IEEE.
348 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 4.41
Result of enhancement of the image in Figure 4.40 (a) by global histogram
equalization applied to the entire image. See also Figures 4.37 and 4.40.
Reproduced with permission from W.M. Morrow, R.B. Paranjape, R.M.
Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Region-based contrast enhancement of
mammograms," IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3):392{406, 1992.
c IEEE.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.42
(a) Part of a mammogram with dense masses, true size 43 43 mm. (b) Re-
sult of enhancement by adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhancement. Repro-
duced with permission from W.M. Morrow, R.B. Paranjape, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Region-based contrast enhancement of mammograms,"
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3):392{406, 1992. c IEEE.
Image Enhancement 349
(a) (b)
FIGURE 4.43
(a) Part of a mammogram with a benign cyst, true size 43 43 mm. (b) Re-
sult of enhancement by adaptive-neighborhood contrast enhancement. Repro-
duced with permission from W.M. Morrow, R.B. Paranjape, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Region-based contrast enhancement of mammograms,"
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3):392{406, 1992. c IEEE.
4.5
3.5
log10 (number of regions)
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
−0.2 −0.15 −0.1 −0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
adaptive−neighborhood contrast value
(a)
5
4.5
3.5
log10 (number of regions)
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
−0.2 −0.15 −0.1 −0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
adaptive−neighborhood contrast value
4.5
3.5
log10 (number of regions)
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
−0.2 −0.15 −0.1 −0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
adaptive−neighborhood contrast value
(c)
5
4.5
3.5
log10 (number of regions)
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
−0.2 −0.15 −0.1 −0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
adaptive−neighborhood contrast value
(d)
FIGURE 4.44
Contrast histograms of the full mammograms corresponding to the images in Fig-
ure 4.40. (a) Original, 2 = 3 71 10;4 (b) adaptive-neighborhood contrast
M :
4.12 Remarks
Quite often, an image acquired in a real-life application does not have the
desired level of quality in terms of contrast, sharpness of detail, or the visibility
358 Biomedical Image Analysis
of the features of interest. We explored several techniques in this chapter that
could assist in improving the quality of a given image. The class of lters
based upon mathematical morphology 8, 192, 220, 221, 222] has not been
dealt with in this chapter.
An understanding of the exact phenomenon that caused the poor quality
of the image at the outset could assist in the design of an appropriate tech-
nique to address the problem. However, in the absence of such information,
one could investigate the suitability of existing and established models of
degradation, as well as the associated enhancement techniques to improve the
quality of the image on hand. It may be desirable to obtain several enhanced
versions using a variety of approaches the most suitable image may then be
selected from the collection of the processed images for further analysis. In
situations as above, there is no single or optimal solution to the problem.
Several enhanced versions of the given image may also be analyzed simulta-
neously however, this approach could demand excessive time and resources,
and may not be feasible in a large-scale screening application.
Given the subjective nature of image quality, and in spite of the several
methods we studied in Chapter 2 to characterize image quality and infor-
mation content, the issue of image enhancement is nonspeci c and elusive.
Regardless, if a poor-quality image can be enhanced to the satisfaction of
the user, and if the enhanced image leads to improved analysis | and more
accurate or con dent diagnosis in the biomedical context | an important
achievement could result.
The topic of image restoration | image quality improvement when the
exact cause of degradation is known and can be represented mathematically
| is investigated in Chapter 10.
ization.
Derive an analytical representation of the transform. Explain its eects on
the image in terms of the modication of gray levels and the histogram.
7. An image has a uniform PDF (normalized gray-level histogram) over the range
25 90] with the probability being zero outside this interval within the avail-
able range of 0 255]. Derive an analytical representation of the transform to
perform histogram equalization. Explain its eects on the image in terms of
the modication of gray levels and the histogram.
8. Give an algorithmic representation of the method to linearly map a selected
range of gray-level values 1 2 ] to the range 1 2 ] in an image of size .
x x y y M N
Use pseudocode format and show all the necessary programming steps and
details.
9. An 8 8 image with an available gray-level range of 0 ; 7 at 3 bits/pixel has
the following pixel values:
2 3
35554443
66 3 3 4 5 5 3 3 2 77
66 0 0 1 3 4 4 4 4 77
64 5 5 5 3 2 2 4 7
666 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 777 : (4.34)
66 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 77
42 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 5
22221111
Derive the transformation and look-up table for enhancement of the image by
histogram equalization. Clearly show all of the steps involved, and give the
360 Biomedical Image Analysis
pixel values in the enhanced image using the available gray-level range of 3
bits/pixel.
Draw the histograms of the original image and the enhanced image. Explain
the dierences between them as caused by histogram equalization.
10. Write the expression for the convolution of an digital image with an
N N
Using pseudocode format, show all of the necessary programming steps and
details related to the implementation of convolution as above.
Explain how you handle the size and data at the edges of the resulting image.
11. Prepare a 5 5 image with zero pixel values. Add a square of size 3 3 pixels
with the value 100 at the center of the image. Apply
(a) the subtracting Laplacian operator,
and
(b) the Laplacian operator
to the image. Examine the pixel values inside and around the edges of the
square in the resulting images. Give reasons for the eects you nd.
12. Apply
(a) the subtracting Laplacian operator,
and
(b) the Laplacian operator
to the image in Equation 4.34. Give reasons for the eects you nd.
13. Derive the MTF of the 3 3 unsharp masking operator.
Explain its characteristics.
14. An image is processed by applying the subtracting Laplacian mask and then
by applying the 3 3 mean lter mask.
What is the impulse response of the complete system?
What is the MTF of the complete system?
Explain the eect of each operator.
15. Derive the MTF of the 3 3 subtracting Laplacian operator and explain its
characteristics.
16. What causes ringing artifact in frequency-domain ltering?
How do you prevent the artifact?
17. Discuss the dierences between highpass ltering and high-frequency emphasis
ltering in the frequency domain in terms of their
(a) transfer functions, and
(b) eects on image features.
18. List the steps of computation required in order to perform lowpass ltering
of an image in the frequency domain by using the Fourier transform.
Image Enhancement 361
363
364 Biomedical Image Analysis
Discontinuity | Abrupt changes in gray level (corresponding to edges)
are detected.
Similarity | Homogeneous parts are detected, based on gray-level
thresholding, region growing, and region splitting/merging.
Depending upon the nature of the images and the ROIs, we may attempt to
detect the edges of the ROIs (if distinct edges are present), or we may attempt
to grow regions to approximate the ROIs. It should be borne in mind that,
in some cases, an ROI may be composed of several disjoint component areas
(for example, a tumor that has metastasized into neighboring regions and
calcications in a cluster). Edges that are detected may include disconnected
parts that may have to be matched and joined. We shall explore several
techniques of this nature in the present chapter.
Notwithstanding the stated interest in local regions as above, applications
do exist where entire images need to be analyzed for global changes in pat-
terns: for example, changes in the orientational structure of collagen bers in
ligaments (see Figure 1.8), and bilateral asymmetry in mammograms (see Sec-
tion 8.9). Furthermore, in the case of clustered calcications in mammograms,
cells in cervical smears, and other examples of images with multicomponent
ROIs, analysis may commence with the detection of single units of the pattern
of interest, but several such units present in a given image may need to be
analyzed, separately and together, in order to reach a decision regarding the
case.
The operation computes the dierence between the current pixel at the center
of the mask and the average of its 8-connected neighbors. (The mask could
also be seen as a generalized version of the Laplacian mask in Equation 2.83.)
The result of the mask operation could be thresholded to detect isolated pixels
where the dierence computed would be large.
Straight lines or line segments oriented at 0o 45o 90o , and 135o may be
detected by using the following 3 3 convolution masks 8]:
2 3 2 3
;1 ;1 ;1 ;1 ;1
2
4 2 2 2 5 4 ;1 2 ;1 5
;1 ;1 ;1 2 ;1 ;1
2 3 2 3
;1 2 ;1 2 ;1 ;1
4 ;1 2 ;1 5 4 ;1 2 ;1 5 : (5.3)
;1 2 ;1 ;1 ;1 2
A line may be said to exist in the direction for which the corresponding mask
provides the largest response.
366 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 5.1
(a) TEM image of collagen bers in a scar-tissue sample from a rabbit ligament
at a magnication of approximately 30 000. See also Figure 1.5. Image
courtesy of C.B. Frank, Department of Surgery, University of Calgary. See
Figure 2.12 for the histogram of the image. (b) Image in (a) thresholded at
the gray level of 180.
Detection of Regions of Interest 367
fxb (m n) f (m n) ; f (m n ; 1)
0
(5.4)
where the additional subscript b indicates a backward-dierence operation.
Because causality is usually not a matter of concern in image processing, the
dierences may also be dened as
fyf (m n) f (m + 1 n) ; f (m n)
0
fxf (m n) f (m n + 1) ; f (m n)
0
(5.5)
where the additional subscript f indicates a forward-dierence operation. A
limitation of the operators as above is that they are based upon the values
of only two pixels this makes the operators susceptible to noise or spurious
pixel values. A simple approach to design robust operators and reduce the
sensitivity to noise is to incorporate averaging over multiple measurements.
368 Biomedical Image Analysis
Averaging the two denitions of the derivatives in Equations 5.4 and 5.5, we
get
fya (m n) 0:5 f (m + 1 n) ; f (m ; 1 n)]
0
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 5.2
(a) Shapes test image. (b) Gradient magnitude, display range 0 400] out of
0 765]. (c) Horizontal derivative, display range ;200 200] out of ;765 765].
(d) Vertical derivative, display range ;200 200] out of ;765 765]. (e) 45o
derivative, display range ;200 200] out of ;765 765]. (f) 135o derivative,
display range ;200 200] out of ;765 765].
372 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 5.3
(a) Clock test image. (b) Gradient magnitude, display range 0 100] out of
0 545]. (c) Horizontal derivative, display range ;100 100] out of ;538 519].
(d) Vertical derivative, display range ;100 100] out of ;446 545]. (e) 45o
derivative, display range ;100 100] out of ;514 440]. (f) 135o derivative,
display range ;100 100] out of ;431 535].
Detection of Regions of Interest 373
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 5.4
(a) Knee MR image. (b) Gradient magnitude, display range 0 400] out of
0 698]. (c) Horizontal derivative, display range ;200 200] out of ;596 496].
(d) Vertical derivative, display range ;200 200] out of ;617 698]. (e) 45o
derivative, display range ;200 200] out of ;562 503]. (f) 135o derivative,
display range ;200 200] out of ;432 528].
374 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 5.5
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. (b) Gradient magnitude, display range
0 50] out of 0 699]. (c) Horizontal derivative, display range ;50 50] out of
;286 573]. (d) Vertical derivative, display range ;50 50] out of ;699 661].
(e) 45o derivative, display range ;50 50] out of ;452 466]. (f) 135o deriva-
tive, display range ;50 50] out of ;466 442].
Detection of Regions of Interest 375
profile of edge
first derivative
second derivative
FIGURE 5.6
Top to bottom: A prole of a blurred object showing two edges, the rst
derivative, and the second derivative (see also Figure 4.26).
376 Biomedical Image Analysis
may be reduced by including a smoothing operator. A scalable smoothing op-
erator could be dened in terms of a 2D Gaussian function, with the variance
controlling the spatial extent or width of the smoothing function. Combining
the Laplacian and the Gaussian, we obtain the popular Laplacian-of-Gaussian
or LoG operator 8, 122, 281, 282].
Consider the Gaussian specied by the function
x2 + y 2
g(x y) = ; exp ; 2 2 : (5.18)
The usual normalizing scale factor has been left out. Taking partial derivatives
with respect to x and y, we obtain
@ 2 g = ; x2 ; 2 exp ; x2 +y2
@x2 4 2 2
@ g = ; y2 ; 2 exp ; x2 +y2
2
@y2 4 2 2
(5.19)
which leads to
2 2 r2
r2 g (x y) = LoG(r) = ; r ;42 exp ;
2 2 (5.20)
p
where r = x2 + y2 . The LoG function is isotropic and has positive and
negative values. Due to its shape, it is often referred to as the Mexican hat
or sombrero.
Figure 5.7 shows the LoG operator in image and mesh-plot formats the
basic Gaussian used to derive the LoG function is also shown for reference.
The Fourier magnitude spectra of the Gaussian and LoG functions are also
shown in the gure. It should be observed that, whereas the Gaussian is a
lowpass lter (which is also a 2D Gaussian in the frequency domain), the LoG
function is a bandpass lter. The width of the lters is controlled by the
parameter of the Gaussian.
Figure 5.8 shows proles of the LoG and the related Gaussian for two values
of . Figure 5.9 shows the proles of the Fourier transforms of the functions
in Figure 5.8. The proles clearly demonstrate the nature of the functions
and their ltering characteristics.
An approximation to the LoG operator is provided by taking the dierence
between two Gaussians of appropriate variances: this operator is known as
the dierence-of-Gaussians or DoG operator 282].
Examples: Figure 5.10 shows the Shapes test image, the LoG of the image
with = 1 pixel, and the locations of the zero-crossings of the LoG of the
image with = 1 pixel and = 2 pixels. The zero-crossings indicate the
locations of the edges in the image. The use of a large value for reduces the
eect of noise, but also causes smoothing of the edges and corners, as well as
the loss of the minor details present in the image.
Detection of Regions of Interest 377
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 5.7
The Laplacian of Gaussian in (b) image format and (d) as a mesh plot. The
related Gaussian functions are shown in (a) and (c). The size of the arrays
is 51 51 pixels standard deviation = 4 pixels. The Fourier magnitude
spectra of the functions are shown in (e) and (f).
378 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.9
0.8
0.7
normalized LoG(r) and Gaussian(r)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
−0.1
−25 −20 −15 −10 −5 0 5 10 15 20 25
r(x, y)
(a)
0.9
0.8
0.7
normalized LoG(r) and Gaussian(r)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
−0.1
−25 −20 −15 −10 −5 0 5 10 15 20 25
r(x, y)
(b)
FIGURE 5.8
Proles of the Laplacian of Gaussian (solid line) and the related Gaussian
(dashed line) in Figure 5.7. The functions have been normalized to a maxi-
mum value of unity. The unit of r is pixels. (a) = 4 pixels. (b) = 2 pixels.
Detection of Regions of Interest 379
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 5.9
Proles of the Fourier magnitude spectra of the Laplacian of Gaussian (solid
line) and the related Gaussian (dashed line) in Figure 5.7. Both functions
have been normalized to have a maximum value equal to unity. (a) = 4
pixels. (b) = 2 pixels. The zero-frequency point is at the center of the
horizontal axis.
380 Biomedical Image Analysis
Figure 5.11 shows the clock image, its LoG, and the zero-crossings of the
LoG with = 1 pixel and = 2 pixels. The results illustrate the performance
of the LoG operator in the presence of noise.
Figures 5.12, 5.13, and 5.14 show similar sets of results for the myocyte
image, the knee MR image, and the chest X-ray test images. Comparative
analysis of the scales of the details present in the images and the zero-crossings
of the LoG for dierent values of indicates the importance of selecting values
of the parameter in accordance with the scale of the details to be detected.
@
2 @
2
@x + @y 6= 0 >0 (5.21)
where
(x y ) = fr2 g(x y ) f (x y)g: (5.22)
Detection of Regions of Interest 381
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.10
(a) The Shapes test image. (b) The LoG of the image in (a) with = 1 pixel.
(c) Locations of the zero-crossings in the LoG in (b). (d) Locations of the
zero-crossings in the LoG with = 2 pixels.
382 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.11
(a) The clock test image. (b) The LoG of the image in (a) with = 1 pixel.
(c) Locations of the zero-crossings in the LoG in (b). (d) Locations of the
zero-crossings in the LoG with = 2 pixels.
Detection of Regions of Interest 383
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.12
(a) Image of a myocyte. (b) The LoG of the image in (a) with = 2 pixels.
(c) Locations of the zero-crossings in the LoG in (b). (d) Locations of the
zero-crossings in the LoG with = 4 pixels.
384 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 5.13
(a) MR image of a knee. (b) The LoG of the image in (a) with = 2 pixels.
(c) { (f) Locations of the zero-crossings in the LoG with = 1 2 3 and 4
pixels.
Detection of Regions of Interest 385
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.14
(a) Part of a chest X-ray image. (b) The LoG of the image in (a) with = 2
pixels display range ;150 150] out of ;231 956]. (c) Locations of the zero-
crossings in the LoG in (b). (d) Locations of the zero-crossings in the LoG
with = 4 pixels.
386 Biomedical Image Analysis
As the scale varies from 0 to 1, the set f(x y )g forms continuous
surfaces in the (x y ) scale-space.
Several important scale-space concepts apply to 1D and 2D signals. It has
been shown that the scale-space of almost all signals ltered by a Gaussian
determines the signal uniquely up to a scaling constant 285] (except for noise-
contaminated signals and some special functions 290]). The importance of
this property lies in the fact that, theoretically, for almost all signals, no
information is lost by working in the scale-space instead of the image domain.
This property plays an important role in image understanding 291], image
reconstruction from zero-crossings 285, 292], and image analysis using the
scale-space approach 288]. Furthermore, it has also been shown that the
Gaussian does not create additional zero-crossings as the scale increases
beyond a certain limit, and that the Gaussian is the only lter with this
desirable scaling behavior 285].
Based on the spatial-coincidence assumption, Witkin 284] proposed a 1D
stability analysis method for the extraction of primitive events that occur over
a large range of scales. The primitive events were organized into a qualitative
signal description representing the major events in the signal. Assuming that
zero-crossing curves do not cross one another (which was later proven to be
incorrect by Katz 293]), Witkin dened the stability of a signal interval as
the scale range over which the signal interval exists major events could then
be captured via stability analysis. However, due to the complex topological
nature of spatial zero-crossings, it is often dicult to directly extend Witkin's
1D stability analysis method to 2D image analysis. The following problems
aect Witkin's method for stability analysis:
It has been shown that zero-crossing curves do cross one another 293].
It has been shown that real (authentic) zero-crossings could turn into
false (phantom) zero-crossings as the scale increases 294]. Use of
the complete scale-space (with ranging from 0 to 1) may introduce
errors in certain applications an appropriate scale-space using only a
nite range of scales could be more eective.
For 2D signals (images), the scale-space consists of zero-crossing surfaces
that are more complex than the zero-crossing curves for 1D signals. The
zero-crossing surfaces may split and merge as the scale varies (decreases
or increases, respectively).
As a consequence of the above, there is no simple topological region as-
sociated with a zero-crossing surface, and tracing a zero-crossing surface
across scales becomes computationally dicult.
Liu et al. 295] proposed an alternative denition of zero-crossing surface
stability in terms of important spatial boundaries. In this approach, a spatial
boundary is dened as a region of steep gradient and high contrast, and is
well-dened if it has no neighboring boundaries within a given range. This
Detection of Regions of Interest 387
denition of spatial boundaries is consistent with the Marr-Hildreth spatial-
coincidence assumption. Furthermore, stability maps 288] associated with
the scale-space are used. A relaxation algorithm is included in the process to
generate zero-crossing maps.
In the method of Liu et al. 295], the discrete scale-space approach is used to
construct a representation of a given image in terms of a stability map, which
is a measure of pattern boundary persistence over a range of lter scales. For
a given image f (x y), a set of zero-crossing maps is generated by convolving
the image with the set of isotropic functions r2 g(x y i ), 1 i N . It
was indicated that N = 8 sampled i values ranging from 1 to 8 pixels were
adequate for the application considered. Ideally, one would expect a pattern
boundary to be accurately located over all of the scales. However, it has been
shown 296, 297] that the accuracy of zero-crossing localization dependspupon
the width of the central excitatory region of the lter (dened as wi = 2 2 i
298]). Chen and Medioni 299] proposed a 1D method for localization of
zero-crossings that works well for ideal step edges and image patterns with
sharp contrast however, the method may not be eective for the construction
of the spatial scale-space for real-life images with poor and variable contrast.
Instead of directly matching all the zero-crossing locations at a point (x y)
over the zero-crossing maps, Liu et al. proposed a criterion C (i ) that is
a function of the scale i to dene a neighborhood in which the matching
procedure is performed at a particular scale:
C (i) = f(x0 y0 )g j x ;i x0 x + i
y ;i y0 y + i 1 (5.23)
0 0
where (x y ) are the actual locations of the zero-crossings, (x y) is the pixel
location at which the lters are being applied, and is a constant to be
determined experimentally ( = 1 was used by Liu et al.). Therefore, if a
zero-crossing (x y i ) is found in the neighborhood dened by C (i ), an
arbitrary constant is assigned to a function Si (x y), which otherwise is
assigned a zero, that is,
Si (x y) = 0 otherwise
if (x y i ) 2 C (i ) (5.24)
where the subscript i corresponds to the ith scale i .
Applying Equations 5.23 and 5.24 to the set of zero-crossings detected, a set
of adjusted zero-crossing maps fS1 (x y) S2 (x y) : : : SN (x y)g is obtained,
where N is the number of scales. The adjusted zero-crossing maps are used
to construct the zero-crossing stability map (x y) as
X
N
(x y) = Si (x y): (5.25)
i=1
The values of (x y) are, in principle, a measure of boundary stability through
the lter scales. Marr and Hildreth 281] and Marr and Poggio 300] suggested
388 Biomedical Image Analysis
that directional detection of zero-crossings be performed after the LoG oper-
ator has been applied to the image.
According to the spatial-coincidence assumption, a true boundary should
be high in contrast and have relatively large values at the corresponding
locations. Furthermore, there should be no other edges within a given neigh-
borhood. Thus, if in a neighborhood of (x y), nonzero stability map values
exist only along the orientation of a local segment of the stability map that
crosses (x y), then (x y) may be considered to signify a stable edge pixel at
(x y). On the other hand, if many nonzero stability map values are present at
dierent directions, (x y) indicates an insignicant boundary pixel at (x y).
In other words, a consistent stability indexing method (in the sense of the
spatial-coincidence assumption) should take neighboring stability indices into
account. Based upon this argument, Liu et al. proposed a relative stability
index
(x y) computed from the stability map where (x y) 6= 0, as follows.
In a neighborhood of (x y), if m nonzero values are found, (x y) is
relabeled as l0 , and the rest of (xk yk ) are relabeled as lk , k = 1 : : : m ;
1 see Figure 5.15. In order to avoid using elements in the neighborhood
that belong to the same edge, those (x0 y0 ) having the same orientation as
that of l0 are not included in the computation of
(x y). Based upon these
requirements, the relative stability index
(x y) is dened as
(x y) = Pm;l10 (5.26)
k=0 k lk
p
where k = exp(;d2k ) and dk = (x ; xk )2 + (y ; yk )2 and (xk yk ) are the
locations of lk . It should be noted that 0 <
(x y) 1 and that the value of
l3
l3
d3
d3
l0 d2
d1 l2
d1 l0
d2 l2 l1
l1
(a) (b)
FIGURE 5.15
A case where three zero-crossings fl1 l2 l3 g are found in a neighborhood of a
zero-crossing l0 . di indicates the distance from li to l0 . The arrows indicate
the directions of the zero-crossings. (a) The neighboring zero-crossings are far
apart from l0 , imposing a low penalty to the zero-crossing associated with l0 .
(b) The neighboring zero-crossings are close to l0 , imposing a high penalty to
the zero-crossing associated with l0 . Reproduced with permission from Z.-Q.
Liu, R.M. Rangayyan, and C.B. Frank, \Statistical analysis of collagen align-
ment in ligaments by scale-space analysis", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical
Engineering, 38(6):580{588, 1991.
c IEEE.
390 Biomedical Image Analysis
h @3p @3p @3p
i
@3p T
@x3 + @x @y2 @x2 @y + @y3 : Liu et al. included this step in their method
to detect true zero-crossings.
Example: Figure 5.16 (a) shows an SEM image of collagen bers in a lig-
ament scar-tissue sample. Parts (b) { (d) of the gure show the zero-crossing
maps obtained with = 1 4 and 8 pixels. The result in (b) contains several
spurious or insignicant zero-crossings, whereas that in (d) contains smoothed
edges of only the major regions of the image. Part (e) shows the stability map,
which indicates the edges of the major objects in the image. The stability map
was used to detect the collagen bers in the image. See Section 8.5 for details
on directional analysis of oriented patterns by further processing of the stabil-
ity map. Methods for the directional analysis of collagen bers are described
in Section 8.7.1.
See Sections 5.10.2, 8.4, and 8.9 for more examples on multiscale analysis.
FIGURE 5.16
(a) SEM image of a ligament scar-tissue sample. (b) { (d) Zero-crossing loca-
tions detected using the LoG operator with = 1 4 and 8 pixels, respectively.
(e) The stability map, depicting the major edges present in the image. Re-
produced with permission from Z.-Q. Liu, R.M. Rangayyan, and C.B. Frank,
\Statistical analysis of collagen alignment in ligaments by scale-space anal-
ysis", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 38(6):580{588, 1991.
c IEEE.
392 Biomedical Image Analysis
emphasis lter with its gain quadratically proportional to frequency, with a
Gaussian lowpass lter. The methods and results presented in Section 5.3.2
demonstrate the edge-detection capabilities of the LoG lter, which may be
easily implemented in the frequency domain. Frequency-domain implemen-
tation using the FFT may be computationally advantageous when the LoG
function is specied with a large spatial array, which would be required in the
case of large values of .
Several other line-detection and edge-detection methods, such as Gabor
lters (see Sections 5.10, 8.4, 8.9, and 8.10) and fan lters (see Section 8.3)
may also be implemented in the frequency domain with advantages.
j(x y) ; (x0 y0 )j A
; @f ( x
(x y) = 6 G(x y) = tan @f (x y)=@x
1 y ) =@y (5.28)
where A is a threshold.
B = 2(
1 22 ;
2 12 )
C = 12
22 ; 22
21 + 212 22 ln 2 PP1 : (5.33)
1 2
The possibility of two solutions indicates that it may require two thresholds
to obtain the optimal threshold.
396 Biomedical Image Analysis
If 12 = 22 = 2 , a single threshold may be used, given by
2
P
T =
1 +
2 +
2
2
1 ;
2 ln P1 : (5.34)
Furthermore, if the two prior probabilities are equal, that is, P1 = P2 , or if the
variance is zero, that is, = 0, the optimal threshold is equal to the average
of the two means.
Thresholding using boundary characteristics: The number of pixels
covered by the objects of interest to be segmented from an image is almost al-
ways a small fraction of the total number of pixels in the image: the gray-level
histogram of the image is then likely to be almost unimodal. The histogram
may be made closer to being bimodal if only the pixels on or near the bound-
aries of the object regions are considered.
The selection and characterization of the edge or boundary pixels may be
achieved by using gradient and Laplacian operators as follows 8]:
8
> 0 if rf (x y) < T
>
<
b(x y) = > L+ if rf (x y) T and r2f (x y) 0 (5.35)
>
: L; if rf (x y) T and r2 (x y) < 0
f
where rf (x y) is a gradient and r2f (x y) is the Laplacian of the given image
f (x y) T is a threshold and 0, L+ , L; represent three distinct gray levels.
In the resulting image, the pixels that are not on an edge are set to zero, the
pixels on the darker sides of edges are set to L+ , and the pixels on the lighter
sides of edges are set to L; . This information may be used not only to detect
objects and edges, but also to identify the leading and trailing edges of objects
(with reference to the scanning direction).
See Section 8.3.2 for a description of Otsu's method of deriving the optimal
threshold for binarizing a given image see also Section 8.7.2 for discussions
on a few other methods to derive thresholds.
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 100 101 101 100 101 1 100 101 101 100 101
2 100 127 126 128 100 2 100 seed 126 128 100
3 100 124 128 127 100 3 100 124 128 127 100
4 100 124 125 126 101 4 100 124 125 126 101
5 101 100 100 101 102 5 101 100 100 101 102
(a) (b)
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 100 101 101 100 101 1 100 101 101 100 101
2 100 127 126 128 100 2 100 127 126 128 100
3 100 124 seed 127 100 3 100 124 128 127 100
4 100 124 125 126 101 4 100 124 125 126 101
5 101 100 100 101 102 5 101 100 100 101 102
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.17
Example of additive-tolerance region growing using dierent seed pixels (T =
3). (a) Original image. (b) The result of region growing (shaded in black) with
the seed pixel at (2 2). (c) The result of region growing with the seed pixel at
(3 3). (d) The result of region growing with the running-mean algorithm or
the \current center pixel" method using any seed pixel within the highlighted
region. Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
400 Biomedical Image Analysis
already included in the region shown, only N 2, N 3, and N 4 in the case of
4-connectivity, or N 2, N 3, N 4, N 6, N 7, and N 8 in the case of 8-connectivity
are compared with their current center pixel C for region growing, rather
than with the original seed pixel. For the example shown in Figure 5.17, this
procedure generates the same result as shown in Figure 5.17 (d) independent
of the location of the seed pixel (within the ROI) when using the same additive
tolerance level (T = 3).
seed
N5 N1 N6
N2 C N3
N7 N4 N8
FIGURE 5.18
Illustration of the concept of the \current center pixel" in region growing.
Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
or
2 jff ((m n) ;
Rc j
m n) +
Rc (5.41)
Detection of Regions of Interest 401
where f (m n) is the gray level of the current pixel being checked for inclusion,
and
Rc could stand for the original seed pixel value, the current center pixel
value, or the running-mean gray level. Observe that the two equations above
are comparable to the denitions of simultaneous contrast in Equations 2.7
and 2.8.
The additive and multiplicative tolerance levels both determine the maxi-
mum gray-level deviation allowed within a region, and any deviation less than
this level is considered to be an intrinsic property of the region, or to be noise.
Multiplicative tolerance is meaningful when related to the SNR of a region (or
image), whereas additive tolerance has a direct connection with the standard
deviation of the pixels within the region or a given image.
Start
No
Maximum tolerance
reached?
Yes
End
FIGURE 5.19
Flowchart of the iterative, multitolerance, region-growing algorithm. Figure
courtesy of L. Shen 320].
Detection of Regions of Interest 405
5.20 (d) and (e). However, with the composite images shown in Figure 5.20
(f) and (g), which were obtained by appending the two noisy images in parts
(b) and (c) of the gure, the xed-tolerance region-growing approach fails, as
stated above. The detected regions in the lower part are incorrect when the
growth tolerance level is set to be 0:02, as shown in Figure 5.20 (f), whereas
the detection of the occluded circle in the upper part fails with the toler-
ance value of 0:05, as shown in Figure 5.20 (g). The iterative region-growing
technique automatically determines the correct growth tolerance level, and
has thereby successfully detected both of the ROIs in the composite image as
shown in Figure 5.20 (h).
(d) (e)
-1
10
R
os
Threshold Contrast
e
-d
e
Vr
-2
10
ie
s
R
eg
io
n
Weber Region
-3
10 -2 -1 0 1 2
10 10 10 10 10
Background Luminance, L (Foot-Lamberts)
FIGURE 5.21
A typical threshold contrast curve, known as the Weber-Fechner relationship.
Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
FIGURE 5.22
Visual test image for determination of the JND as a function of background
gray level (foreground is 200 and background is 100 in the displayed image).
Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
20
18
16
Just-noticeable Difference (JND)
14
12
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Background Gray Level (0 - 255)
FIGURE 5.23
A relationship between the JND and the background gray level based upon a
psychophysical experiment. Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
410 Biomedical Image Analysis
levels. The JND condition is dened as
jp1 ; p2 j minfJND (p1 ) JND (p2 )g (5.58)
where p1 and p2 are two connected pixels. This step is followed by the removal
of small regions (dened as regions having fewer than ve pixels in the study of
Shen 320]) by merging with a connected region with the minimum mean gray-
level dierence. Then, merging of connected regions is performed if any of two
neighboring regions meet the JND condition, with p1 and p2 representing the
regions' mean values. The procedure is iterated until no neighboring region
satises the JND condition.
Figure 5.24 shows the results of region growing with the same test image as
in the test of the tolerance-based region-growing algorithms in Figure 5.20 (f).
The HVS-based region-growing algorithm has successfully segmented the re-
gions at the two SNR levels. The method is not time-consuming because a
JND table is used to determine the parameters required.
FIGURE 5.24
Results of the HVS-based region-growing algorithm with the same test image
as in Figure 5.20 (f). Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
Start
End
FIGURE 5.25
Flowchart of a method for the detection and classication of mammographic
calcications. Figure courtesy of L. Shen 320].
Detection of Regions of Interest 413
where Rmax and Rmin are the current maximum and minimum pixel values
of the region being grown, and is the growth tolerance. The fractional
tolerance value for region growing is increased from 0:01 to 0:40 with a step
size determined as the inverse of the seed-pixel's gray level. A feature vector
area 2 (see Section 6.2.1 for
including compactness, dened as c = 1 ; 4 perimeter
details), the (x y) coordinates of the centroid, and the size or area in number
of pixels, is calculated for the region obtained at each tolerance level. The
normalized distance between the feature vectors for successive tolerance levels
is computed, as given by Equation 5.54. The feature set with the minimum
distance is selected as the nal set, and the corresponding region considered
to be a potential calcication region.
Con
rmation of calci
cation regions: Each potential calcication re-
gion detected is treated as a calcication region only if the size S in pixels
and contrast C , computed as in Equation 2.7, of the region at the nal level
meet the following conditions:
5 < S < 2 500 (5.60)
and
C > 0:20: (5.61)
The upper limit on the area corresponds to about 6:25 mm2 with a pixel
resolution of 50
m. The background region required to compute C is formed
by using pixels circumscribing the region contour to a thickness of 3 pixels.
The contrast threshold of 0:2 was selected based upon another study on seg-
mentation and analysis of calcications 334].
Examples: Two examples of the detection of calcications by the method
described above are presented in Figures 5.26 and 5.27. Figure 5.26 (a) and
Figure 5.27 (a) show two sections of mammograms of size 512 512 pixels
with benign calcications and malignant calcications, respectively. Figure
5.26 (b) and Figure 5.27 (b) show the same mammogram sections with the
contours of the calcication regions extracted by the algorithm as described
above.
Sections of size 1 024 768, 768 512, 512 768, and 512 768 pixels
of four typical mammograms from complete images of up to 2 560 4 096
pixels with biopsy-proven calcications were used in the study by Shen et
al. 274]. Two of the sections had a total of 58 benign calcications whereas
the other two contained 241 10 malignant calcications. Based upon visual
inspection by a radiologist, the detection rates of the multitolerance region-
growing algorithm were 81% with 0 false calcications and 85 3% with 29
false calcications for the benign and malignant mammograms, respectively.
Bankman et al. 335] compared their hill-climbing segmentation algorithm
for detecting microcalcications with the multitolerance region-growing algo-
rithm described above. Their results showed that the two algorithms have sim-
ilar discrimination powers based on an ROC analysis conducted with six mam-
mograms (containing 15 clusters with a total of 124 calcications). Bankman
414 Biomedical Image Analysis
et al. stated that \The multitolerance algorithm provides a good solution to
avoid the use of statistical models, local statistic estimators, and the manual
selection of thresholds. However, the cost is multiple segmentations of the
same structure and computation of features during the segmentation of each
structure. : : : The segmented regions were comparable : : : in many cases."
Details on further analysis of the calcications detected as above are pro-
vided in Sections 6.6 and 12.7. See Section 5.4.10 for another method for the
detection of calcications.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 5.26
Mammogram section with benign calcications. (a) Original image. (b) Im-
age with the contours of the calcication regions detected. The section shown
is of size 512 512 pixels (approximately 2:25 cm 2:25 cm), out of the
full matrix of 1 536 4 096 pixels of the complete mammogram. Repro-
duced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Detection and classication of mammographic calcications", International
Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial Intelligence, 7(6): 1403{1416,
1993.
c World Scientic Publishing Co.
416 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 5.27
Mammogram section with malignant calcications. (a) Original image.
(b) Image with the contours of the calcication regions detected. The sec-
tion shown is of size 512 512 pixels (approximately 2:25 cm 2:25 cm), out
of the full matrix of 1 792 4 096 pixels of the complete mammogram. Repro-
duced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Detection and classication of mammographic calcications", International
Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial Intelligence, 7(6): 1403{1416,
1993.
c World Scientic Publishing Co.
Detection of Regions of Interest 417
although the detection capability was diminished that is, more calcications
were missed by the prediction-error method.
FIGURE 5.28
(a) Mammogram section with malignant calcications 234 137 pixels with
a resolution of 160
m. (b) Seed pixels detected by thresholding the predic-
tion error (marked in black). (c) Image with the contours of the calcication
regions detected by region growing from the seed pixels in (b). Reproduced
with permission from C. Serrano, J.D. Trujillo, B. Acha, and R.M. Ran-
gayyan, \Use of 2D linear prediction error to detect microcalcications in
mammograms", CDROM Proceedings of the II Latin American Congress on
Biomedical Engineering, Havana, Cuba, 23{25 May 2001.
c Cuban Society
of Bioengineering.
Although mammography is being used for breast cancer screening, the anal-
ysis of masses and tumors on mammograms is, at times, dicult because
developing signs of cancer may be minimal or masked by superimposed tis-
418 Biomedical Image Analysis
sues. Additional diagnostic procedures may be recommended when the origi-
nal mammogram is equivocal.
Computer-aided image analysis techniques have the potential to improve
the diagnostic accuracy of mammography and reduce the use of adjunctive
procedures and morbidity, as well as health-care costs. Computer analysis can
facilitate the enhancement, detection, characterization, and quantication of
diagnostic features such as the shapes of calcications and masses, growth
of tumors into surrounding tissues, and the distortion caused by developing
densities. The annotation of mammograms with objective measures may assist
radiologists in diagnosis.
Computer-aided detection of breast masses is a challenging problem requir-
ing sophisticated techniques due to the low contrast and poor denition of
their boundaries. Classical segmentation techniques attempt to dene pre-
cisely the ROI, such as a calcication or a mass. Shen et al. 274] proposed
thresholding and multitolerance region growing methods for the detection of
potential calcication regions and extraction of their contours see Sections
5.4.7 and 5.4.9. Karssemeijer 339], Laine et al. 340], and Miller and Ram-
sey 341] proposed methods for tumor detection based on scale-space analysis.
Zhang et al. 342] proposed an automated detection method for the initial iden-
tication of spiculated lesions based on an analysis of mammographic texture
patterns. Matsubara et al. 343] described an algorithm based on an adaptive
thresholding technique for mass detection. Kupinski and Giger 344] presented
two methods for segmenting lesions in digital mammograms: a radial-gradient-
index-based algorithm that considers both the gray-level information and a
geometric constraint, and a probabilistic approach. However, dening criteria
to realize precisely the boundaries of masses in mammograms is dicult. The
problem is compounded by the fact that most malignant tumors possess fuzzy
boundaries with a slow and extended transition from a dense core region to
the surrounding tissues. (For detailed reviews on the detection and analy-
sis of breast masses, refer to Rangayyan et al. 163, 345] and Mudigonda et
al. 165, 275]. See Sections 6.7, 7.9, 12.11, and 12.12 for related discussions.)
An alternative to address the problem of detecting breast masses is to rep-
resent tumor or mass regions by fuzzy sets 307]. The most popular algorithm
that uses the fuzzy-set approach is the fuzzy C-means algorithm 346, 347,
348]. The fuzzy C-means algorithm uses iterative optimization of an objective
function based on weighted similarity measures between the pixels in the im-
age and each cluster center. The segmentation method of Chen and Lee 348]
uses fuzzy C-means as a preprocessing step in a Bayesian learning paradigm
realized via the expectation-maximization algorithm for edge detection and
segmentation of calcications and masses in mammograms. However, their
nal result is based on classical segmentation to produce crisp boundaries.
Sameti and Ward 349] proposed a lesion segmentation algorithm using fuzzy
sets to partition a given mammogram. Their method divides a mammogram
into two crisp regions according to a fuzzy membership function and an it-
erative optimization procedure to minimize an objective function. If more
Detection of Regions of Interest 419
than two regions are required, the algorithm can be applied to each region
obtained in the preceding step using the same procedure. The authors pre-
sented results of application of the method to mammograms with four levels
of segmentation.
Guliato et al. 276] proposed two segmentation methods that incorporate
fuzzy concepts. The rst method determines the boundary of a tumor or mass
by region growing after a preprocessing step based on fuzzy sets to enhance the
ROI. The second segmentation method is a fuzzy region-growing method that
takes into account the uncertainty present around the boundaries of tumors.
These methods are described in the following sections.
where p is the pixel being processed, A is the feature vector of the mass (gray
level), B is the feature vector of the pixel being analyzed, and denes the
opening of the membership function. For large the opening is narrow and
the function's behavior is strict for small the opening is wide, and the
function presents a more permissive behavior.
0
Difference between the feature vector of the ROI
and that of each pixel of the original image
FIGURE 5.29
Fuzzy membership function for preprocessing. Reproduced with permission
from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Segmentation of breast tumors in mammograms using fuzzy sets",
c SPIE and IS&T.
Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
The fuzzy set obtained by the method described above represents pixels
whose properties are close to those of the mass with a high membership degree
the opposite case results in a low membership degree. The membership degree
may be used as a scale factor to obtain gray levels and display the result as
an image. The contrast of the ROI in the resulting image depends upon the
parameter .
Figures 5.30 (a) and (b) show a 700 700-pixel portion of a mammogram
with a spiculated malignant tumor and the result of fuzzy-set-based prepro-
cessing with = 0:007, respectively. It is seen from the image in Figure
Detection of Regions of Interest 421
5.30 (b) that the pixels in the tumor region (the bright area in the upper-left
part of the image) have higher values than the pixels in other parts of the
image, indicating a higher degree of similarity with respect to the ROI or
seed region. The membership values decrease gradually across the boundary
of the tumor, as expected, due to the malignant nature of the tumor in this
particular case. Note, however, that a few other spatially disconnected regions
on the right-hand side of the image also have high values these regions can
be eliminated by further processing, as described in Section 5.5.2.
(d)
FIGURE 5.30
(a) A 700 700-pixel portion of a mammogram with a spiculated malignant
tumor. Pixel size = 62.5
m. (b) Fuzzy-set-based ROI enhancement with =
0:007. (c) Contour extracted (white line) by region growing with the result in
(b). The black line represents the boundary drawn by a radiologist (shown for
comparison). = 0:007, threshold = 0.63. (d) Result of fuzzy region growing
with the image in (a) with
max = 45, CVmax = 0:01, = 0:07. The
contour drawn by the radiologist is superimposed for comparison. Reproduced
with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation of breast tumors in mammograms using
fuzzy sets", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
c SPIE
and IS&T.
424 Biomedical Image Analysis
Furthermore, the algorithm could present unstable behavior for example, dif-
ferent pixels with the same values that are rejected at an earlier stage may be
accepted later on in the region-growing method. It is also possible that the
stopping condition is not reached when the gray level in the image increases
slowly in the same direction as that of the traversal strategy. Besides, tradi-
tional region-growing methods represent the ROI by a classical set, dening
precisely the region's boundary. In such a case, the transition information is
lost, and the segmentation task becomes a critical stage in the image analysis
system. In order to address these concerns, Guliato et al. 276] presented
two image segmentation methods: the rst based on classical region growing
with the fuzzy-set preprocessed image (described in the following paragraphs),
and the second based on fuzzy region growing using statistical measures in
homogeneity criteria, described in Section 5.5.3.
The pixel values in the fuzzy-set preprocessed image represent the member-
ship degrees of pixels with respect to the ROI as dened by the seed region. To
perform contour extraction, the region-growing algorithm needs a threshold
value and a seed region that lies inside the ROI. The region-growing process
starts with the seed region. Four-connected neighboring pixels that are above
the threshold are labeled as zero, the neighbors of the pixels labeled as zero
are inspected, and the procedure continued. If the connected pixel is less than
the threshold, it is labeled as one, indicating a contour pixel, and its neigh-
borhood is not processed. The recursive process continues until all spatially
connected pixels fail the test for inclusion in the region. A post-processing step
is included to remove isolated pixels and regions that lie within the outermost
contour.
The algorithm is simple and easy to implement, and will always produce
closed contours. The method was evaluated with a number of synthetic test
images as well as medical images such as CT and nuclear medicine images,
and produced good results even in the presence of high levels of noise 352].
Examples: Figure 5.31 shows the results of the method with a synthetic
image for three representative combinations of parameters. The three results
exhibit a good degree of similarity and illustrate the robustness of the method
in the presence of noise.
Figure 5.30 (c) shows the contour extracted for the mammogram in part
(a) of the same gure. Figure 5.32 (a) shows a part of a mammogram with
a circumscribed benign mass part (b) of the gure shows the corresponding
enhanced image. Figure 5.32 (c) shows the contour obtained: the image
is superimposed with the contour obtained by region growing in white the
contour in black is the boundary drawn independently by an experienced
radiologist, shown for comparison.
Results of application to mammograms: Guliato et al. 276] tested
their method with 47 mammograms including 25 malignant tumors and 22
benign masses, and observed good agreement between the contours given by
the method and those drawn independently by a radiologist. The seed re-
gion and threshold value were selected manually for each case the threshold
Detection of Regions of Interest 425
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.31
Illustration of the eects of seed pixel and threshold selection on fuzzy-set
preprocessing and region growing. (a) Original image (128 128 pixels) with
additive Gaussian noise, with = 12 and SNR = 2:66. Results with (b) seed
pixel (60 60) and threshold = 0:82 (c) seed pixel (68 60) and threshold =
0:85 (d) seed pixel (68 80) and threshold = 0:85. Reproduced with permission
from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Segmentation of breast tumors in mammograms using fuzzy sets",
Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
426 Biomedical Image Analysis
values varied between 0:57 and 0:90 for the images used. The same value of
the membership function parameter = 0:007 was used to process all of the
images in the study. It was observed that the result of segmentation depended
upon the choice of the seed to start region growing and the threshold. Au-
tomatic selection of the seed pixel or region and the threshold is a dicult
problem that was not addressed in the study. It was observed that the thresh-
old could possibly be derived as a function of the statistics (such as the mean
and standard deviation) of the fuzzy-set preprocessed image.
Measure of fuzziness: In order to compare the results obtained by seg-
mentation with the contours of the masses drawn by the radiologist, Guliato
et al. 276, 277] developed a method to aggregate the segmented region with
the reference contour. The procedure can aggregate not only two contours
but also a contour with a fuzzy region, and hence is more general than clas-
sical intersection. The method uses a fuzzy fusion operator that generalizes
classical intersection of sets, producing a fuzzy set that represents the agree-
ment present among the two inputs see Section 5.11 for details. The result
of fusion was evaluated by a measure of fuzziness computed as
P 1; j 2 ;(p) ; 1 j]
f (X ) = p2X j X j (5.63)
Detection of Regions of Interest 427
(d)
FIGURE 5.32
(a) A 1 024 1 024-pixel portion of a mammogram with a circumscribed be-
nign mass. Pixel size = 50
m. (b) Fuzzy-set-based ROI enhancement with
= 0:007. (c) Contour extracted (white line) by region growing with the
result in (b). The black line represents the boundary drawn by a radiologist
(shown for comparison). = 0:007, threshold = 0:87: (d) Result of fuzzy
region growing with the image in (a) with
max = 15, CVmax = 0:01,
= 0:07. The contour drawn by the radiologist is superimposed for compar-
ison. Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A.
Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation of breast tumors
in mammograms using fuzzy sets", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 369
{ 378, 2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Detection of Regions of Interest 429
where X is the result of aggregation, and ;(p) is the degree of membership of
the pixel p. The denominator in the expression above normalizes the measure
with respect to the area of the result of fusion, resulting in a value in the
range 0 1], with zero representing perfect agreement and unity indicating no
intersection between the two inputs.
The values of the measure of fuzziness obtained for the 47 mammograms in
the study were in the range (0:13 0:85), with the mean and standard deviation
being 0:42 and 0:17, respectively. The measure of fuzziness was less than 0:5
for 34 out of the 47 cases. In most cases where the measure of fuzziness was
greater than 0:5, the segmented region was smaller than, but contained within,
the region indicated by the contour drawn by the radiologist. Regardless of
the agreement in terms of the measure of fuzziness, it was argued that, for
a spiculated lesion, there is no denite number of spicules that characterizes
the lesion as malignant. The method captured the majority of the spicules in
the cases analyzed, providing sucient information for diagnosis (according
to the analysis of the results performed by an expert radiologist).
Assessment of the results by pattern classi
cation: In order to de-
rive a parameter for discriminating between benign masses and malignant
tumors, the following procedure was applied by Guliato et al. 276, 353]. A
morphological erosion procedure with a square structuring element of size
equal to 25% of the shorter dimension of the smallest rectangle containing the
contour was applied to the contour, so that the core of the ROI was separated
from the boundary. A parameter labeled as DCV was computed from the
fuzzy-set preprocessed image, by taking the dierence between the coecient
of variation (CV ) of the entire ROI and that of the core of the ROI. A high
value of DCV represents an inhomogeneous ROI, which could be indicative
of a malignant tumor. The probability of malignancy based upon DCV was
computed using the logistic regression method (see Section 12.5 for details)
the result is illustrated in Figure 5.33. Several cut points were analyzed with
the curve the cut point of 0:02 resulted in all 22 benign masses and 16 out of
the 25 malignant tumors being correctly classied, yielding a high specicity
of 1:0 but a low sensitivity of 0:64.
FIGURE 5.33
The probability of malignancy (vertical axis) derived from the parameter
DCV (horizontal axis). Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M.
Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation
of breast tumors in mammograms using fuzzy sets", Journal of Electronic
c SPIE and IS&T.
Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
Let
max , CVmax , and be the control parameters for region growing.
max species the maximum allowed dierence between the value of the
pixel being analyzed and the mean of the subregion already grown. CVmax
indicates the desired degree of homogeneity between two subregions denes
the opening of the membership function. Let p be the next pixel to be analyzed
and I (p) be the value of p. The segmentation algorithm is executed in two
steps:
1. j I (p) ;
j
max . If this condition is not satised, then the pixel is
labeled as rejected. If the condition is satised, p is temporarily added
to the subregion and
new and new are calculated.
2. j ; new
new
j CVmax . If the condition is satised, then p must de-
nitely be added to the subregion and labeled as accepted, and
and
must be updated, that is,
=
new and = new . If the condition is
not satised, p is added to the subregion with the label accepted with
restriction, and
and are not modied.
The second step given above analyzes the distortion that the pixel p can
produce if added to the subregion. At the beginning of the process, the region
includes all the pixels in the seed region, and the standard deviation is set
to zero. While the standard deviation of the region being grown is zero, a
specic procedure is executed in the second step: j ; new
new
j 2 CVmax .
The parameter CVmax works as a lter that avoids the possibility that the
Detection of Regions of Interest 431
mean and standard deviation measures suer undesirable modication during
the region-growing process. Furthermore, the algorithm processes pixels in
expanding concentric squares around the seed region, evaluating each pixel
only once. These steps provide stability to the algorithm.
The membership function that maps the pixel values of the region resulting
from the preceding procedure to the unit interval 0 1] could be based upon
the mean of the region. Pixels that are close to the mean will have a high
membership degree, and in the opposite case, a low membership degree. The
desirable characteristics of the membership function are:
the membership degree of the seed pixel or region must be 1
the membership degree of a pixel labeled as rejected must be 0
the membership function must be as independent of the seed pixel or
region as possible
the membership degree must represent the proximity between a pixel
labeled as accepted or accepted with restriction and the mean of the
resulting region
the function must be symmetric with respect to the dierence between
the mean and the pixel value and
the function must decrease monotonically from 1 to 0.
The membership function ; used by Guliato et al. 276] is illustrated in
Figure 5.34, where a = j mean seed region ;
j and b =
max . The value
of a pixel p is mapped to the fuzzy membership degree ;(p) as follows:
if j I (p) ;
j a then ;(p) = 1
else if j I (p) ;
j> b then ;(p) = 0
else ;(p) = 1+ jI1(p);j .
The method was tested on several synthetic images with various levels of
noise. Figure 5.35 illustrates three representative results of the method with
a synthetic image and dierent seed pixels. The results do not dier signi-
cantly, indicating the low eect of noise on the method.
Results of application to mammograms: The fuzzy region for the
malignant tumor shown in Figure 5.30 (a) is illustrated in part (d) of the
same gure. Figure 5.32 (d) shows the fuzzy region obtained for the benign
mass shown in part (a) of the same gure.
An interactive graphical interface was developed by Guliato et al. 353],
using an object-oriented architecture with controller classes. Some of the fea-
tures of the interface are fast and easy upgradability, portability, and threads
432 Biomedical Image Analysis
membership degree
0
a b
difference between the mean and the pixel value
FIGURE 5.34
Fuzzy membership function for region growing, where a =j mean seed region;
j, and b =
max . Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M.
Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation
of breast tumors in mammograms using fuzzy sets", Journal of Electronic
c SPIE and IS&T.
Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.35
Illustration of the eects of seed pixel selection on fuzzy region growing.
(a) Original image (128 128 pixels) with Gaussian noise, with = 12 and
SNR = 2:66. Results with (b) seed pixel (60 60),
max = 18, CVmax =
0:007, = 0:01 (c) seed pixel (68 60),
max = 18, CVmax = 0:007,
= 0:01 (d) seed pixel (68 80),
max = 18, CVmax = 0:007, = 0:01. Re-
produced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli,
J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation of breast tumors in mam-
mograms using fuzzy sets", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378,
2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
434 Biomedical Image Analysis
Assessment of the results by pattern classi
cation: In order to de-
rive parameters for pattern classication, Guliato et al. 276] analyzed the
characteristics of a fuzzy ribbon, dened as the connected region whose pixels
possess membership degrees less than unity and separate the tumor core from
the background, as illustrated in Figure 5.36. Shape factors of mass contours
as well as measures of edge sharpness and texture have been proposed for the
purpose of classication of breast masses 163, 165, 275, 345, 354] see Sections
6.7, 7.9, 12.11, and 12.12 for related discussions. However, important infor-
mation is lost in analysis based on crisply dened contours: the uncertainty
present in and/or around the ROI is not considered. Guliato et al. evaluated
the potential use of statistical measures of each segmented fuzzy region and
of its fuzzy ribbon as tools to classify masses as benign or malignant. Observe
that the fuzzy ribbon of the malignant tumor in Figure 5.36 (a) contains more
pixels with low values than that of the benign mass in part (b) of the same
gure. This is due to the fact that, in general, malignant tumors possess
ill-dened boundaries, whereas benign masses are well-circumscribed. Based
upon this observation, Guliato et al. computed the coecient of variation
CVfr of the membership values of the pixels lying only within the fuzzy rib-
bon, and the ratio fr of the number of pixels with membership degree less
than 0:5 to the total number of pixels within the fuzzy ribbon. It was expected
that the fuzzy ribbons of malignant tumors would possess higher CVfr and
fr than those of benign masses.
In pattern classication experiments, discrimination between benign masses
and malignant tumors with the parameter fr had no statistical signicance.
The probability of malignancy curve based upon CVfr , computed using the
logistic regression method (see Section 12.5 for details), is illustrated in Fig-
ure 5.37. The cut point of 0:18 resulted in the correct classication of 20 out
of 25 malignant tumors and 20 out of 22 benign masses processed, leading to
a sensitivity of 0:8 and a specicity of 0:9.
The fuzzy segmentation techniques described above represent the ROI by
fuzzy sets instead of crisp sets as in classical segmentation. The results of
the fuzzy approach agree well with visual perception, especially at transitions
around boundaries. The methods allow the postponement of the crisp decision
to a higher level of image analysis. For further theoretical notions related to
fuzzy segmentation and illustrations of application to medical images, see
Udupa and Samarasekera 355] and Saha et al. 356, 357].
(b)
FIGURE 5.36
The fuzzy ribbons of (a) the malignant tumor in Figure 5.30 (a) and (b) the
benign mass in Figure 5.32 (a). Reproduced with permission from D. Gu-
liato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Segmentation of breast tumors in mammograms using fuzzy sets", Journal
c SPIE and IS&T.
of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
FIGURE 5.37
The probability of malignancy (vertical axis) derived from the parameter CVfr
(horizontal axis). Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation of
breast tumors in mammograms using fuzzy sets", Journal of Electronic Imag-
c SPIE and IS&T.
ing, 12(3): 369 { 378, 2003.
slope = m
y = mx + c
ρ = x cos θ + y sin θ
ρ o
90
(0, 0)
x
FIGURE 5.38
Parametric representation of a straight line in three coordinate systems: (x y),
(m c), and ( ).
1, and all other pixels have the value 0. It is advantageous if the line is
one-pixel thick otherwise, several lines could exist within a thick line.
If the normal parameters of the line are (0 0 ), all pixels along the line
satisfy the relationship
0 = x(n) cos 0 + y(n) sin 0 : (5.66)
For a given pixel fx(n) y(n)g, this represents a sinusoidal curve in the ( )
parameter space it follows that the curves for all the N pixels intersect at
the point (0 0 ).
The following properties of the above representation follow 359]:
A point in the (x y) space corresponds to a sinusoidal curve in the ( )
parameter space.
A point in the ( ) space corresponds to a straight line in the (x y)
space.
Points lying on the same straight line in the (x y) space correspond to
curves through a common point in the parameter space.
Points lying on the same curve in the parameter space correspond to
lines through a common point in the (x y) space.
Detection of Regions of Interest 439
Based upon the discussion above, a procedure to detect straight lines is as
follows:
1. Discretize the ( ) parameter space into bins by quantizing and
as k k = 0 1 2 : : : K ; 1 and l l = 0 1 2 : : : L ; 1 the bins
are commonly referred to as accumulator cells. Suitable limits may be
imposed on the ranges of the parameters ( ).
2. For each point in the given image that has a value of 1, increment by
1 each accumulator cell in the ( ) space that satises the relationship
= x(n) cos + y(n) sin : Note that exact equality needs to be trans-
lated to a range of acceptance depending upon the discretization step
size of the parameter space.
3. The coordinates of the point of intersection of all the curves in the
parameter space provide the parameters of the line. This point will
have the highest count in the parameter space.
The procedure given above assumes the existence of a single straight line in
the image. If several lines exist, there will be the need to search for all possible
points of intersection of several curves (or the local maxima). Note that the
count in a given accumulator cell represents the number of pixels that lie on
a straight line or several straight-line segments that have the corresponding
( ) parameters. A threshold may be applied to detect only lines that have a
certain minimum length (number of pixels). All cells in the parameter space
that have counts above the threshold may be taken to represent straight lines
(or segments) with the corresponding ( ) values and numbers of pixels.
Examples: Figure 5.39 (a) shows an image with a single straight line,
represented by the parameters ( ) = (20 30o ). The limits of the x and y
axes are 50, with the origin at the center of the image. The Hough transform
of the image is shown in part (b) of the gure in the ( ) parameter space.
The maximum value in the parameter space occurs at ( ) = (20 30o ).
An image containing two lines with ( ) = (20 30o ) and (;50 60o ) is
shown in Figure 5.40 (a), along with its Hough transform in part (b) of the
gure. (The value of was considered to be negative for normals to lines
extending below the horizontal axis x = 0 in the image, with the origin at
the center of the image the range of was dened to be 0 180o ]. It is also
possible to maintain to be positive, with the range of extended to 0 360o ].)
The parameter space clearly demonstrates the expected sinusoidal patterns,
as well as two peaks at the locations corresponding to the parameters of the
two lines present in the image. Observe that the intensity of the point at
the intersection of the sinusoidal curves for the second line (the lower of the
two bright points in the parameter space) is less than that for the rst line,
re ecting its shorter length.
The application of the Hough transform to detect the pectoral muscle in
mammograms is described in Section 5.10. See Section 8.6 for further discus-
440 Biomedical Image Analysis
sion on the Hough transform, and for a modication of the Hough transform
by inclusion of the Radon transform.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 5.39
(a) Image with a straight line with ( ) = (20 30o ). The limits of the x and y
axes are 50, with the origin at the center of the image. (b) Hough transform
parameter space for the image. The display intensity is log(1+ accumulator
cell value). The horizontal axis represents = 0 180o ] the vertical axis
represents = ;75 75].
(a) (b)
FIGURE 5.40
(a) Image with two straight lines with ( ) = (20 30o ) and (;50 60o ). The
limits of the x and y axes are 50, with the origin at the center of the image.
(b) Hough transform parameter space for the image. The display intensity is
log(1+ accumulator cell value). The horizontal axis represents = 0 180o ]
the vertical axis represents = ;75 75].
442 Biomedical Image Analysis
of the circle is shown in Figure 5.42. The parameter space demonstrates a
clear peak at (a b c) = (15 15 10) as expected.
FIGURE 5.41
A 30 30 image with a circle of radius 10 pixels, centered at (x y) = (15 15).
An image derived from the scar-tissue collagen ber image in Figure 1.5 (b)
is shown in Figure 5.43 (a). The image was binarized with a threshold equal
to 0:8 of its maximum value. In order to detect the edges of the objects in
the image, an image was created with the value zero at all pixels having the
value zero and also having all of their 4-connected pixels equal to zero in the
binarized image. The same step was applied to all pixels with the value of one.
All remaining pixels were assigned the value of one. Figure 5.43 (b) shows
the result that depicts only the edges of the bers, which are nearly circular
in cross-section. Observe that some of the object boundaries are incomplete
and not exactly circular. The Hough parameter (a b c) space of the image is
shown in Figure 5.44 for circles of radius in the range 1 ; 12 pixels. Several
distinct peaks are visible in the planes for radius values of 4 5 6 and 7 pixels
the locations of the peaks give the coordinates of the centers of the circles that
are present in the image and their radii. The parameter space could be further
processed and thresholded to detect automatically the peaks present, which
relate to the circles in the image. Prior knowledge of the range of possible
radius values could assist in the process.
Figure 5.43 (c) shows the parameter space plane for a radius of 5 pixels,
superimposed on a reversed version of the edge image in Figure 5.43 (b) the
edges are shown in black. The composite image demonstrates clearly that
the peaks in the parameter space coincide with the centers of nearly circular
objects, with an estimated radius of 5 pixels no peaks or high values are
present within smaller or larger objects. A similar composite image is shown
in part (d) of the gure for a radius of 7 pixels. Similar results are shown in
Figures 5.45 and 5.46 for another TEM image of a normal ligament sample.
Detection of Regions of Interest 443
FIGURE 5.42
Hough parameter (a b c) space of the circle image in Figure 5.41. Each image
is of size 30 30 pixels, and represents the range of the (a b) coordinates of
the center of a potential circle. The series of images represents the various
planes of the (a b c) parameter space with c = 1 2 : : : 36 going left to right
and top to bottom, representing the radius of potential circles. The intensity
of the parameter space values has been enhanced with the log operation. The
maximum value in the Hough space is located at the center of the plane for
c = 10.
444 Biomedical Image Analysis
Observe that the Hough transform works well even when the given image has
incomplete and slightly distorted versions of the pattern being represented.
Frank et al. 33] performed an analysis of the diameter distribution of col-
lagen bers in rabbit ligaments. Scar-tissue samples from injured and healing
ligaments were observed to have an almost-uniform distribution of ber di-
ameter in the range 60 ; 70 nm, whereas normal samples were observed to
have a wider range of diameter, with an average value of about 150 nm.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.43
(a) TEM image showing collagen bers in cross-section a part of the image
in Figure 1.5 (b)]. The image is of size 85 85 pixels. (b) Edges extracted
from the image in (a). (c) Negative version of the image in (b), overlaid with
10 times the c = 5 plane of the Hough transform parameter space. (d) Same
as in (c) but with the c = 7 plane. See also Figure 5.44.
446 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 5.44
Hough parameter (a b c) space of the image in Figure 5.43 (b). Each image
is of size 85 85 pixels, and represents the range of the (a b) coordinates of
the center of a potential circle. The series of images represents the various
planes of the (a b c) parameter space with c = 1 2 : : : 12 going left to right
and top to bottom, representing the radius of potential circles. The intensity
of the parameter space values has been enhanced with the log operation.
Detection of Regions of Interest 447
(a) (b)
(c) (b)
FIGURE 5.45
(a) TEM image showing collagen bers in cross-section a part of the image
in Figure 1.5 (a)]. The image is of size 143 157 pixels. (b) Edges extracted
from the image in (a). (c) Negative version of the image in (b), overlaid with
10 times the c = 13 plane of the Hough transform parameter space. (d) Same
as in (c) but with the c = 20 plane. See also Figure 5.46.
448 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 5.46
Hough parameter (a b c) space of the image in Figure 5.45 (b). Each image
is of size 143 157 pixels, and represents the range of the (a b) coordinates
of the center of a potential circle. The series of images represents the various
planes of the (a b c) parameter space with c = 1 2 : : : 20 going left to right
and top to bottom, representing the radius of potential circles. The intensity
of the parameter space values has been enhanced with the log operation.
Detection of Regions of Interest 449
ROI that satises the conditions imposed. The use of active contour models
to obtain the breast boundary in mammograms is described in Section 5.9.
The \live wire": Falc~ao et al. 363, 364] argued that there will continue
to be situations where automatic image segmentation methods fail, and pro-
posed a user-steered segmentation paradigm labeled as the \live wire". Their
guiding principles were to provide eective control to the user over the seg-
mentation process during execution, and to minimize the user's time required
in the process of segmentation. In the live-wire approach, the user initially
species a point on the boundary of the ROI using a cursor. Then, as the user
moves the cursor, an optimal path connecting the initial point to the current
cursor position is computed and displayed in real time. Optimal paths are
determined by computing a number of features and their associated costs to
every boundary element, and nding the minimum-cost paths via dynamic
programming. When the cursor moves close to the true boundary, the live
wire snaps on to the boundary. If the result is satisfactory, the user deposits
the cursor, at which point the location of the cursor becomes the starting
point of a new live-wire segment. The entire boundary of the ROI is specied
as a set of live-wire segments. The features used include the image intensity
values on the inside and outside of the boundary, several gradient measures,
and the distance from the boundary in the preceding slice (in the case of seg-
mentation of 3D images). Falc~ao et al. indicated that the method could assist
in fast and accurate segmentation of ROIs in 2D and 3D medical images after
some training.
Fusion of multiple results of segmentation: The segmentation of re-
gions such as masses and tumors in mammograms is complicated by several
factors, such as poor contrast, superimposition of tissues, imaging geometry,
and the invasive nature of cancer. In such cases, it may be desirable to apply
several image processing techniques based upon dierent principles and image
characteristics, and then to combine or fuse the multiple results obtained into
a single region or contour. It could be expected that the result so obtained
would be better than any of the individual results. A fuzzy fusion operator
that can fuse a contour and a fuzzy region to produce another fuzzy region is
described in Section 5.11.
The prole of the breast has been used as additional information in dif-
ferent tasks in mammography. Bick et al. 368] and Byng et al. 369], for
example, used the skin-air boundary information to perform density correc-
tion of peripheral breast tissue on digital mammograms, which is aected
by the compression procedure applied during imaging. Chandrasekhar and
Attikiouzel 370] discussed the importance of the skin-air boundary prole
as a constraint in searching for the nipple location, which is often used as a
reference point for registering mammograms taken at dierent times of the
same subject. Other groups have used the breast boundary to perform reg-
istration between left and right mammograms in the process of detection of
asymmetry 371, 372].
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.47
(a) A 512 512 CT image slice of a patient with neuroblastoma. Pixel width
= 0:41 mm. The tumor boundary drawn by a radiologist is shown in black.
(b) Cropped area for further processing. (c) Edge map of the binarized bone
volume. (d) Best-tting circle as determined by Hough-space analysis. The
circle has a radius of 6:6 mm. Figures courtesy of the Alberta Children's
Hospital and H.J. Deglint 365, 366].
Detection of Regions of Interest 453
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.48
(a) A 512 512 CT image slice of a patient with neuroblastoma. Pixel
width = 0:41 mm. (b) Cropped area for further processing. (c) Edge map
of the binarized bone volume. (d) The four circles corresponding to the rst
four peaks in the Hough space. The radii of the circles range from 6:6 mm
to 9:8 mm. See also Figure 5.49. Figures courtesy of the Alberta Children's
Hospital and H.J. Deglint 365, 366].
454 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 5.49
(a) Edge map of the binarized bone volume related to the ROI of the CT
image in Figure 5.48. Hough-space slices related to the detection of circles of
radius (b) 15, (c) 17, and (d) 19 pixels, with the pixel width being 0:41 mm.
Figures courtesy of H.J. Deglint 365, 366].
Detection of Regions of Interest 455
FIGURE 5.50
3D rendition of the spinal canal detected for the case related to the CT slices
shown in Figures 5.47 and 5.48. The spinal canal is shown in a relatively dark
shade of gray against the bone volume for reference.
456 Biomedical Image Analysis
5.9.1 Detection using the traditional active deformable con-
tour model
In an initial study, Ferrari et al. 375] used the traditional active deformable
contour model or snakes 362] for the detection of the breast boundary. The
method, summarized in Figure 5.51, is composed of six main stages, as de-
scribed in the following paragraphs.
Stage 1: The image contrast is enhanced by using a simple logarithmic
operation 8]. A contrast-correction step using a simple logarithmic operation
as
g(x y) = log1 + f (x y)] (5.68)
is applied to the original image f (x y) g(x y) is the transformed image. This
operation for dynamic range compression, although applied to the whole im-
age, signicantly enhances the contrast of the regions near the breast bound-
ary in mammograms, which are characterized by low density and poor de-
nition of details 368, 369]. The rationale behind the application of this pro-
cedure to the image is to determine an approximate breast contour as close
as possible to the true breast boundary. The eect of this procedure can be
seen by comparing the original and the enhanced images in Figures 5.52 (a)
and 5.52 (b).
Stage 2: A binarization procedure using the Lloyd{Max quantization al-
gorithm is applied to the image 118] see Section 2.3.2 for details. Figure
5.52 (c) shows the binarized version of the image in part (b) of the same
gure.
Stage 3: Spurious details generated by the binarization step are removed
by using a morphological opening operator 8] with a circular structuring
element with a diameter of 7 pixels. Figures 5.52 (c){(d) show the result of
the binarization procedure for the mammogram in Figure 5.52 (a), before and
after the application of the morphological opening operator, respectively.
Stage 4: After the binarization procedure, an approximate contour Cappr
of the breast is extracted by using the chain-code method 8] see Section 6.1.2
for details. The starting point of Cappr is obtained by following the horizontal
path that starts at the centroid of the image and is directed toward the chest
wall until a background pixel is found. This procedure avoids selecting an
initial boundary from artifacts or patient labels that may be present in the
image. Four control points see Figure 5.52 (e)] are automatically determined
and used to limit the breast boundary. The points are dened as N1: the
top-left corner pixel of the boundary loop N2: the farthest point on the
boundary from N3 (in terms of the Euclidean distance through the breast)
N3: the lowest pixel on the left-hand edge of the boundary loop and N4: the
farthest point on the skin-air boundary loop from N1.
Stage 5: Pixels along lines of length 40 pixels (length = 0:8 cm at a sam-
pling resolution of 200
m) are identied at each point of the approximate
Detection of Regions of Interest 457
FIGURE 5.51
Flowchart of the procedures for identication of the skin-air boundary of the
breast in mammograms. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M.
Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Identication of
the breast boundary in mammograms using active contour models", Medical
and Biological Engineering and Computing, 42: 201 { 208, 2004.
c IFMBE.
458 Biomedical Image Analysis
skin-air boundary in the original image in the direction normal to the bound-
ary see Figure 5.52 (f)]. The gray-level histogram of the pixels along each
normal line is computed, and the skin-air intersection is dened as the rst
pixel, while traversing along the normal line from inside the breast toward
the outside, that has the gray level associated with the maximum value in the
histogram, as illustrated in Figure 5.53. This procedure was designed in order
to provide a close estimate to the true skin-air boundary see Figure 5.52 (g)],
and thereby reduce the chances of the active contour (used in the next stage)
converging to a wrong contour.
Stage 6: The traditional snakes model is applied to dene the true breast
boundary. The contour determined in the previous stage is used as the input
to a traditional parametric active contour or snakes model 362]. The contour
is moved through the spatial domain of the image in order to minimize the
energy functional
Z 1 1 n o
jv 0 (s)j + jv 00 (s)j + Eext fv (s)g ds
2 2
E= 2 (5.69)
0
where and are weighting parameters that control, respectively, the ten-
sion and rigidity of the snake. The v0 (s) and v00 (s) values denote the rst and
second derivatives of v(s) with respect to s, where v(s) indicates the continu-
ous representation of the contour, and s represents distance along the contour
462 Biomedical Image Analysis
(h)
FIGURE 5.52
Results of each stage of the method for identication of the breast bound-
ary. (a) Image mdb042 from the Mini-MIAS database 376]. (b) Image after
the logarithmic operation. (c){(d) Binary image before and after applying
the binary morphological opening operator. (e) Control points N1 to N4
(automatically determined) used to limit the breast boundary. (f) Normal
lines computed from each pixel on the skin-air boundary. (g) Boundary after
histogram-based analysis of the normal lines. (h) Final boundary. Repro-
duced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels,
R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Identication of the breast boundary in mam-
mograms using active contour models", Medical and Biological Engineering
and Computing, 42: 201 { 208, 2004.
c IFMBE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 463
Normal line used to determine the true skin − air boundary
8
7.5
7
Gray−level value
6.5
5.5
5 ×
4.5
4
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Distance in pixels
(a)
Gray−level histogram computed from the pixels of the normal line
30
25
20
Occurrence
15
10
0
5 10 15 20 25
Gray−level value
(b)
FIGURE 5.53
(a) Prole of a sample normal line used to determine an approximate skin-air
boundary. The symbol indicates the skin-air intersection determined in
Stage 5 of the method. (b) Histogram computed from (a). Reproduced with
permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges,
and A.F. Fr&ere, \Identication of the breast boundary in mammograms using
active contour models", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing,
42: 201 { 208, 2004.
c IFMBE.
464 Biomedical Image Analysis
(normalized to the range 0 1]). The external energy function Eext fv(s)g is
derived from the original image f (x y) as
X
N
Etotal = Einternal (vi ) + Eexternal (vi )] (5.71)
i=1
where and are weighting parameters that control the internal and external
energies Einternal and Eexternal , respectively, at each point vi . The internal
energy is composed of two terms:
Einternal (vi ) = a Econtinuity (vi ) + b Eballoon (vi ) : (5.72)
This energy component ensures a stable shape for the contour and constrains
to keep constant the distance between the points in the contour. In the work
of Ferrari et al., the weighting parameters a and b were initially set to unity
(a = b = 1), because the initial contours present smooth shapes and are close
to the true boundary in most cases. For each element (m n) in a neighborhood
of 7 7 pixels of vi , the continuity term ec(mn) (vi ) is computed as
ec(mn) (vi ) = l(1V ) jp(mn) (vi ) ; (vi;1 + vi+1 )j2 (5.73)
P
where l(V ) = N1 Ni=1 jvi+1 ; vi j2 is a normalization factor that makes the
continuity energy independent of the size, location, and orientation of V
466 Biomedical Image Analysis
(b)
FIGURE 5.54
Result of the segmentation algorithm showing wrong convergence of the breast
contour to a region of high gradient value. (a) Breast boundary detected, su-
perimposed on the original image mdb006 from the Mini-MIAS database.
(b) Details of the breast contour attracted to the image identication marker,
corresponding to the boxed region in (a). Compare with Figure 5.59. Repro-
duced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels,
R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Identication of the breast boundary in mam-
mograms using active contour models", Medical and Biological Engineering
and Computing, 42: 201 { 208, 2004.
c IFMBE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 467
p(mn) (vi ) is the point in the image at the position (m n) in the 7 7 neigh-
borhood of vi and = 2 cos( 2N )];1 is a constant factor to keep the location
of the minimum energy lying on the circle connecting vi;1 and vi+1 , in the
case of closed contours see Figure 5.56.
The balloon force is used to force the expansion of the initial contour toward
the breast boundary. In the work of Ferrari et al., the balloon force was
made adaptive to the magnitude of the image gradient, causing the contour
to expand faster in homogeneous regions and slower near the breast boundary.
The balloon energy term eb(mn) (vi ) is dened as
eb(mn) (vi ) = ni fvi ; p(mn) (vi )g (5.74)
where ni is the outward unit normal vector of V at the point vi , and the
symbol indicates the dot product. ni is computed by rotating the vector
ti = jvvii ;;vvii 11 j + jvvii+1
; +1 ;vi o
;vi j which is the tangent vector at the point vi , by 90
see Figure 5.57.
;
The external energy is based upon the magnitude and direction of the image
gradient, and is intended to attract the contour to the breast boundary. It is
dened as
ee(mn) (vi ) = ;ni rf fp(mn) (vi )g (5.75)
468 Biomedical Image Analysis
(b)
FIGURE 5.55
(a) Approximate breast contour obtained from Stage 4 of the method de-
scribed in Section 5.9.1, for the image mdb042. (b) Sampled breast contour
used as the input to the AADCM. Reproduced with permission from R.J.
Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere,
\Identication of the breast boundary in mammograms using active contour
models", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 42: 201 { 208,
2004.
c IFMBE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 469
p
1,1
v v
i-1 i
v’
i 7x7 neighborhood
p of v
7,7 i
active contour V
2 π
___
v
i+1
N
centroid of contour
FIGURE 5.56
Characteristics of the continuity energy component in the adaptive active
deformable contour model. Figure adapted with permission from B.T. Mack-
iewich 377].
470 Biomedical Image Analysis
ti ni
final
contour
balloon
force initial
contour
region with
uniform intensity
FIGURE 5.57
Characteristics of the balloon energy component in the adaptive active de-
formable contour model. Figure adapted with permission from B.T. Mack-
iewich 377].
e (v ) ; e (v )
f (vi )k
Eballoon (vi ) = eb(mn)(v i) ; e b min(v i) 1 ; kr
krf kmax
(5.77)
b max i b min i
n
i
p
1,1
v
i-1
v’
i 7x7 neighborhood
p of v
7,7 i
g
i
active contour V
FIGURE 5.58
Characteristics of the external energy component in the adaptive active de-
formable contour model. Figure adapted with permission from B.T. Mack-
iewich 377].
472 Biomedical Image Analysis
(b)
FIGURE 5.59
Application of the gradient direction information to avoid the attraction of the
boundary to objects near the true boundary. (a) Breast boundary detected
automatically, superimposed on the original image mdb006 from the Mini-
MIAS database. (b) Details of the detected breast boundary close to the
image identication marker, corresponding to the boxed region in the original
image. Compare with Figure 5.54. Reproduced with permission from R.J.
Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere,
\Identication of the breast boundary in mammograms using active contour
models", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 42: 201 { 208,
2004.
c IFMBE.
474 Biomedical Image Analysis
element. This denition of curvature, as discussed by Williams and Shah 379],
has three important advantages over other curvature measures: it requires
only simple computation, gives coherent values, and depends solely on relative
direction.
At each vi , the weight values for the continuity term and the external energy
are set, respectively, to zero (a = 0) and to twice the initial value ( 2 )
if C (vi ) > C (vi;1 )] and C (vi ) > C (vi+1 )] and C (vi ) > T ]. The thresh-
old value T was set equal to 0:25, which corresponds to an external angle of
approximately 29o . According to Williams and Shah 379], this value of the
threshold has been proven experimentally to be suciently large to dieren-
tiate between corners and curved lines. Figures 5.60 (b) and (c) illustrate an
example without and with the curvature constraint to correct corner eects.
(b) (c)
FIGURE 5.60
Example of the constraint used in the active contour model to prevent smooth-
ing eects at corners. (a) Original image the box indicates the region of
concern. (b) { (c) Details of the breast contour without and with the con-
straint for corner correction, respectively. Reproduced with permission from
R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere,
\Identication of the breast boundary in mammograms using active contour
models", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 42: 201 { 208,
2004.
c IFMBE.
476 Biomedical Image Analysis
5.9.3 Results of application to mammograms
Ferrari et al. applied their methods to 84 images randomly chosen from the
Mini-MIAS database 376]. All images were MLO views with 200
m sampling
interval and 8-bit gray-level quantization. For reduction of processing time, all
images were downsampled with a xed sampling distance so that the original
images corresponding to a matrix size of 1 024 1 024 pixels were transformed
to 256 256 pixels. The results obtained with the downsampled images were
mapped to the original mammograms for subsequent analysis and display.
The results were evaluated in consultation with two radiologists experienced
in mammography.
The test images were displayed on a computer monitor with a diagonal size
of 47:5 cm and dot pitch of 0:27 mm. By using the Gimp program 380], the
contrast and brightness of each image were manually enhanced so that the
breast contour could be easily visualized. The breast boundary was manually
drawn under the supervision of a radiologist, and the results printed on paper
by using a laser printer with 600 dpi resolution. The zoom option of the Gimp
program was used to aid in drawing the contours. The breast boundaries of
all images were visually checked by a radiologist using the printed images
(hardcopy) along with the displayed images (softcopy) the assessment was
recorded for analysis.
The segmentation results related to the breast contours detected by image
processing were evaluated based upon the number of false-positive (FP) and
false-negative (FN) pixels identied and normalized with reference to the cor-
responding areas demarcated by the manually drawn contours. The reference
area for the breast boundary was dened as the area of the breast image
delimited by the hand-drawn breast boundary. The FP and FN average per-
centages and the corresponding standard deviation values obtained for the 84
images were 0:41 0:25% and 0:58 0:67%, respectively. Thirty-three images
presented both FP and FN percentages less than 0:5% 38 images presented
FP and FN percentages between 0:5% and 1% the FP and FN percentages
were greater than 1% for 13 images. The most common cause of FN pixels
was related to missing the nipple region, as illustrated by the example in Fig-
ure 5.61 (c). By removing Stage 5 used to approximate the initial contour to
the true breast boundary (see Figure 5.51), the average time for processing
an image was reduced from 2:0 min to 0:18 min. However, the number of im-
ages where the nipple was not identied increased. The AADCM performed
successfully in cases where a small bending deformation of the contour was
required to detect the nipple see Figure 5.62.
The method for the detection of the breast boundary was used as a pre-
processing step in the analysis of bilateral asymmetry by Ferrari et al. 381]
(see Section 8.9). The method may also be used in other applications, such as
image compression by using only the eective area of the breast, and image
registration.
Detection of Regions of Interest 477
(c)
FIGURE 5.61
Results obtained for the image mdb003 from the Mini-MIAS database.
(a) Original image. (b) Hand-drawn boundary superimposed on the histo-
gram-equalized image. (c) Breast boundary detected, superimposed on the
original image. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Identication of the
breast boundary in mammograms using active contour models", Medical and
Biological Engineering and Computing, 42: 201 { 208, 2004.
c IFMBE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 479
(c)
FIGURE 5.62
Results obtained for the image mdb114 from the Mini-MIAS database.
(a) Original image. (b) Hand-drawn boundary superimposed on the
histogram-equalized image. (c) Breast boundary detected, superimposed on
the original image. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Identication of the
breast boundary in mammograms using active contour models", Medical and
Biological Engineering and Computing, 42: 201 { 208, 2004.
c IFMBE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 481
FIGURE 5.63
Procedure for the identication of the pectoral muscle by using the Hough
transform. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan,
J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic identication of
the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imag-
c IEEE.
ing, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
(b)
FIGURE 5.64
(a) Image mdb042 from the Mini-MIAS database. (b) Approximate boundary
of the breast along with the automatically determined control points N1 { N6
used to limit the ROI (rectangle marked) for the detection of the pectoral mus-
cle. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L.
Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic identication of the pec-
toral muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23:
232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
486 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 5.65
Coordinate system used to compute the Hough transform. The pectoral mus-
cle line detected is also shown. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari,
R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic
identication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions
on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 487
where
and 2 are, respectively, the mean and the variance of the gray-level
values in the area A of the pectoral muscle (see Figure 5.65), dened by the
straight line specied by the parameters and . This procedure was applied
in order to enhance the Hough transform peaks that dene regions with the
property stated in Item 4 of the list provided earlier in this section (page 482).
The weight related to the area was designed to dierentiate the true pectoral
muscle from the pectoralis minor the latter could present a higher contrast
than the former in some cases, albeit enclosing a smaller area than the former.
Finally, the parameters and of the accumulator cell with the maximum
value are taken to represent the pectoral muscle line. Figure 5.66 shows the
Hough accumulator cells at the dierent stages of the procedure described
above for the mammogram in Figure 5.64 (a). The pectoral muscle line de-
tected for the mammogram in Figure 5.64 (a) is shown in Figure 5.65.
1 x2 y2
(x y) = 21 exp ; +
2 x2 y2 + j 2 Wx : (5.82)
x y
(See also Sections 8.4, 8.9, and 8.10.) Gabor wavelets are obtained by dilation
and rotation of (x y) as in Equation 5.82 by using the generating function
488 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 5.66
Hough accumulator cells obtained at three stages of the procedure to detect
the pectoral muscle. The contrast of the images has been modied for im-
proved visualization. (a) Accumulator cells obtained by using the constraint
jxy ; j < 2o and 120o 170o . (b) After removing the lines intercepting
the top of the image outside the region dened by the control points N1 { N2
(see Figure 5.65). (c) After applying the multiplicative factor = 2 A .
Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. De-
sautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic identication of the pectoral
muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 {
245, 2004.
c IEEE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 489
FIGURE 5.67
Flowchart of the procedure for the identication of the pectoral muscle by
using Gabor wavelets. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M.
Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic iden-
tication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions on
c IEEE.
Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 5.68
(a) Image mdb028 from the Mini-MIAS database. (b) The ROI used to search
for the pectoral muscle region, dened by the chest wall and the upper limit
of the skin-air boundary. The box drawn in (a) is not related to the ROI in
(b). Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L.
Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic identication of the pec-
toral muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23:
232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 491
l
(5.85)
u = (a ; p1)Uh
(a + 1) 2 ln 2
h 2
i (5.86)
tan( 2K ) Uh ; Uuh 2 ln 2
v = h i 21 (5.87)
2 ln 2 ; (2 lnU2)h2
2
u2
where Ul and Uh denote the lower and upper center frequencies of interest.
The K and S parameters are, respectively, the number of orientations and
the number of scales in the desired multiresolution decomposition procedure.
The sinusoid frequency W is set equal to Uh , and m = 0 1 : : : S ; 1.
In the application being considered, interest lies only in image analysis,
without the requirement of exact reconstruction or synthesis of the image from
492 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 5.69
Bank of Gabor lters designed in the frequency domain. Each ellipse repre-
sents the range of the corresponding lter response from 0:5 to 1:0 in squared
magnitude (only one half of the response is shown for each lter). The sam-
pling of the frequency spectrum can be adjusted by changing the Ul , Uh , S ,
and K parameters of the Gabor wavelets. Only the lters shown shaded are
used to enhance the directional piecewise-linear structures present in the ROI
images. The frequency axes are normalized. Reproduced with permission
from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F.
Fr&ere, \Automatic identication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 493
the ltered components. Therefore, instead of using the wavelet coecients,
Ferrari et al. 278] used the magnitude of the lter response, computed as
even (x y )
amn (x y) = f (x y) mn (5.88)
where mneven (x y ) indicates the even-symmetric part of the complex Gabor
lter, f (x y) is the ROI being ltered, and represents 2D convolution. The
phase and magnitude images, indicating the local orientation, were composed
by vector summation of the K ltered images (387], chapter 11) see also
Figure 8.10.
The area of each ellipse indicated in Figure 5.69 represents the frequency
spectrum covered by the corresponding Gabor lter. Once the range of the
frequency spectrum is adjusted, the choice of the number of scales and ori-
entations is made in order to cover the range of the spectrum as required.
The choice of the number of scales (S ) and orientations (K ) used by Ferrari
et al. for detecting the pectoral muscle was based upon the resolution re-
quired for detecting oriented information with high selectivity 388, 389]. The
spatial-frequency bandwidths of the simple and complex cells in mammalian
visual systems have been found to range from 0:5 to 2:5 octaves, clustering
around 1:2 octaves and 1:5 octaves, and their angular bandwidth is expected
to be smaller than 30o 389, 390]. By selecting Ul = 0:05, Uh = 0:45, S = 4,
and K = 12 for processing mammographic images, Ferrari et al. 278, 381]
indirectly adjusted the Gabor wavelets to have a frequency bandwidth of ap-
proximately one octave and angular bandwidth of 15o .
In the work of Ferrari et al., all images were initially oriented so that the
chest wall was always positioned on the left-hand side then, the pectoral
muscle edge in correctly acquired MLO views will be located between 45o
and 90o (391], p. 34). (Here, the orientation of the pectoral muscle edge is
dened as the angle between the horizontal line and an imaginary straight
line representing the pectoral muscle edge.) For this reason, Ferrari et al.
used only the Gabor lters with the mean orientation of their responses in
the image domain at 45o , 60o , and 75o the corresponding frequency-domain
responses are shown shaded in Figure 5.69.
Post-processing and pectoral muscle edge detection: In the method
of Ferrari et al., after computing the phase and magnitude images by vector
summation, the relevant edges in the ROI are detected by using an algorithm
proposed by Ma and Manjunath 392] for edge- ow propagation, as described
below. The magnitude A(x y) and phase (x y) at each image location (x y)
are used to represent the edge- ow vector instead of using a predictive coding
model as initially proposed by Ma and Manjunath. The phase at each point
in the image is propagated until it reaches a location where two opposite
directions of ow encounter each other, as follows:
1. Set n = 0 and E0 (x y) = A(x y) cos (x y) A(x y) sin (x y)].
2. Set the edge- ow vector En+1 (x y) at iteration n + 1 to zero.
494 Biomedical Image Analysis
3. At each image location (x y), identify the neighbor (x0 y0 ) that has the
same direction as that of the edge- ow vector En (x y). The direction
is computed as = tan;1 ((xy ;;yx)) .
0
4. If En (x0 y0 ) En (x y) > 0
then En+1 (x0 y0 ) = En+1 (x0 y0 ) + En (x y)
else En+1 (x y) = En+1 (x y) + En (x y),
where the symbol indicates the dot-product operation.
Figures 5.70 (b) and (c) illustrate an example of the orientation map before
and after applying the edge- ow propagation procedure to the image shown
in part (a) of the same gure.
(a) (b)
(e)
FIGURE 5.71
Result of each stage of the Gabor-wavelet-based method: (a) ROI used.
(b) Image magnitude after ltering and vector summation, enhanced by
gamma correction ( = 0:7). (c){(d) Results before and after the post-
processing stage. (e) Final boundary. Reproduced with permission from R.J.
Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere,
\Automatic identication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE
c IEEE.
Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
The segmentation results were evaluated based upon the number of FP and
FN pixels normalized with reference to the corresponding numbers of pixels
in the regions demarcated by the manually drawn edges. The reference region
for the pectoral muscle was dened as the region contained between the left-
hand edge of the image and the hand-drawn pectoral muscle edge. An FP
pixel was dened as a pixel outside the reference region that was included
in the pectoral region segmented. An FN pixel was dened as a pixel in the
reference region that was not present within the segmented region. Table 5.1
provides a summary of the results.
TABLE 5.1
Average False-positive and False-negative Rates in the
Detection of the Pectoral Muscle by the hough-transform-based
and Gabor-wavelet-based Methods.
Method Hough Gabor
FP 1.98 6.09% 0.58 4.11%
FN 25.19 19.14% 5.77 4.83%
Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. De-
sautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic identication of the pectoral
muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 {
245, 2004.
c IEEE.
In the example illustrated in Figure 5.72, detection using the Hough trans-
form resulted in an underestimated pectoral region due to the limitation im-
posed by the straight-line hypothesis used to represent the pectoral muscle
edge this translated to a high FN rate. The segmentation result of the Gabor-
wavelet-based method is closer to the pectoral muscle edge drawn by the
radiologist.
Detection of Regions of Interest 499
Figure 5.73 shows a case where the pectoral muscle appears as an almost-
straight line. Even in this case, the result obtained using Gabor wavelets
is more accurate than the result obtained using the Hough transform. The
Gabor-wavelet-based method provided good results even in cases where the
pectoralis minor was present in the mammogram (see Figure 5.74).
Detection of the pectoral muscle was used as a preprocessing step in segmen-
tation of the broglandular discs in mammograms for the analysis of bilateral
asymmetry by Ferrari et al. 381] (see Section 8.9).
(d)
FIGURE 5.72
Results obtained for the image mdb003 from the Mini-MIAS database.
(a) Original image. (b) Hand-drawn pectoral muscle edge superimposed on
the histogram-equalized image. (c) and (d) Pectoral muscle edges detected by
the Hough-transform-based and Gabor-wavelet-based methods, respectively,
superimposed on the original image. Reproduced with permission from R.J.
Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere,
\Automatic identication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE
Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
502 Biomedical Image Analysis
upon a fuzzy region-growing method. The former method is simple and easy
to implement, always produces closed contours, and yields good results even
in the presence of high levels of noise (see Section 5.5.2) the latter produces
a fuzzy representation of the ROI, and preserves the uncertainty around the
boundaries of tumors (see Section 5.5.3). As a follow-up, Guliato et al. 277]
considered the following question: How may we combine the results of the
two approaches | which may be considered to be complementary | so as to
obtain a possibly better result?
In generic terms, the process of image segmentation may be dened as a
procedure that groups the pixels of an image according to one or more local
properties. A property of pixels is said to be local if it depends only on a pixel
or its immediate neighborhood (for example, gray level, gradient, and local
statistical measures). Techniques for image segmentation may be divided into
two main categories: those based on discontinuity of local properties, and
those based on similarity of local properties 305]. The techniques based on
discontinuity are simple in concept, but generally produce segmented regions
with disconnected edges, requiring the application of additional methods (such
as contour following). Techniques based on similarity, on the other hand, de-
pend on a seed pixel (or a seed subregion) and on a strategy to traverse the
image for region growing. Because dierent segmentation methods explore
distinct, and sometimes complementary, characteristics of the given image
504 Biomedical Image Analysis
(d)
FIGURE 5.73
Results obtained for the image mdb008 from the Mini-MIAS database.
(a) Original image. (b) Hand-drawn pectoral muscle edge superimposed on
the histogram-equalized image. (c) and (d) Pectoral muscle edges detected by
the Hough-transform-based and Gabor-wavelet-based methods, respectively,
superimposed on the original image. Reproduced with permission from R.J.
Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere,
\Automatic identication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE
Transactions on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
Detection of Regions of Interest 505
(a) (b)
FIGURE 5.74
Image mdb110 from the Mini-MIAS database, showing the result of the detec-
tion of the pectoral muscle in the presence of the pectoralis minor. (a) Edge
candidates after the post-processing stage. (b) Final boundary detected by the
Gabor-wavelet-based method. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari,
R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, R.A. Borges, and A.F. Fr&ere, \Automatic
identication of the pectoral muscle in mammograms", IEEE Transactions
on Medical Imaging, 23: 232 { 245, 2004.
c IEEE.
506 Biomedical Image Analysis
(such as contour detection and region growing), it is natural to consider com-
binations of techniques that could possibly produce better results than any
one technique on its own.
Although cooperative combination of the results of segmentation procedures
can oer good results, there are only a few publications devoted to this sub-
ject 314, 316, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397]. This is partly due to the diculty in
simultaneously handling distinct local properties, and due to the limitations
of the commonly used Boolean-set operations in combining multiple results
of image segmentation. Using the theory of fuzzy sets, it is possible to dene
several classes of fusion operators that generalize Boolean operators. Guliato
et al. 277] proposed a general fusion operator, oriented by a nite automa-
ton, to combine information from dierent sources. The following paragraphs
provide descriptions of the method and present results of the fusion operator
applied to tumor regions in mammographic images.
Elementary concepts of fusion operators: A fusion operator over fuzzy
sets is formally dened as a function h : 0 1]n ! 0 1], where n 2 represents
the number of sources of input information. Fusion operators may be classied
according to their behavior into three classes: conjunctive, disjunctive, and
compromise operators 351, 398], as follows:
An operator is said to be conjunctive if h(a1 a2 : : : an ) min fa1 a2
: : : an g, where ai 2 0 1]. Conjunctive operators are those that rep-
resent a consensus between the items of information being combined.
They generalize classical intersection, and agree with the source that
oers the smallest measure while trying to obtain simultaneous satis-
faction of its criteria. We can say that conjunctive operators present a
severe behavior.
An operator is said to be disjunctive if h(a1 a2 : : : an ) max fa1 a2
: : : an g. Disjunctive operators generalize classical union. They agree
with the source that oers the greatest measure, and express redundancy
between criteria. We can say that they present a permissive behavior.
An operator is said to be a compromise operator if minfa1 a2 : : : an g
h(a1 a2 : : : an ) maxfa1 a2 : : : an g. Compromise operators produce
an intermediate measure between items of information obtained from
several sources. They present cautious behavior.
Bloch 399] presented a classication scheme that describes a fusion operator
in more rened terms not only as conjunctive, disjunctive, or compromise, but
also according to its behavior with respect to the information values being
combined (input values): context-independent constant-behavior operators
that maintain the same behavior independent of the input variables context-
independent variable-behavior operators, whose behavior varies according to
the input variables and context-dependent operators, whose behavior varies
as in the previous case, also taking into account the agreement between the
Detection of Regions of Interest 507
sources and their reliability. The following paragraphs provide the description
of a class of fusion operators that generalize context-dependent operators,
taking into consideration dierent degrees of condence in the sources, specic
knowledge, and spatial context while operating with conceptually distinct
sources.
Considerations in the fusion of the results of complementary seg-
mentation techniques: Figure 5.75 illustrates an overlay of two segmen-
tation results obtained by two complementary techniques | region growing
represented by a fuzzy set Sr , and closed-contour detection represented by
a fuzzy set Sc | for the same ROI. The straight line within Sr indicates a
possible artifact. The results are not the same: dierent segmentation al-
gorithms may produce dierent results for the same ROI. A fusion operator
designed to aggregate such entities should produce a third entity that takes
into consideration the inputs and is better than either input on its own. In
order to realize this, the fusion operator must be able to identify regions of
certainty and uncertainty during its execution.
Sc
Sr
FIGURE 5.75
Superimposition of the results of two complementary segmentation techniques.
The circular region Sr represents the result of region growing. The square box
Sc represents the result of contour detection. Reproduced with permission
from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. De-
sautels, \Fuzzy fusion operators to combine results of complementary medical
image segmentation techniques", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 {
389, 2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Considering a pixel p being analyzed, let ;Sr (p) be the membership degree
of p, such that Sr = ;Sr : I ! 0 1], where I is the original image. Also, let
;Sc (p) be the membership degree of p, such that Sc = ;Sc : I ! 0 1]. It is
important to note that ;Sc (p) is zero when the pixel p is inside or outside of Sc ,
and that ;Sc (p) possesses a high value when p is on the contour represented
by Sc . Similarly, ;Sr (p) is high when p belongs to the region, and ;Sr (p) is
low or zero when p does not belong to the region. With respect to the fusion
operator, four situations may be identied considering the position of p (see
Figure 5.76):
508 Biomedical Image Analysis
1
2
Sc 3
Sr
4
FIGURE 5.76
The four dierent situations treated by the fusion operator. Reproduced with
permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and
J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion operators to combine results of complemen-
tary medical image segmentation techniques", Journal of Electronic Imaging,
12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
1. p belongs to the intersection of Sr and Sc that is, ;Sr (p) is high and
;Sc (p) is zero]. In this case the pixel p belongs to the nal segmentation
result with a high membership degree. The sources agree with respect to
the inclusion of the pixel p in the nal result. This is a case of certainty.
2. p does not belong to Sr or belongs to Sr with a low membership degree,
and is inside Sc that is, ;Sr (p) is low or zero and ;Sc (p) is zero]. In
this case the sources disagree with respect to the inclusion of the pixel
p in the nal result. This is a case of uncertainty.
3. p belongs to the contour line of Sc that is, ;Sc (p) is high] and does not
belong to Sr that is, ;Sr (p) is low or zero]. As in Item 2 above, this
is an uncertainty situation. Note that although the inputs are dierent
from those presented in Item 2 above, the result of the fusion operator
is expected to represent uncertainty.
4. p belongs to Sr that is, ;Sr (p) is high] and is outside of Sc that is,
;Sc (p) is zero]. Here again we have an uncertainty case. Observe that
although the inputs are similar to those in Item 1 that is, ;Sr (p) is high
and ;Sc (p) is zero], the result of the fusion operator is expected to be
dierent.
We can conclude from the discussion above that a practically applicable
fusion operator should be composed of a number of basic fusion operators,
and that the spatial position of the pixel being analyzed is an important item
of information that should be used in determining the basic fusion operator
to be applied to the pixel. Based upon these observations, Guliato et al. 277]
proposed a general fusion operator oriented by a nite automaton, where the
nite set of states of the automaton is determined by the spatial position of
Detection of Regions of Interest 509
the pixel being analyzed, and where the transition function (to be dened
later) depends on the strategy used to traverse the image.
An important question to be considered in fusion is the reliability of the
sources (original segmentation results). The result of the fusion operator de-
pends on how good the original segmentation results are. The evaluation of
the individual segmentation results is not a component of the fusion proce-
dure, although parameters are included in the denitions of the operators to
represent the reliability of the sources it is assumed that the parameters are
determined using other methods.
General
nite-automaton-oriented fusion operators: Formally, a fu-
sion operator oriented by a nite automaton that aggregates n sources may
be dened as an ordered pair < H M >, where 351]:
H = fh1 h2 : : : hk g is a nite set of basic fusion operators, where hi
are functions that map 0 1]n ! 0 1], n 2.
M = (Q ( q0 F ) is a nite automaton, where:
{ Q is a nite set of states,
{ ( is a nite input alphabet,
{ is a transition function that maps Q ( ! Q, where is the
Cartesian product operator,
{ q0 2 Q is an initial state, and
{ F Q is the set of nal states.
In the present case, the alphabet ( is given by a nite collection of labels
associated with the Cartesian product of nite partitions of the interval 0 1]:
For example, suppose that, coming from dierent motivations, we are dividing
0 1] into two nite partitions P1 and P2 , where P1 divides the values between
`low' and `high', and P2 between `good' and `bad'. Our alphabet may be
composed of ( = f0 1 2g representing, for example, the combinations (low,
good), (low, bad), and (high, good), respectively. Observe that we are not
necessarily using the whole set of possibilities.
The interpretation of the transition function of a nite automaton is the
following: (qi a) = qj is a valid transition if, and only if, the automaton can
go from the state qi to qj through the input a. Sometimes, qi and qj could
be the same state. If there is a transition from the state qi to qj through
the input a, then there is a directed arc from qi to qj with the label a in the
graphical representation (transition diagram) of the specic automaton see
Figure 5.77.
Application of the fusion operator to image segmentation: The
fusion operator proposed by Guliato et al. 277] is designed to combine the
results obtained from two segmentation techniques that explore complemen-
tary characteristics of the image: one based on region growing, and the other
510 Biomedical Image Analysis
a
b
qi qj
FIGURE 5.77
Graphical representation of the transition function given by (qi a) = qj and
(qi b) = qi . Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan,
W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion operators to
combine results of complementary medical image segmentation techniques",
c SPIE and IS&T.
Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
h4
h4 h6
h5
FIGURE 5.78
The regions where the six basic fusion operators are applied are indicated by
fh1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6 g. Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M.
Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion
operators to combine results of complementary medical image segmentation
techniques", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
c SPIE
and IS&T.
Sc b
Sr
c
FIGURE 5.79
The three states of the automaton. Reproduced with permission from D.
Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Fuzzy fusion operators to combine results of complementary medical image
segmentation techniques", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 { 389,
c SPIE and IS&T.
2003.
I4
I1
Sc I3
I1
Sr
I3
I2
I2 I4
FIGURE 5.80
The four possible input values fI1 I2 I3 I4 g for the fusion operator. The short
line segments with the labels I2 and I3 represent artifacts in the segmentation
result. Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A.
Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion operators to combine
results of complementary medical image segmentation techniques", Journal of
Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
516 Biomedical Image Analysis
I1 / h1 I2 / h 5 I2 / h5 I1 , I2 / h 4
I1 / h4
a b c
I3 / h2 I4 / h 6
I4 / h3 I3 / h2 I3 , I4 / h 6
FIGURE 5.81
Transition diagram that governs the actions of the fusion operator. Repro-
duced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli,
J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion operators to combine results
of complementary medical image segmentation techniques", Journal of Elec-
c SPIE and IS&T.
tronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
TABLE 5.2
Behavior of the Basic Fusion Operator h1 .
Cr ;Sr (prj ) Cc ;Sc (pcj ) h1 Comments
1.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 p belongs to the ROI with
maximal certainty
1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 Result depends on the source
with the higher reliability
0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 Result depends on the source
with the higher reliability
0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 Both sources do not
present reliability
0.8 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 Source Sc presents the
higher reliability
0.8 1.0 0.8 0.0 0.8 Result depends on the source
with the higher reliability
0.9 1.0 0.3 0.0 0.9 Result depends on the source
with the higher reliability
Figures 5.30 and 5.32. The results have been superimposed with the contours
drawn by an expert radiologist, for comparison. Figure 5.83 demonstrates the
application of the methods for contour detection, fuzzy region growing, and
fusion to a segment of a mammogram with a malignant tumor. Observe that
the fusion results reduce the uncertainty present in the interior of the regions,
but also reduce the certainty of the boundaries. The features of the results
of the individual segmentation procedures contribute to the fusion results,
allowing the postponement of a crisp decision (if necessary) on the ROI or its
boundary to a higher level of the image analysis system.
Evaluation of the results of fusion using a measure of fuzziness:
In order to evaluate the results of the fusion operator, Guliato et al. 277]
compared the degree of agreement between the reference contour given by
an expert radiologist and each segmentation result: contour segmentation,
region-growing segmentation, and the result of fusion. The reference contour
and a segmentation result were aggregated using the fusion operator. The
fusion operator yields a fuzzy set that represents the certainty and uncertainty
identied during the aggregation procedure. The maximal certainty occurs
when ;(p) = 0 or ;(p) = 1, where ; is the membership degree of the pixel
p. The maximal uncertainty occurs when ;(p) = 0:5. In the former case, the
information sources agree completely with respect to the pixel p in the latter,
the information sources present maximal con ict with respect to the pixel p.
Intermediate values of the membership degree represent intermediate degrees
of agreement among the information sources. If the uncertainty presented
Detection of Regions of Interest 519
by the fusion result can be quantied, the result could be used to evaluate
the degree of agreement among two dierent information sources. In order to
quantify the uncertainty, Guliato et al. 277] proposed a measure of fuzziness.
In general, a measure of fuzziness is a function
f : F (X ) ! R+ (5.89)
where F (X ) denotes the set of all fuzzy subsets of X . For each fuzzy set A
of X , this function assigns a nonnegative real number f (A) that characterizes
the degree of fuzziness of A. The function f must satisfy the following three
requirements:
f (A) = 0 if, and only if, A is a crisp set
f (A) assumes its maximal value if, and only if, A is maximally fuzzy,
that is, all of the elements of A are equal to 0:5 and
if set A is undoubtedly sharper than set B , then f (A) f (B ).
There are dierent ways of measuring fuzziness that satisfy all of the three
essential requirements 351]. Guliato et al. 277] chose to measure fuzziness in
terms of the distinctions between a set and its complement, observing that it
is the lack of distinction between a set and its complement that distinguishes
520 Biomedical Image Analysis
(b)
FIGURE 5.82
Result of the fusion of the contour and region (a) in Figures 5.30 (c) and (d)
for the case with a malignant tumor and (b) in Figures 5.32 (c) and (d) for
the case with a benign mass, with Cr = 1:0, Cc = 1:0. The contours drawn
by the radiologist are superimposed for comparison. Reproduced with per-
mission from D. Guliato, R.M. Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and
J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion operators to combine results of complemen-
tary medical image segmentation techniques", Journal of Electronic Imaging,
12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Detection of Regions of Interest 521
a fuzzy set from a crisp set. The implementation of this concept depends on
the denition of the fuzzy complement the standard complement is dened
as A*(x) = 1 ; A(x), for all x 2 X . Choosing the Hamming distance, the local
distinction between a given set A and its complement A* is measured by
j A(x) ; f1 ; A(x)g j = j 2A(x) ; 1 j (5.90)
and the lack of local distinction is given by
1; j 2A(x) ; 1 j : (5.91)
The measure of fuzziness, f (A), is then obtained by adding the local mea-
surements: X
f (A) = 1; j 2A(x) ; 1 j]: (5.92)
x2X
The range of the function f is 0 jX j]: f (A) = 0 if, and only if, A is a crisp
set f (A) = jX j when A(x) = 0:5 for all x 2 X .
In the work reported by Guliato et al. 277], for each mammogram the
reference contour drawn by the expert radiologist was combined, using the
fusion operator, with each of the results obtained by contour detection, fuzzy
region growing, and fusion, denoted by RSc , RSr , and RFr , respectively. The
fusion operator was applied with both the reliability measures equal to unity,
Detection of Regions of Interest 523
(d)
FIGURE 5.83
(a) A 700 700-pixel portion of a mammogram with a spiculated malignant
tumor. Pixel size = 62.5
m. (b) Contour extracted (white line) by fuzzy-
set-based preprocessing and region growing. The black line represents the
boundary drawn by a radiologist (shown for comparison). (c) Result of fuzzy
region growing. The contour drawn by the radiologist is superimposed for
comparison. (d) Result of the fusion of the contour in (b) and the region in
(c) with Cr = 1:0, Cc = 0:9. The contour drawn by the radiologist is super-
imposed for comparison. Reproduced with permission from D. Guliato, R.M.
Rangayyan, W.A. Carnielli, J.A. Zuo, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Fuzzy fusion
operators to combine results of complementary medical image segmentation
c SPIE
techniques", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 12(3): 379 { 389, 2003.
and IS&T.
524 Biomedical Image Analysis
that is, Cr = Cc = 1:0, for the two information sources being combined in each
case. When the result of contour detection was combined with the contour
drawn by the radiologist, the former was converted into a region because the
fusion method is designed to accept a contour and a region as the inputs.
Considering the results shown in Figure 5.83, the measures of fuzzinesss
obtained were f (RSc ) = 14,774, f (RSr ) = 14,245, and f (RFr ) = 9,710, re-
spectively. The aggregation or fusion of the two segmentation results presents
lower uncertainty than either, yielding a better result as expected.
The methods were tested with 14 mammographic images of biopsy-proven
cases the values of the measure of fuzzinesss for the cases are shown in Ta-
ble 5.4. The values of Cc and Cr used to obtain the result of fusion for the 14
mammograms are also listed in the table. Both Cc and Cr were maintained
equal to unity when computing the measure of fuzziness with respect to the
contour drawn by the radiologist for all the cases. In 11 cases, the fusion oper-
ator yielded improvement over the original results. There was no improvement
by fusion in three of the cases: in one of these cases both segmentation re-
sults were not accurate, and in the other two, the fuzzy region segmentation
was much better than the result of contour segmentation (based upon visual
comparison with the reference contour drawn by the radiologist). The results
provide good evidence that the fusion operator obtains regions with a higher
degree of certainty than the results of the individual segmentation methods.
The measure of fuzziness may be normalized by division by jX j. However,
in the context of the work of Guliato et al., this would lead to very small
values because the number of boundary pixels is far less than the number
of pixels inside a mass. The measure of fuzziness without normalization is
adequate in the assessment of the results of fusion because the comparison is
made using the measure for each mammogram separately.
5.12 Remarks
We have explored several methods to detect the edges of objects or to segment
ROIs. We have also studied methods to detect objects of known characteris-
tics, and methods to improve initial estimates of edges, contours, or regions.
The class of lters based upon mathematical morphology 8, 192, 220, 221, 222]
has not been dealt with in this chapter.
After ROIs have been detected and extracted from a given image, they
may be analyzed further in terms of representation, feature extraction, pattern
classication, and image understanding. Some of the measures and approaches
that could be used for these purposes are listed below. It should be recognized
that the accuracy of the measures derived will depend upon the accuracy of
the results of detection or segmentation 400].
Detection of Regions of Interest 525
TABLE 5.4
Measures of Fuzziness for the Results of Segmentation and Fusion for 14
Mammograms.
Mammogram Cr Cc f (RSc ) f (RSr ) f (RFr ) Is the result
of fusion better?
spic-s-1 1.0, 1.0 14,774 14,245 9,711 Yes
circ-fb-010 1.0, 1.0 8,096 9,223 7,905 Yes
spx111m 1.0, 1.0 5,130 9,204 4,680 Yes
spic-fh0 1.0, 0.6 28,938 23,489 21,612 Yes
circ-x-1 1.0, 0.8 6,877 2,990 3,862 No
spic-fh2 0.8, 1.0 45,581 38,634 34,969 Yes
circ-fb-005 1.0, 1.0 26,176 34,296 25,084 Yes
circ-fb-012 1.0, 0.9 16,170 15,477 12,693 Yes
spic-db-145 1.0, 0.9 8,306 7,938 7,658 Yes
circ-fb-025 1.0, 0.6 56,060 44,277 49,093 No
spic-fb-195 1.0, 1.0 11,423 12,511 10,458 Yes
spic-s-112 1.0, 0.6 31,413 17,784 12,838 Yes
spic-s-401 1.0, 0.6 13,225 11,117 11,195 No
circ-fb-069 1.0, 1.0 46,835 53,321 38,832 Yes
Several human organs and biological structures possess readily identi able
shapes. The shapes of the human heart, brain, kidneys, and several bones
are well known, and, in normal cases, do not deviate much from an \aver-
age" shape. However, disease processes can aect the structure of organs,
and cause deviation from their expected or average shapes. Even abnormal
entities, such as masses and calci cations in the breast, tend to demonstrate
dierences in shape between benign and malignant conditions. For exam-
ple, most benign masses in the breast appear as well-circumscribed areas on
mammograms, with smooth boundaries that are circular or oval some benign
masses may be macrolobulated. On the other hand, malignant masses (can-
cerous tumors) are typically ill-de ned on mammograms, and possess a rough
or stellate (star-like) shape with strands or spicules appearing to radiate from
a central mass some malignant masses may be microlobulated
54, 345, 403].
Shape is a key feature in discriminating between normal and abnormal cells
in Pap-smear tests
272, 273]. However, biological entities demonstrate wide
ranges of manifestation, with signi cant overlap between their characteris-
tics for various categories. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that the
imaging geometry, 3D-to-2D projection, and the superimposition of multi-
ple objects commonly aect the shapes of objects as perceived on biomedical
images.
Several techniques have been proposed to characterize shape
404, 405, 406].
We shall study a selection of shape analysis techniques in this chapter. A
few applications will be described to demonstrate the usefulness of shape
characteristics in the analysis of biomedical images.
529
530 Biomedical Image Analysis
6.1.1 Signatures of contours
The dimensionality of representation of a contour may be reduced from two
to one by converting from a coordinate-based representation to distances from
each contour point to a reference point. A convenient reference is the centroid
or center of mass of the contour, whose coordinates are given by
;1
NX ;1
NX
x = N1 x(n) and y = N1 y(n): (6.1)
n=0 n=0
The signature of the contour is then de ned as
p
d(n) =
x(n) ; x]2 +
y(n) ; y]2 (6.2)
n = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1 see Figure 6.1. It should be noted that the centroids of
regions that are concave or have holes could lie outside the regions.
A radial-distance signature may also be derived by computing the distance
from the centroid to the contour point(s) intersected for angles of the radial
line spanning the range (0o 360o ). However, for irregular contours, such a
signature may be multivalued for some angles that is, a radial line may
intersect the contour more than once (see, for example, Pohlman et al.
407]).
It is obvious that going around a contour more than once generates the same
signature hence, the signature signal is periodic with the period equal to N ,
the number of pixels on the contour. The signature of a contour provides
general information on the nature of the contour, such as its smoothness or
roughness.
Examples: Figures 6.2 (a) and 6.3 (a) show the contours of a benign breast
mass and a malignant tumor, respectively, as observed on mammograms
345].
The `*' marks within the contours represent their centroids. Figures 6.2 (b)
and 6.3 (b) show the signatures of the contours as de ned in Equation 6.2.
It is evident that the smooth contour of the benign mass possesses a smooth
signature, whereas the spiculated malignant tumor has a rough signature with
several signi cant rapid variations over its period.
*_ _
(x, y)
FIGURE 6.1
A contour represented by its boundary points z (n) and distances d(n) to its
centroid.
(a)
160
150
140
distance to centroid
130
120
110
100
(b)
FIGURE 6.2
(a) Contour of a benign breast mass N = 768. The `*' mark represents the
centroid of the contour. (b) Signature d(n) as de ned in Equation 6.2.
Analysis of Shape 533
(a)
240
220
200
180
distance to centroid
160
140
120
100
80
60
(b)
FIGURE 6.3
(a) Contour of a malignant breast tumor N = 3 281. The `*' mark represents
the centroid of the contour. (b) Signature d(n) as de ned in Equation 6.2.
534 Biomedical Image Analysis
With reference to the 8-symbol code, the rotation of a given contour by
n 90o in the counter-clockwise direction may be achieved by adding a
value of 2n to each code element, followed by integer division by 8. The
addition of an odd number rotates the contour by the corresponding
multiple of 45o however, the rotation of a contour by angles other than
integral multiples of 90o on a discrete grid is subject to approximation.
In the case of the 8-symbolpcode, the length of a contour is given by the
number of even codes plus 2 times the number of odd codes, multiplied
by the grid sampling interval.
The chain code may also be used to achieve reduction, check for closure,
check for multiple loops, and determine the area of a closed loop
408].
Examples: Figure 6.5 shows a contour represented using the chain codes
with four and eight symbols. The use of a discrete grid with large spacings
leads to the loss of ne detail in the contour. However, this feature may be
used advantageously to lter out minor irregularities due to noise, artifacts
due to drawing by hand, etc.
1 3 2 1
2 0 4 0
3 5 6 7
(a) (b)
FIGURE 6.4
Chain code with (a) four directional codes and (b) eight directional codes.
0 0 0
1
1 3 1 3
0
0 o
1 3
0 0 0
−1
1 3
2 2
−2
1 3
2
−3
1 3
2 2
−4
1 3 1 3
2 2
−5
−6
−4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Chain code:
0 1 0 3 3 0 0 3 2 3 2 3 3 2 1 2 2 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 3]
Figure 6.5 (a)
curve f (x) is de ned as a point where f 00 (x) changes its sign. Note that the
derivation of f 00 (x) requires f (x) and f 0 (x) to be continuous and dierentiable.
It follows that the following conditions apply at a point of inection:
f 00 (x) = 0
f 0 (x) 6= 0
f (x) f 00(x) = 0 and
0
f 0 (x) f 000 (x) 6= 0: (6.3)
Let C = f(x(n) y(n)g n = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1, represent in vector form
the (x y) coordinates of the N points on the given contour. The points of
inection on the contour are obtained by solving
C0 C00 = 0
C0 C000 6= 0 (6.4)
where C0 , C00 and C000 are the rst, second, and third derivatives of C,
respectively, and represents the vector cross product. Solving Equation 6.4
is equivalent to solving the system of equations given by
1
1 1
7 6
0
0 o
1
6
0
−1
3 7
4
−2
2
5
−3
2 6
4 4
−4
2 3 6
5
−5
−6
−4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Chain code:
0 1 6 6 0 7 4 5 6 6 3 4 4 5 2 2 2 3 1 1 7 ]
(b)
FIGURE 6.5
A closed contour represented using the chain code (a) using four directional
codes as in Figure 6.4 (a), and (b) with eight directional codes as in Figure
6.4 (b). The `o' mark represents the starting point of the contour, which is
traversed in the clockwise direction to derive the code.
Analysis of Shape 537
x0 (n) y000 (n) ; x000 (n) y0 (n) 6= 0 (6.5)
where x0 (n) y0 (n) x00 (n) y00 (n) x000 (n) and y000 (n) are the rst, second, and
third derivatives of x(n) and y(n), respectively.
Segments of contours of breast masses between successive points of inection
were modeled as parabolas by Menut et al.
354]. Diculty lies in segmen-
tation because the contours of masses are, in general, not smooth. False or
irrelevant points of inection could appear on relatively straight parts of a
contour when x00 (n) and y00 (n) are not far from zero. In order to address this
problem, smoothed derivatives at each contour point could be estimated by
considering the cumulative sum of weighted dierences of a certain number of
pairs of points on either side of the point x(n) under consideration as
m
x(n + i) ; x(n ; i)]
X
x0 (n) = i (6.6)
i=1
where m represents the number of pairs of points used to compute the deriva-
tive x0 (n) the same procedure applies to the computation of y0 (n).
In the works reported by Menut et al.
354] and Rangayyan et al.
345],
the value of m was varied from 3 to 60 to compute derivatives that resulted
in varying numbers of inection points for a given contour. The number of
inection points detected as a function of the number of dierences used was
analyzed to determine the optimal number of dierences that would provide
the most appropriate inection points: the value of m at the rst straight
segment on the function was selected.
Examples: Figure 6.6 shows the contour of a spiculated malignant tumor.
The points of inection detected are marked with `*'. The number of inec-
tion points detected is plotted in Figure 6.7 as a function of the number of
dierences used (m in Equation 6.6) the horizontal and vertical lines indi-
cate the optimal number of dierences used to compute the derivative at each
contour point and the corresponding number of points of inection that were
located on the contour.
The contour in Figure 6.6 is shown in Figure 6.8, overlaid on the corre-
sponding part of the original mammogram. Segments of the contours are
shown in black or white, indicating if they are concave or convex, respec-
tively. Figure 6.9 provides a similar illustration for a circumscribed benign
mass. Analysis of concavity of contours is described in Section 6.4.
FIGURE 6.6
Contour of a spiculated malignant tumor with the points of inection indicated
by `*'. Number of points of inection = 58. See also Figure 6.8.
Analysis of Shape 539
1400
1200
1000
Number of points of inflection
800
600
400
200
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Number of pairs of differences
FIGURE 6.7
Number of inection points detected as a function of the number of dierences
used to estimate the derivative for the contour in Figure 6.6. The horizontal
and vertical lines indicate the optimal number of dierences used to compute
the derivative at each contour point and the corresponding number of points
of inection that were located on the contour.
540 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 6.8
Concave and convex parts of the contour of a spiculated malignant tumor,
separated by the points of inection. See also Figure 6.6. The concave parts
are shown in black and the convex parts in white. The image size is 770
600 pixels or 37:2 47:7 mm with a pixel size of 62 m. Shape factors
fcc = 0:47, SI = 0:62, cf = 0:94. Reproduced with permission from R.M.
Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Boundary modeling and
shape analysis methods for classi cation of mammographic masses", Medical
and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38: 487 { 496, 2000. c IFMBE.
Analysis of Shape 541
FIGURE 6.9
Concave and convex parts of the contour of a circumscribed benign mass,
separated by the points of inection. The concave parts are shown in black and
the convex parts in white. The image size is 730 630 pixels or 31:5 36:5 mm
with a pixel size of 50 m. Shape factors fcc = 0:16, SI = 0:22, cf =
0:30. Reproduced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Boundary modeling and shape analysis methods for
classi cation of mammographic masses", Medical and Biological Engineering
and Computing, 38: 487 { 496, 2000. c IFMBE.
542 Biomedical Image Analysis
for initiating the process, in relation to the complexity of the shape. This is
not a desirable step when dealing with complex or spiculated shapes of breast
tumors
163]. In a modi ed approach proposed by Rangayyan et al.
345], the
polygon formed by the points of inection detected on the original contour was
used as the initial input to the polygonal modeling procedure. This step helps
in automating the polygonalization algorithm: the method does not require
any interaction from the user in terms of the initial number of segments.
Given an irregular contour C as speci ed by the set of its (x y) coordinates,
the polygonal modeling algorithm starts by dividing the contour into a set
of piecewise-continuous curved parts by locating the points of inection on
the contour as explained in Section 6.1.3. Each segmented curved part is
represented by a pair of linear segments based on its arc-to-chord deviation.
The procedure is iterated subject to prede ned boundary conditions so as to
minimize the error between the true length of the contour and the cumulative
length computed from the polygonal segments.
Let C = fx(n) y(n)g n = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1, represent the given contour.
Let SCmk SCmk 2 C m = 1 2 : : : M , be M curved parts, each con-
th
S points, at the start of the k iteration, such that
tainingSa set ofScontour
SC1k SC2k : : : SCMk C: The iterative procedure proposed by
Rangayyan et al.
345] is as follows:
(a) (b)
FIGURE 6.10
Polygonal modeling of the contour of a spiculated malignant tumor. (a) Points
of inection (indicated by `*') and the initial polygonal approximation
(straight-line segments) number of sides = 58. (b) Final model after four
iterations number of sides = 146. See also Figure 6.8. Reproduced with
permission from R.M. Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Boundary modeling and shape analysis methods for classi cation of mam-
mographic masses", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38:
487 { 496, 2000. c IFMBE.
Analysis of Shape 545
150
140
130
Number of polygonal segments
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of iterations
FIGURE 6.11
Convergence plot of the iterative polygonal modeling procedure for the con-
tour of the spiculated malignant tumor in Figure 6.10. Reproduced with
permission from R.M. Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Boundary modeling and shape analysis methods for classi cation of mam-
mographic masses", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38:
487 { 496, 2000.
c IFMBE.
546 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 6.12
Polygonal modeling of the contour of a circumscribed benign mass. (a) Points
of inection (indicated by `*') and the initial polygonal approximation
(straight-line segments) initial number of sides = 14. (b) Final model num-
ber of sides = 36, number of iterations = 4. See also Figure 6.9. Reproduced
with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desau-
tels, \Boundary modeling and shape analysis methods for classi cation of
mammographic masses", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing,
38: 487 { 496, 2000. c IFMBE.
Analysis of Shape 547
We also have the following relationships:
X (s) =
x(s) ; c] cos +
y(s) ; d] sin
Y (s) = ;
x(s) ; c] sin +
y(s) ; d] cos (6.8)
X (s) = s
Y (s) = A s2 : (6.9)
Taking the derivatives of Equation 6.9 with respect to s, we get the following:
X 0 (s ) = 1
Y 0 (s) = 2As (6.10)
X 00 (s) = 0
Y 00 (s) = 2A: (6.11)
Similarly, taking the derivatives of Equation 6.8 with respect to s, we get the
following:
X 00 (s) = x00 (s) cos + y00 (s) sin
Y 00 (s) = ;x00 (s) sin + y00 (s) cos : (6.12)
Combining Equations 6.11 and 6.12, we get
X 00 (s) = 0 = x00 (s) cos + y00 (s) sin (6.13)
which, upon multiplication with sin , yields
x00 (s) sin cos + y00 (s) sin sin = 0: (6.14)
Similarly, we also get
Y 00 (s) = 2A = ;x00 (s) sin + y00 (s) cos (6.15)
which, upon multiplication with cos , yields
2A cos = ;x00 (s) sin cos + y00 (s) cos cos : (6.16)
Combining Equations 6.14 and 6.16 we get
2A cos = y00 (s): (6.17)
The equations above indicate that y00 (s) and x00 (s) are constants with values
related to A and . The values of the two derivatives may be computed
from the given curve over all available points, and averaged to obtain the
corresponding (constant) values. Equations 6.14 and 6.17 may then be solved
548 Biomedical Image Analysis
simultaneously to obtain and A. Thus, the parameter of the parabolic model
is obtained from the given contour segment.
Menut et al. hypothesized that malignant tumors, due to the presence of
narrow spicules or microlobulations, would have several parabolic segments
with large values of A on the other hand, benign masses, due to their char-
acteristics of being oval or macrolobulated, would have a small number of
parabolic segments with small values of A. The same reasons were also ex-
pected to lead to a larger standard deviation of A for malignant tumors than
for benign masses. In addition to the parameter A, Menut et al. proposed to
use the width of the projection of each parabola on to the X axis, with the
expectation that its values would be smaller for malignant tumors than for
benign masses. A classi cation accuracy of 76% was obtained with a set of
54 contours.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 6.13
(a) Binarized image of blood vessels in a ligament perfused with black ink. Im-
age courtesy of R.C. Bray and M.R. Doschak, University of Calgary. (b) Skele-
ton of the image in (a) after 15 iterations of the algorithm described in Sec-
tion 6.1.6.
Analysis of Shape 551
A basic method that is commonly used to represent shape is to t an ellipse
or a rectangle to the given (closed) contour. The ratio of the major axis of
the ellipse to its minor axis (or, equivalently, the ratio of the larger side
to the smaller side of the bounding rectangle) is known as its eccentricity,
and represents its deviation from a circle (for which the ratio will be equal to
unity). Such a measure, however, represents only the elongation of the object,
and may have, on its own, limited application in practice. Several shape
factors of increasing complexity and speci city of application are described in
the following sections.
6.2.1 Compactness
Compactness is a simple and popular measure of the eciency of a contour
to contain a given area, and is commonly de ned as
2
Co = PA (6.19)
where P and A are the contour perimeter and area enclosed, respectively. The
smaller the area contained by a contour of a given length, the larger will be the
value of compactness. Compactness, as de ned in Equation 6.19, has a lower
bound of 4 for a circle (except for the trivial case of zero for P = 0), but
no upper bound. It is evident that compactness is invariant to shift, scaling,
rotation, and reection of a contour.
In order to restrict and normalize the range of the parameter to
0 1], as
well as to obtain increasing values with increase in complexity of the shape,
the de nition of compactness may be modi ed as
274, 163]
cf = 1 ; 4A :
P2 (6.20)
With this expression, cf has a lower bound of zero for a circle, and increases
with the complexity of the contour to a maximum value of unity.
Examples: Figure 6.14 illustrates a few simple geometric shapes along
with their values of compactness. Elongated contours with large values of the
perimeter and small enclosed areas possess high values of compactness.
Figure 6.15 illustrates a few objects with simple geometric shapes including
scaling and rotation the values of compactness Co and cf for the contours
of the objects are listed in Table 6.1
274, 320, 334, 416]. It is evident that
both de nitions of compactness provide the desired invariance to scaling and
rotation (within the limitations due to the use of a discrete grid).
Figure 6.16 illustrates a few objects of varying shape complexity, prepared
by cutting construction paper
215, 320, 334, 416]. The values of compactness
cf for the contours of the objects are listed in Table 6.2. It is seen that
compactness increases with shape roughness and/or complexity.
552 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 6.14
Examples of contours with their values of compactness Co and cf , as de ned
in Equations 6.19 and 6.20. (a) Circle. (b) Square. (c) Rectangle with sides
equal to 1:0 and 0:5 units. (d) Rectangle with sides equal to 1:0 and 0:25
units. (e) Right-angled triangle of height 1:0 and base 0:25 units.
Analysis of Shape 553
FIGURE 6.15
A set of simple geometric shapes, including scaling and rotation, created on
a discrete grid, to test shape factors. Reproduced with permission from L.
Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Application of shape analysis
to mammographic calci cations", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
13(2): 263 { 274, 1994. c IEEE.
554
TABLE 6.1
Shape Factors for the Shapes in Figure 6.15
274, 320, 334, 416].
Shape Co cf F1 = F1 0
F2 F20
F3 F30
mf ff
Large circle (a) 14.08 0.1078 0.0056 0.4105 0.0042 2.0271 0.0067 0.0011 0.0358
Medium circle (b) 14.13 0.1105 0.0066 0.1731 0.0037 1.9285 0.0078 0.0012 0.0380
Small circle (c) 14.29 0.1205 0.0085 0.1771 0.0048 1.9334 0.0100 0.0015 0.0432
Large square (d) 15.77 0.2034 0.1083 0.5183 0.0870 1.9987 0.1288 0.0205 0.1416
Medium square (e) 15.70 0.1997 0.1081 0.5122 0.0865 2.0126 0.1287 0.0207 0.1389
Rotated square (f) 16.00 0.2146 0.1101 0.5326 0.0893 1.9987 0.1309 0.0208 0.1434
Small square (g) 15.56 0.1926 0.1078 0.4943 0.0853 2.0495 0.1290 0.0212 0.1362
Large rectangle (i) 17.60 0.2858 0.2491 -0.3313 -0.1724 1.5385 0.2775 0.0283 0.1494
Medium rectangle (j) 17.47 0.2807 0.2483 -0.3267 -0.1710 1.5429 0.2767 0.0284 0.1483
Rotated rectangle (k) 17.47 0.2807 0.2483 -0.3267 -0.1710 1.5429 0.2767 0.0284 0.1483
Small rectangle (l) 17.23 0.2707 0.2468 -0.3165 -0.1682 1.5583 0.2758 0.0290 0.1420
Large isosceles triangle (m) 22.41 0.4392 0.3119 0.0737 0.1308 2.3108 0.3846 0.0727 0.2248
Medium isosceles triangle (n) 22.13 0.4322 0.3051 0.2027 0.1792 2.2647 0.3743 0.0692 0.2233
Rotated isosceles triangle (o) 22.13 0.4322 0.3051 0.2027 0.1792 2.2647 0.3743 0.0692 0.2238
FIGURE 6.16
A set of objects of varying shape complexity. The objects were prepared by
cutting construction paper. The contours of the objects include imperfections
and artifacts. Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Application of shape analysis to mammographic cal-
ci cations", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 13(2): 263 { 274, 1994.
c IEEE.
Shen et al.
274, 334] applied compactness to shape analysis of mammo-
graphic calci cations. The details of this application are presented in Sections
6.6 and 12.7. The use of compactness in benign-versus-malignant classi cation
of breast masses is discussed in Sections 6.7, 12.11, and 12.12.
6.2.2 Moments
Statistical moments of PDFs and other data distributions have been utilized
as pattern features in a number of applications the same concepts have been
extended to the analysis of images and contours
8, 417, 418, 419, 420]. Given
a 2D continuous image f (x y), the regular moments mpq of order (p + q) are
556 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 6.2
Shape Factors for the Objects in
Figure 6.16 Arranged in Increasing Order
of ff
334, 274, 416, 320].
Shape cf mf ff Type
1 0.13 0.022 0.14 Circle
2 0.11 0.019 0.14 Circle
3 0.35 0.047 0.14 Ellipse
4 0.55 0.047 0.17 Rectangle
5 0.62 0.060 0.18 Rectangle
6 0.83 0.084 0.18 Rectangle
7 0.22 0.038 0.19 Pentagon
8 0.50 0.063 0.24 Triangle
9 0.44 0.063 0.25 Triangle
10 0.75 0.090 0.30 Other
11 0.63 0.106 0.36 Other
12 0.81 0.077 0.42 Other
de ned as
420, 8]:
Z +1 Z +1
mpq = xp yq f (x y) dx dy (6.21)
;1 ;1
for p q = 0 1 2 : : :. A uniqueness theorem
128] states that if f (x y) is
piecewise continuous and has nonzero values only in a nite part of the (x y)
plane, then moments of all orders exist, and the moment sequence mpq , p q =
0 1 2 : : :, is uniquely determined by f (x y). Conversely, the sequence mpq
uniquely determines f (x y)
8].
The central moments are de ned with respect to the centroid of the image
as Z +1 Z +1
pq = (x ; x)p (y ; y)q f (x y) dx dy (6.22)
;1 ;1
where
x= m
m
10 m01 :
y=m (6.23)
00 00
Observe that the gray levels of the pixels provide weights for the moments as
de ned above. If moments are to be computed for a contour, only the contour
pixels would be used with weights equal to unity the internal pixels would
have weights of zero, and eectively do not participate in the computation of
the moments.
For an M N digital image, the integrals are replaced by summations for
example, Equation 6.22 becomes
;1 NX
MX ;1
pq = (m ; x)p (n ; y)q f (m n): (6.24)
m=0 n=0
Analysis of Shape 557
The central moments have the following relationships
8]:
00 = m00 = (6.25)
10 = 01 = 0 (6.26)
20 = m20 ; x2 (6.27)
11 = m11 ; x y (6.28)
02 = m02 ; y2 (6.29)
30 = m30 ; 3m20 x + 2x3 (6.30)
21 = m21 ; m20 y ; 2m11 x + 2x2 y (6.31)
12 = m12 ; m02 x ; 2m11 y + 2x y2 (6.32)
03 = m03 ; 3m02 y + 2y3 : (6.33)
Normalization with respect to size is achieved by dividing each of the mo-
ments by 00 , where = p+2 q + 1, to obtain the normalized moments as
8]
pq = pq : (6.34)
00
Hu
420] (see also Gonzalez and Woods
8]) de ned a set of seven shape
factors that are functions of the second-order and third-order central moments
as follows:
M1 = 20 + 02 (6.35)
M6 = (20 ; 02 )
(30 + 12 )2 ; (21 + 03 )2 ]
+411 (30 + 12 )(21 + 03 ) (6.40)
with respect to size and rotation for a given geometric shape, it showed no
better variation than F2 across the shape categories tested. However, it was
shown that the combination mf = F3 ; F1 is a good indicator of shape
0 0
roughness because the fourth-order term in F3 will be much larger than the
0
the desired invariance for a given contour type as well as the desired variation
across the various shape categories see Figure 6.15 and Table 6.1. Note that
the de nition of the features F1 and F3 makes it possible to perform the
0 0
2 3 3
14
4
13 15
2
4
10
11
1
12 5
7
1 8
9
5
6
0
FIGURE 6.17
The set of all possible chords for a contour with N = 6 boundary points.
There exist K = N (N ; 1)=2 = 15 unique chords (including the sides of the
polygonal contour) in the example. The contour points (0 { 5) are shown in
regular font the chord numbers (1 ; 15) are shown in italics.
562 Biomedical Image Analysis
boundary. The method has a major disadvantage: it is possible for contours
of dierent shapes to have the same chord-length distribution.
The technique was applied by You and Jain to the boundary maps of seven
countries and six machine parts with dierent levels of resolution, and the
results indicated good discrimination between the shapes. Rangayyan et
al.
163] applied chord-length statistics to the analysis of contours of breast
masses, but obtained accuracies of no more than 68% in discriminating be-
tween benign masses and malignant tumors see Section 6.7.
1
Large Square
Medium Square
Rotated Square
Small Square
0.8
Normalized FDs, NFD(k)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
Frequency index, k
(a)
1
Large Right-Angled Triangle
Medium Right-Angled Triangle
Rotated Right-Angled Triangle
Small Right-Angled Triangle
0.8
Normalized FDs, NFD(k)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
Frequency index, k
(b)
FIGURE 6.18
Normalized Fourier descriptors (NFD, up to k = 15) for (a) the squares and (b) the
right-angled triangles in Figure 6.15. Each gure shows the NFD for four objects
however, due to invariance with respect to scaling and rotation, the functions overlap
completely. Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Application of shape analysis to mammographic calci cations", IEEE
Transactions on Medical Imaging, 13(2): 263 { 274, 1994. c IEEE.
Analysis of Shape 565
Figures 6.19 and 6.20 show the jz (n)j signatures and Fourier-descriptor
sequences for the benign-mass and malignant-tumor contours shown in Fig-
ures 6.2 (a) and 6.3 (a). It is evident that the signatures reect the smoothness
or roughness of the contours: the Fourier descriptors of the spiculated contour
indicate the presence of more high-frequency energy than those of the nearly
oval contour of the benign mass.
Figure 6.21 shows the results of ltering the benign-mass contour in Figure
6.2 (a) using Fourier descriptors. The coecients Z (1) and Z (;1) provide two
circles, with one of them tting the contour better than the other (depending
upon the direction of traversal of the contour). The combined use of Z (1)
and Z (;1) has provided an ellipse that ts the original contour well. The use
of additional Fourier descriptors has provided contours that t the original
contour better.
Figure 6.22 shows the results of ltering the malignant-tumor contour in
Figure 6.3 (a) using Fourier descriptors. The inclusion of more high-order
coecients has led to contours that approximate the original contour to better
levels of t. The ltered contours illustrate clearly the role played by high-
order Fourier descriptors in representing the ner details of the given contour.
Persoon and Fu
423] showed that Fourier descriptors may be used to char-
acterize the skeletons of objects, with applications in character recognition
and machine-part recognition. Lin and Chellappa
427] showed that the clas-
si cation of 2D shapes based on Fourier descriptors is accurate even when
20 ; 30% of the data are missing.
Shape factor based upon Fourier descriptors: In a procedure pro-
posed by Shen et al.
274, 334] to derive a single shape factor, the Fourier
descriptors are normalized as follows: Z (0) is set equal to zero in order to
make the descriptors independent of position, and each coecient is divided
by the magnitude of Z (1) in order to normalize for size. After these steps,
the magnitudes of the Fourier descriptors are independent of position, size,
orientation, and starting point of the contour note that the orientation and
starting point aect only the phase of the Fourier descriptors. The normalized
Fourier descriptors Zo (k) are de ned as
(
0 k = 0
Zo (k) = Z (k) otherwise:
jZ (1)j
Note: For normalization as above, the points of the contour must be in-
dexed from 0 to (N ; 1) in counter-clockwise order in the opposite case,
jZ (;1)j should be used.]
Contours with sharp excursions possess more high-frequency energy than
smooth contours. However, applying a weighting factor that increases with
frequency leads to unbounded values that are also sensitive to noise. A shape
factor ff based upon the normalized Fourier descriptors was de ned by Shen
566 Biomedical Image Analysis
900
850
|x(n) + j y(n)|
800
750
700
(a)
5.5
4.5
log10 ( 1 + |Fourier descriptors| )
3.5
2.5
1.5
(b)
FIGURE 6.19
(a) Signature with jz (n)j of the benign-mass contour in Figure 6.2 (a).
(b) Magnitude of the Fourier descriptors, shown only for k =
;50 50].
Analysis of Shape 567
1700
1650
1600
|x(n) + j y(n)|
1550
1500
1450
1400
1350
(a)
6.5
5.5
log10 ( 1 + |Fourier descriptors| )
4.5
3.5
(b)
FIGURE 6.20
(a) Signature with jz (n)j of the malignant-tumor contour in Figure 6.3 (a).
(b) Magnitude of the Fourier descriptors, shown only for k =
;50 50].
568 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 6.21
Filtering of the benign-mass contour in Figure 6.2 (a) using Fourier descrip-
tors. (a) Using coecients for k = 1 (smaller circle in dashed line), k = ;1
(larger circle in dashed line), and k = f;1 0 1g (ellipse in solid line). (b) Us-
ing coecients for k =
;2 2] (dashed line) and k =
;3 3] (solid line). The
original contour is indicated with a dotted line for reference.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 6.22
Filtering of the malignant-tumor contour in Figure 6.3 (a) using Fourier de-
scriptors. (a) Using coecients for k = 1 (smaller circle in dashed line),
k = ;1 (larger circle in dashed line), and k = f;1 0 1g (ellipse in solid line).
(b) Using coecients for k =
;10 10] (dashed line) and k =
;20 20] (solid
line). The original contour is indicated with a dotted line for reference.
Analysis of Shape 569
et al.
274] as
PN=2
k=;N=2+1 jZo (k)j=jkj :
ff = 1 ; P (6.58)
N=2
k=;N=2+1 jZo (k)j
The advantage of this measure is that it is limited to the range
0 1], and is
not sensitive to noise, which would not be the case if weights increasing with
frequency were used. ff is invariant to translation, rotation, starting point,
and contour size, and increases in value as the object shape becomes more
complex and rough.
Other forms of weighting could be used in Equation 6.58 to derive several
variants or dierent shape factors based upon Fourier descriptors. For exam-
ple, the normalized frequency given by N= jkj could be used to provide weights
2
increasing with frequency, and the computation limited to frequencies up to
a fraction of the highest available frequency (such as 0:2) in order to limit the
eect of noise and high-frequency artifacts. High-order moments could also
be computed by using powers of the normalized frequency. Subtraction from
unity as in Equation 6.58 could then be removed so as to obtain shape factors
that increase with roughness.
The values of ff for the contours of the objects in Figures 6.15 and 6.16 are
listed in Tables 6.1 and 6.2. The values of ff do not demonstrate the same
trends as those of the other shape factors listed in the tables for the same
contours. Several shape factors that characterize dierent notions of shape
complexity may be required for ecient pattern classi cation of contours in
some applications see Sections 6.6 and 6.7 for illustrations.
Malignant calci cations that have elongated and rough contours lead to
larger ff values than benign calci cations that are mostly smooth, round,
or oval in shape. Furthermore, tumors with microlobulations and jagged
boundaries are expected to have larger ff values than masses with smooth or
macrolobulated boundaries. Shen et al.
274, 334] applied ff to shape analysis
of mammographic calci cations. The details of this application are presented
in Section 6.6. Rangayyan et al.
163] used ff to discriminate between benign
breast masses and malignant tumors, and obtained an accuracy of 76% see
Section 6.7. Sahiner et al.
428] tested the classi cation performance of sev-
eral shape factors and texture measures with a dataset of 122 benign breast
masses and 127 malignant tumors ff was found to give the best individual
performance with an accuracy of 0:82.
PN
SI = n=1P(1N+ cos n )Sn : (6.59)
n=1 Sn
The factor (1+cos n ) modulates the length of each segment (possible spicule)
according to its narrowness. Spicules with narrow angles between 0 and 30
get high weighting, as compared to macrolobulations that usually form obtuse
angles, and hence get low weighting.
The majority of the angles of spicules of the masses and tumors in the
MIAS database
376], computed by using the procedure described above, were
found to be in the range of 30o to 150o
345]. The function (1 + cos n )
in Equation 6.59 is progressively decreasing within this range, giving lower
weighting to segments with larger angles. Relatively at segments having
angles ranging between 150o and 180o receive low weighting, and hence are
treated as insigni cant segments.
The denominator in Equation 6.59 serves as a normalization factor to take
into account the eect of the size of the contour it ensures that SI represents
only the severity of the spiculated nature of the contour, which in turn may
be linked to the invasive properties of the tumor under consideration. The
value of SI as in Equation 6.59 is limited to the range
0 2], and may be
normalized to the range
0 1] by dividing by 2. Circumscribed masses with
smooth contours could be expected to have low SI values, whereas sharp,
stellate contours with acute spicules should have high SI values. The perfor-
mance of SI in discriminating between benign masses and malignant tumors
is illustrated in Sections 6.7, 12.11, and 12.12.
Analysis of Shape 573
113
116
91
83
87
133
119
59
128
100
95 164
120 71
97
77
99 94
92
73
108
60
34
111
167 76
60 28
77
88
170 54
94
36
FIGURE 6.23
The polygonal model used in the procedure to compute SI for the spiculated
malignant tumor shown in Figure 6.8 (with the corresponding polygonal model
in Figure 6.10). The 0
0 marks correspond to the points of inection retained
to represent the starting and the ending points of spicule candidates, and
the 0 0 marks indicate the points of intersection of linear segments within the
spicules in the corresponding complete polygonal model. The numbers inside
or beside each spicule candidate are the angles in degrees computed for the
derivation of SI . Reproduced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, N.R.
Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Boundary modeling and shape analysis
methods for classi cation of mammographic masses", Medical and Biological
Engineering and Computing, 38: 487 { 496, 2000. c IFMBE.
574 Biomedical Image Analysis
s3
s2 Θ2 Θ3 s4
Θ1
s1 s2 Θ1 Θ4
s1 s5
Μ=2 Μ=5
θ = Θ1 Θth = (Θ1+Θ2+Θ3+Θ4) / 4
S = s1+ s2 Θ2 < Θth ; Θ3 < Θth
θ = (Θ2 + Θ3) / 2
S = s1+ s2+ s3+ s4+ s5
FIGURE 6.24
Computation of segment length S and angle of spiculation for two examples
of spicule candidates with the number of segments M = 2 and M = 5, respec-
tively. !th is the threshold computed to reject insigni cant angles (that is,
angles that are close to 180o ). Reproduced with permission from R.M. Ran-
gayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Boundary modeling and
shape analysis methods for classi cation of mammographic masses", Medical
and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38: 487 { 496, 2000. c IFMBE.
Analysis of Shape 575
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
compactness cf
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 0.15
0.5
0.4 0.1
0.3
0.2 0.05
0.1
0 0
Fourier factor ff moment factor mf
FIGURE 6.25
Plot of the shape factors (mf ff cf ) of 143 calci cations. The + symbols
represent 79 malignant calci cations, and the symbols represent 64 benign
calci cations.
Analysis of Shape 577
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
b m b m b m
FIGURE 6.26
Means of the shape factors (mf ff cf ) of 64 benign calci cations (`b') and
79 malignant calci cations (`m'). The error bars indicate the range of mean
plus or minus one standard deviation.
578 Biomedical Image Analysis
Rangayyan et al.
163, 345] applied several shape factors to the analysis of a set
of contours of 28 benign breast masses and 26 malignant tumors. The dataset
included 39 mammograms from the MIAS database
376] and 15 images from
Screen Test: Alberta Program for the Early Detection of Breast Cancer
61].
The contours were drawn on digitized mammograms by an expert radiologist.
Figure 6.27 shows the 54 contours arranged in order of increasing shape com-
plexity as characterized by the magnitude of the feature vector (cf fcc SI )
Figure 6.28 shows a scatter plot of the three features. Each of the three fea-
tures has, in general, the distinction of reecting low values for circumscribed
benign masses and high values for spiculated malignant tumors.
b b b b b b b b
b b b b b b b m
m b b m m m b m
b b m b m m b m
m b m b m m m m
m m b m m b m m
m b m m m b
FIGURE 6.27
Contours of 54 breast masses. `b': benign masses (28). `m': malignant tumors
(26). The contours are arranged in order of increasing magnitude of the
feature vector (cf fcc SI ). Note that the masses and their contours are of
widely diering size, but have been scaled to the same size in the illustration.
580 Biomedical Image Analysis
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
SI
0.4
0.2
0
0
0.2 0.7
0.4 0.6
0.5
0.6 0.4
0.3
0.8 0.2
0.1
1 0
cf
fcc
FIGURE 6.28
Feature-space plot of cf , fcc , and SI : for benign masses (28) and * for
malignant tumors (26). SI: spiculation index, fcc: fractional concavity, and
cf: modi ed compactness. See Figure 6.27 for an illustration of the contours.
Analysis of Shape 581
6.8 Remarks
In this chapter, we have explored several methods to model, characterize,
and parameterize contours. Closed contours were considered in most of the
discussion and illustrations, although some of the techniques described may
be extended to open contours or contours with missing parts.
Regardless of the success of some of the methods and applications illus-
trated, it should be noted that obtaining contours with good accuracy could
be dicult in many applications. It is not common clinical practice to draw
the contours of tumors or organs. Malignant tumors typically exhibit poor
de nitions of their margins due to their invasive and metastatic nature: this
makes the identi cation and drawing of their contours dicult, if not impos-
sible, either manually or by computer methods. Hand-drawn and computer-
detected contours may contain imperfections and artifacts that could corrupt
shape factors furthermore, there could be signi cant variations between the
contours drawn by dierent individuals for the same objects. It should be
recognized that the contour of a 3D entity (such as a tumor) as it appears
on a 2D image (for example, a mammogram) depends upon the imaging and
projection geometry. Above all, contours of biological entities often present
signi cant overlap in their characteristics between various categories, such as
for benign and malignant diseases. The inclusion of measures representing
other image characteristics, such as texture and gradient, could complement
shape factors, and assist in improved analysis of biomedical images. For ex-
ample, Sahiner et al.
428] showed that the combined use of shape and texture
features could improve the accuracy in discriminating between benign breast
masses and malignant tumors. Methods for the characterization of texture
and gradient information are described in Chapters 7 and 8. The use of the
fractal dimension as a measure of roughness is described in Section 7.5. See
Chapter 12 for several examples of pattern classi cation via shape analysis.
583
584 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 7.1
Examples of texture in CT images: (a) Liver. (b) Kidney. (c) Spine. (d) Lung.
The true size of each image is 55 55 mm. The images represent widely dif-
fering ranges of tissue density, and have been enhanced to display the inherent
texture. Image data courtesy of Alberta Children's Hospital.
586 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 7.2
Examples of texture in mammograms (from the MIAS database 376]): (a) {
(c) oriented texture true image size 60 60 mm (d) random texture true
image size 40 40 mm. For more examples of oriented texture, see Figures
9.20 and 1.8, as well as Chapter 8.
Analysis of Texture 587
(a) (b)
(c)
FIGURE 7.3
Examples of ordered texture: (a) Endothelial cells in the cornea. Image cour-
tesy of J. Jaroszewski. (b) Part of a y's eye. Reproduced with permission
from D. Suzuki, \Behavior in drosophila melanogaster: A geneticist's view",
Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology, XVI(4): 713 { 735, 1974. c Ge-
netics Society of Canada. (c) Skin on the belly of a cobra snake. Image
courtesy of Implora, Colonial Heights, VA. http://www.implora.com. See
also Figure 1.5.
588 Biomedical Image Analysis
Unvoiced
Random
excitation
Vocal-tract
filter
Speech
Quasi-periodic signal
excitation
Voiced
(a)
Random
Random field
of impulses
Texture element
(texton) or
spot filter
Textured
Ordered field image
of impulses
Ordered
(b)
FIGURE 7.4
(a) Model for speech signal generation. (b) Model for texture synthesis. Re-
produced with permission from A.C.G. Martins, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.A.
Ruschioni, \Audication and sonication of texture in images", Journal of
Electronic Imaging, 10(3): 690 { 705, 2001.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Analysis of Texture 589
Texture may also be modeled as the convolution of an input impulse eld
with a spot or a texton that would act as a lter. The \spot noise" model of
van Wijk 443] for synthesizing random texture uses this model, in which the
Fourier spectrum of the spot acts as a lter that modies the spectrum of a
2D random-noise eld. Ordered texture may be generated by specifying the
basic pattern or texton to be used, and a placement rule. The placement rule
may be expressed as a eld of impulses. Texture is then given by the convolu-
tion of the impulse eld with the texton, which could also be represented as a
lter. A one-to-one correspondence may thus be established between speech
signals and texture in images. Figure 7.4 (b) illustrates the model for tex-
ture synthesis: the correspondence between the speech and image generation
models in Figure 7.4 is straightforward.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 7.5
(a) Image of a random-noise eld (256256 pixels). (b) Spectrum of the image
in (a). Reproduced with permission from A.C.G. Martins, R.M. Rangayyan,
and R.A. Ruschioni, \Audication and sonication of texture in images",
Journal of Electronic Imaging, 10(3): 690 { 705, 2001. c SPIE and IS&T.
Figure 7.9 (a) illustrates a 256 256 eld of impulses with horizontal peri-
odicity px = 40 pixels and vertical periodicity py = 40 pixels. Figure 7.9 (b)
shows the corresponding periodic texture with a circle of diameter 20 pixels
as the spot or texton. Figure 7.9 (c) shows a periodic texture with the texton
being a square of side 20 pixels, px = 40 pixels, and py = 40 pixels. Figure
7.9 (d) depicts a periodic-textured image with an isosceles triangle of sides
12 16 and 23 pixels as the spot, and periodicity px = 40 pixels and py = 40
pixels. See Section 7.6 for illustrations of the Fourier spectra of images with
ordered texture.
Images with oriented texture may be generated using the spot-noise model
by providing line segments or oriented motifs as the spot. Figure 7.10 shows
a spot with a line segment oriented at 135o and the result of convolution of
the spot with a random-noise eld the log-magnitude Fourier spectra of the
spot and the textured image are also shown. The preferred orientation of the
texture and the directional concentration of the energy in the Fourier domain
are clearly seen in the gure. See Figure 7.2 for examples of oriented texture
in mammograms. See Chapter 8 for detailed discussions on the analysis of
oriented texture and several illustrations of oriented patterns.
Analysis of Texture 591
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 7.6
(a) Circle of diameter 12 pixels. (b) Circle of diameter 20 pixels. (c) Fourier
spectrum of the image in (a). (d) Fourier spectrum of the image in (b).
(e) Random texture with the circle of diameter 12 pixels as the spot. (f) Ran-
dom texture with the circle of diameter 20 pixels as the spot. (g) Fourier
spectrum of the image in (e). (h) Fourier spectrum of the image in (f). The
size of each image is 256 256 pixels. Reproduced with permission from
A.C.G. Martins, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.A. Ruschioni, \Audication and
sonication of texture in images", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 10(3): 690
{ 705, 2001. c SPIE and IS&T.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 7.7
(a) Square of side 20 pixels. (b) Random texture with the square of side
20 pixels as the spot. (c) Spectrum of the image in (a). (d) Spectrum of
the image in (b). The size of each image is 256 256 pixels. Reproduced
with permission from A.C.G. Martins, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.A. Ruschioni,
\Audication and sonication of texture in images", Journal of Electronic
Imaging, 10(3): 690 { 705, 2001.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Analysis of Texture 593
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 7.8
(a) Hash of side 20 pixels. (b) Random texture with the hash of side 20 pixels
as the spot. (c) Spectrum of the image in (a). (d) Spectrum of the image in
(b). The size of each image is 256 256 pixels. Reproduced with permission
from A.C.G. Martins, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.A. Ruschioni, \Audication
and sonication of texture in images", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 10(3):
690 { 705, 2001. c SPIE and IS&T.
594 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 7.9
(a) Periodic eld of impulses with px = 40 pixels and py = 40 pixels. (b) Or-
dered texture with a circle of diameter 20 pixels, px = 40 pixels, and py = 40
pixels as the spot. (c) Ordered texture with a square of side 20 pixels, px = 40
pixels, and py = 40 pixels as the spot. (d) Ordered texture with a triangle
of sides 12 16 and 23 pixels as the spot px = 40 pixels and py = 40 pix-
els. The size of each image is 256 256 pixels. Reproduced with permission
from A.C.G. Martins, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.A. Ruschioni, \Audication
and sonication of texture in images", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 10(3):
690 { 705, 2001. c SPIE and IS&T.
Analysis of Texture 595
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 7.10
Example of oriented texture generated using the spot-noise model in Fig-
ure 7.4: (a) Spot with a line segment oriented at 135o . (b) Oriented texture
generated by convolving the spot in (a) with a random-noise eld. (c) and
(d) Log-magnitude Fourier spectra of the spot and the textured image, re-
spectively. The size of each image is 256 256 pixels.
596 Biomedical Image Analysis
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 1 2
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 5
1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 6
2 2 3 5 4 3 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 5
4 6 5 4 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 4
5 5 2 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 3 4 3 2 1 3
4 3 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 3 5
2 0 2 0 1 3 1 3 5 3 3 2 2 3 3 6
1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 6 5 6
1 1 2 4 1 0 0 1 3 4 5 5 5 4 4 6
1 1 1 4 2 1 2 3 5 5 5 4 4 3 4 6
1 1 1 4 4 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 2 3 5 6
1 1 2 5 5 4 5 5 4 3 3 2 3 4 5 6
2 1 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 1 1 1 4 6 5 6
2 2 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 4 6 6 6 7
4 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 0 1 5 6 6 6 6 7
FIGURE 7.11
A 16 16 part of the image in Figure 2.1 (a) quantized to 3 b=pixel, shown
as an image and as a 2D array of pixel values.
Analysis of Texture 599
TABLE 7.1
Gray-level Co-occurrence Matrix for the Image in Figure 7.11, with
the Second Pixel Immediately Below the First.
Current Pixel Next Pixel Below
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 0 3 4 1 0 1 0 0
1 6 44 10 9 5 1 0 0
2 3 13 13 5 8 3 1 0
3 1 5 11 5 3 5 2 0
4 0 1 5 7 5 9 3 0
5 0 0 1 5 11 10 4 0
6 0 0 0 0 2 3 10 1
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Pixels in the last row were not processed. The GCM has not been normalized.
See also Table 11.2.
600 Biomedical Image Analysis
7.3.2 Haralick's measures of texture
Based upon normalized GCMs, Haralick et al. 441, 442] proposed several
quantities as measures of texture. In order to dene these measures, let us
normalize the GCM as
p(l1 l2) = PL;1 P P (l1 l2 ) : (7.6)
L;1
l1 =0 l2 =0 P (l1 l2 )
A few other entities used in the derivation of Haralick's texture measures are
as follows:
;1
LX
px (l1) = p(l1 l2 ) (7.7)
l2 =0
LX;1
py (l2) = p(l1 l2 ) (7.8)
l1 =0
;1 LX
LX ;1
px+y (k) = p(l1 l2 ) (7.9)
l1 =0 l2 =0
| {z }
l1 +l2 =k
where k = 0 1 2 : : : 2(L ; 1), and
;1 LX
LX ;1
px;y (k) = p(l1 l2 ) (7.10)
l1 =0 l2 =0
| {z }
jl1 ;l2 j=k
where k = 0 1 2 : : : L ; 1.
The texture measures are then dened as follows.
The energy feature F1 , which is a measure of homogeneity, is dened as
;1 LX
LX ;1
F1 = p2 (l1 l2 ): (7.11)
l1 =0 l2 =0
A homogeneous image has a small number of entries along the diagonal of the
GCM with large values, which will lead to a large value of F1 . On the other
hand, an inhomogeneous image will have small values spread over a larger
number of GCM entries, which will result in a low value for F1 .
The contrast feature F2 is dened as
;1
LX ;1 LX
LX ;1
F2 = k2 p(l1 l2 ): (7.12)
k=0 l1 =0 l2 =0
| {z }
jl1 ;l2 j=k
Analysis of Texture 601
The correlation measure F3 , which represents linear dependencies of gray
levels, is dened as
" L;1 L;1 #
F3 = 1
X X
l1 l2 p(l1 l2) ; x y (7.13)
x y l1 =0 l2 =0
where x and y are the means, and x and y are the standard deviations
of px and py , respectively.
The sum of squares feature is given by
;1 LX
LX ;1
F4 = (l1 ; f )2 p(l1 l2 ) (7.14)
l1 =0 l2 =0
where f is the mean gray level of the image.
The inverse dierence moment, a measure of local homogeneity, is dened
as
;1 LX
LX ;1 1
F5 = 1 + (l ; l )2 p(l1 l2 ): (7.15)
l1 =0 l2 =0 1 2
The sum average feature F6 is given by
L;1)
2(X
F6 = k px+y (k) (7.16)
k=0
and the sum variance feature F7 is dened as
L;1)
2(X
F7 = (k ; F6 )2 px+y (k): (7.17)
k=0
The sum entropy feature F8 is given by
L;1)
2(X
F8 = ; px+y (k) log2 px+y (k)] : (7.18)
k=0
Entropy, a measure of nonuniformity in the image or the complexity of the
texture, is dened as
;1 LX
LX ;1
F9 = ; p(l1 l2 ) log2 p(l1 l2 )] : (7.19)
l1 =0 l2 =0
The dierence variance measure F10 is dened as the variance of px;y ,
in a manner similar to that given by Equations 7.16 and 7.17 for its sum
counterpart.
602 Biomedical Image Analysis
The dierence entropy measure is dened as
;1
LX
F11 = ; px;y (k) log2 px;y (k)] : (7.20)
k=0
Two information-theoretic measures of correlation are dened as
Hxy ; Hxy1
F12 = max (7.21)
fH H g x y
and
F13 = f1 ; exp;2 (Hxy2 ; Hxy )]g2 (7.22)
where Hxy = F9 Hx and Hy are the entropies of px and py , respectively
;1 LX
LX ;1
Hxy1 = ; p(l1 l2) log2 px (l1) py (l2 )] (7.23)
l1 =0 l2 =0
and
;1 LX
LX ;1
Hxy2 = ; px (l1 ) py (l2 ) log2 px (l1 ) py (l2)] : (7.24)
l1 =0 l2 =0
The maximal correlation coecient feature F14 is dened as the square root
of the second largest eigenvalue of Q, where
LX;1 p(l k) p(l k)
Q(l1 l2 ) = 1 2
k=0 p x ( k ) py ( k) : (7.25)
The subscripts d and in the representation of the GCM P( d) (l1 l2 ) have
been removed in the denitions above for the sake of notational simplicity.
However, it should be noted that each of the measures dened above may be
derived for each value of d and of interest. If the dependence of texture
upon angle is not of interest, GCMs over all angles may be averaged into a
single GCM. The distance d should be chosen taking into account the sampling
interval (pixel size) and the size of the texture units of interest. More details
on the derivation and signicance of the features dened above are provided
by Haralick et al. 441, 442].
Some of the features dened above have values much greater than unity,
whereas some of the features have values far less than unity. Normalization
to a predened range, such as 0 1], over the dataset to be analyzed, may be
benecial.
Parkkinen et al. 449] studied the problem of detecting periodicity in tex-
ture using statistical measures of association and agreement computed from
GCMs. If the displacement and orientation (d ) of a GCM match the same
parameters of the texture, the GCM will have large values for the elements
Analysis of Texture 603
along the diagonal corresponding to the gray levels present in the texture el-
ements. A measure of association is the 2 statistic, which may be expressed
using the notation above as
;1 LX
LX ;1 p(l l ) ; p (l ) p (l )]2
2 = 1 2 x 1 y 2 : (7.26)
l1 =0 l2 =0 p x 1 py (l2 )
(l )
The measure may be normalized by dividing by L, and expected to possess a
high value for an image with periodic texture under the condition described
above.
Parkkinen et al. 449] discussed some limitations of the 2 statistic in the
analysis of periodic texture, and proposed a measure of agreement given by
= P1o;;PPc (7.27)
c
where ;1
LX
Po = p(l l) (7.28)
l=0
and ;1
LX
Pc = px (l) py (l): (7.29)
l=0
The measure has its maximal value of unity when the GCM is a diagonal
matrix, which indicates perfect agreement or periodic texture.
Haralick's measures have been applied for the analysis of texture in several
types of images, including medical images. Chan et al. 450] found the three
features of correlation, dierence entropy, and entropy to perform better than
other combinations of one to eight features selected in a specic sequence.
Sahiner et al. 428, 451] dened a \rubber-band straightening transform"
(RBST) to map ribbons around breast masses in mammograms into rect-
angular arrays (see Figure 7.26), and then computed Haralick's measures of
texture. Mudigonda et al. 165, 275] computed Haralick's measures using
adaptive ribbons of pixels extracted around mammographic masses, and used
the features to distinguish malignant tumors from benign masses details of
this work are provided in Sections 7.9 and 8.8. See Section 12.12 for a dis-
cussion on the application of texture measures for content-based retrieval and
classication of mammographic masses.
(a) (d)
(b) (e)
(c) (f)
FIGURE 7.12
Results of convolution of the Lenna test image of size 128 128 pixels see
Figure 10.5 (a)] using the following 55 Laws' operators: (a) L5L5, (b) E 5E 5,
and (c) W 5W 5. (d) { (f) were obtained by summing the absolute values of
the results in (a) { (c), respectively, in a 9 9 moving window, and represent
three measures of texture energy. The image in (c) was obtained by mapping
the range ;200 200] out of the full range of ;1338 1184] to 0 255].
Analysis of Texture 607
FIGURE 7.13
The leaf of a fern with a fractal pattern.
608 Biomedical Image Analysis
7.5.1 Fractal dimension
Whereas the self-similar aspect of fractals is apparent in the examples men-
tioned above, it is not so obvious in other patterns such as clouds, coastlines,
and mammograms, which are also said to have fractal-like characteristics. In
such cases, the \fractal nature" perceived is more easily related to the notion
of complexity in the dimensionality of the object, leading to the concept of the
fractal dimension. If one were to use a large ruler to measure the length of a
coastline, the minor details present in the border having small-scale variations
would be skipped, and a certain length would be derived. If a smaller ruler
were to be used, smaller details would get measured, and the total length
that is measured would increase (between the same end points as before).
This relationship may be expressed as 457]
l() = l0 1;df (7.32)
where l() is the length measured with as the measuring unit (the size of
the ruler), df is the fractal dimension, and l0 is a constant. Fractal patterns
exhibit a linear relationship between the log of the measured length and the
log of the measuring unit:
logl()] = logl0 ] + (1 ; df ) log] (7.33)
the slope of this relationship is related to the fractal dimension df of the
pattern. This method is known as the caliper method to estimate the fractal
dimension of a curve. It is obvious that df = 1 for a straight line.
Fractal dimension is a measure that quanties how the given pattern lls
space. The fractal dimension of a straight line is unity, that of a circle or a 2D
perfectly planar (sheet-like) object is two, and that of a sphere is three. As the
irregularity or complexity of a pattern increases, its fractal dimension increases
up to its own Euclidean dimension dE plus one. The fractal dimension of a
jagged, rugged, convoluted, kinky, or crinkly curve will be greater than unity,
and reaches the value of two as its complexity increases. The fractal dimension
of a rough 2D surface will be greater than two, and approaches three as the
surface roughness increases. In this sense, fractal dimension may be used as
a measure of the roughness of texture in images.
Several methods have been proposed to estimate the fractal dimension of
patterns 464, 465, 466, 467, 464, 468, 469]. Among the methods described by
Schepers et al. 467] for the estimation of the fractal dimension of 1D signals
is that of computing the relative dispersion RD(), dened as the ratio of the
standard deviation to the mean, using varying bin size or number of samples
of the signal . For a fractal signal, the expected variation of RD() is
H ;1
RD() = RD(0 ) (7.34)
0
Analysis of Texture 609
where 0 is a reference value for the bin size, and H is the Hurst coecient
that is related to the fractal dimension as
df = dE + 1 ; H: (7.35)
(Note: dE = 1 for 1D signals, 2 for 2D images, etc.) The value of H , and
hence df , may be estimated by measuring the slope of the straight-line ap-
proximation to the relationship between logRD()] and log().
;2 NX
NX ;2
A() = f 2 +
m=0 n=0
jf (m n) ; f (m n + 1)j + jf (m n) ; f (m + 1 n)j ] g (7.39)
η
η
FIGURE 7.14
Computation of the exposed surface area for a pixel f (m n) with respect to
its neighboring pixels f (m n + 1) and f (m + 1 n). A pixel at (m:n) is viewed
as a box (or building) with base area and height equal to the gray level
f (m n). The total exposed surface area for the pixel f (m n), with respect to
its neighboring pixels at (m n + 1) and (m + 1 n), is the sum of the areas of
the rectangles ABCD, CBEF , and DCGH 448].
(a) (d)
(b) (e)
(c) (f)
FIGURE 7.15
Fourier spectral characteristics of periodic texture generated using the spot-
noise model in Figure 7.4. (a) Periodic impulse eld. (b) Circular spot.
(c) Periodic texture generated by convolving the spot in (b) with the impulse
eld in (a). (d) { (f) Log-magnitude Fourier spectra of the images in (a) {
(c), respectively.
Analysis of Texture 615
120
100
80
radius r
60
40
20
FIGURE 7.16
The spectrum in Figure 7.15 (f) converted to polar coordinates only the upper
half of the spectrum was mapped to polar coordinates.
Jernigan and D'Astous 486] used the normalized PSD values within selected
frequency bands as PDFs, and computed entropy values. It was expected that
structured texture would lead to low entropy (due to spectral bands with
concentrated energy) and random texture would lead to high entropy values
(due to a uniform distribution of spectral energy). Their results indicated that
the entropy values could provide discrimination between texture categories
that was comparable to that provided by spectral energy and GCM-based
measures. In addition to entropy, the locations and values of the spectral
peaks may also be used as features. Liu and Jernigan 487] dened 28 measures
in the Fourier spectral domain, including measures related to the frequency
coordinates and relative orientation of the rst and second spectral peaks the
percentages of energy and the moments of inertia of the normalized spectrum
in the rst and second quadrants the Laplacian of the magnitude and phase at
the rst and second spectral peaks and measures of isotropy and circularity of
the spectrum. Their results indicated that the spectral measures were eective
in discriminating between various types of texture, and also insensitive to
additive noise.
Laine and Fan 488] proposed the use of wavelet packet frames or tree-
structured lter banks for the extraction of features from textured images
in the frequency domain. The features were used for the segmentation of
multitextured images.
616 Biomedical Image Analysis
1600
1400
1200
1000
F(r)
800
600
400
200
20 40 60 80 100 120
radius r
(a)
500
450
400
F(t)
350
300
250
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
angle t (degrees)
(b)
FIGURE 7.17
Projection functions in (a) the radial coordinate r, and (b) the angle coordi-
nate t obtained by integrating (summing) the spectrum in Figure 7.16 in the
other coordinate.
Analysis of Texture 617
(a)
120
100
80
radius r
60
40
20
(b)
FIGURE 7.18
Fourier spectral characteristics of the quasi-periodic texture of the y's eye
image in Figure 7.3 (b): (a) The Fourier spectrum in Cartesian coordinates
(u v). (b) The upper half of the spectrum in (a) mapped to polar coordinates.
618 Biomedical Image Analysis
2400
2200
2000
F(r)
1800
1600
1400
20 40 60 80 100 120
radius r
(a)
1250
1200
F(t)
1150
1100
1050
(b)
FIGURE 7.19
Projection functions in (a) the radial coordinate r, and (b) the angle coordi-
nate t obtained by integrating (summing) the spectrum in Figure 7.18 (b) in
the other coordinate.
Analysis of Texture 619
(a)
120
100
80
radius r
60
40
20
(b)
FIGURE 7.20
Fourier spectral characteristics of the ordered texture of the snake-skin image
in Figure 7.3 (c): (a) The Fourier spectrum in Cartesian coordinates (u v).
(b) The upper half of the spectrum in (a) mapped to polar coordinates.
620 Biomedical Image Analysis
2600
2400
2200
2000
F(r)
1800
1600
1400
1200
20 40 60 80 100 120
radius r
(a)
1250
1200
1150
F(t)
1100
1050
1000
(b)
FIGURE 7.21
Projection functions in (a) the radial coordinate r, and (b) the angle coordi-
nate t obtained by integrating (summing) the spectrum in Figure 7.20 (b) in
the other coordinate.
Analysis of Texture 621
McLean 489] applied vector quantization in the transform domain, and
treated the method as a generalized template matching scheme, for the coding
and classication of texture. The method yielded better texture classication
accuracy than GCM-based features.
Bovik 490] discussed multichannel narrow-band ltering and modeling of
texture. Highly granular and oriented texture may be expected to present
spatio-spectral regions of concentrated energy. Gabor lters may then be
used to lter, segment, and analyze such patterns. See Sections 5.10.2, 7.7,
8.4, 8.9, and 8.10 for further discussion on related topics.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 7.22
(a) An image of a part of a building with a periodic arrangement of windows.
(b) A single window structure extracted by homomorphic deconvolution. Re-
produced with permission from A.C.G. Martins and R.M. Rangayyan, \Tex-
ture element extraction via cepstral ltering in the Radon domain", IETE
Journal of Research (India), 48(3,4): 143 { 150, 2002. c IETE.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 7.23
(a) An image with a periodic arrangement of a textile motif. (b) A single
motif or texton extracted by homomorphic deconvolution. Reproduced with
permission from A.C.G. Martins and R.M. Rangayyan, \Texture element ex-
traction via cepstral ltering in the Radon domain", IETE Journal of Research
(India), 48(3,4): 143 { 150, 2002. c IETE.
(a)
(b) (c)
FIGURE 7.24
(a) A 1 000 900 section of a mammogram containing a circumscribed benign
mass. Pixel size = 50 m. (b) Ribbon or band of pixels across the boundary
of the mass extracted by using morphological operations. (c) Pixels along the
normals to the boundary, shown for every tenth boundary pixel. Maximum
length of the normals on either side of the boundary = 80 pixels or 4 mm.
Images courtesy of N.R. Mudigonda 166]. See also Figure 12.28.
Analysis of Texture 631
(a)
(b) (c)
FIGURE 7.25
(a) A 630 560 section of a mammogram containing a spiculated malignant
tumor. Pixel size = 50 m. (b) Ribbon or band of pixels across the boundary
of the tumor extracted by using morphological operations. (c) Pixels along the
normals to the boundary, shown for every tenth boundary pixel. Maximum
length of the normals on either side of the boundary = 80 pixels or 4 mm.
Images courtesy of N.R. Mudigonda 166]. See also Figure 12.28.
632 Biomedical Image Analysis
With an approach that is dierent from the above but comparable, Sahiner
et al. 451] formulated the RBST method to map ribbons around breast masses
in mammograms into rectangular arrays see Figure 7.26. It was expected that
variations in texture due to the spicules that are commonly present around
malignant tumors would be enhanced by the transform, and lead to better
discrimination between malignant tumors and benign masses. The rectangular
array permitted easier and straightforward computation of texture measures.
FIGURE 7.26
Mapping of a ribbon of pixels around a mass into a rectangular image by
the rubber-band straightening transform 428, 451]. Figure courtesy of B.
Sahiner, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Reproduced with permission
from B.S. Sahiner, H.P. Chan, N. Petrick, M.A. Helvie, and M.M. Goodsitt,
\Computerized characterization of masses on mammograms: The rubber band
straightening transform and texture analysis", Medical Physics, 25(4): 516 {
526, 1995. c American Association of Medical Physicists.
634 Biomedical Image Analysis
with a factor dependent upon the maximum gray-level range and the
maximum number of dierences used in the computation of acutance.
For a particular mass under consideration, this type of normalization
could result in large dierences in acutance values for varying numbers
of pixel pairs considered.
Mudigonda et al. 165] addressed the above-mentioned drawbacks by de-
veloping a consolidated measure of directional gradient strength as follows.
Given the boundary of a mass formed by N points, the rst step is to com-
pute the RMS gradient in the perpendicular direction at every point on the
boundary with a set of successive pixel pairs as made available by the ribbon-
extraction method explained in Section 7.9.1. The RMS gradient dm at the
mth boundary point is obtained as
s
P(pm ;1) 2
dm = n=0 fm (n) ; fm (n + 1)] (7.42)
pm
where fm (n) n = 0 1 2 : : : pm are the (pm + 1) pixels available along the
perpendicular at the mth boundary point, including the boundary point. The
normal pm is limited to a maximum of 160 pixels (80 pixels on either side of
the boundary, with the pixel size being 50 m).
A modied measure of acutance based on the directional gradient strength
Ag of the ROI is computed as
N
Ag = N (f 1; f )
X
dm (7.43)
max min m=1
where fmax and fmin are the local maximum and the local minimum pixel
values in the ribbon of pixels extracted, and N is the number of pixels along
the boundary of the ROI. Because RMS gradients computed over several pixel
pairs at each boundary point are used in the computation of Ag , the measure is
expected to be stable in the presence of noise, and furthermore, expected to be
not sensitive to the actual location of the boundary. The factor (fmax ; fmin )
in the denominator in Equation 7.43 serves as an additional normalization
factor in order to account for the changes in the gray-level contrast of images
from various databases it also normalizes the Ag measure to the range 0 1].
Coe
cient of variation of gradient strength: In the presence of ob-
jects with fuzzy backgrounds, as is the case in mammographic images, the
mean-squared gradient as a measure of sharpness may not result in adequate
condence intervals for the purposes of pattern classication. Hence, statis-
tical measures need to be adopted to characterize the feeble gradient varia-
tions across mass margins. Considering this notion, Mudigonda et al. 165]
proposed a feature based on the coecient of variation of the edge-strength
values computed at all points on a mass boundary. The stated purpose of this
Analysis of Texture 635
feature was to investigate the variability in the sharpness of a mass around
its boundary, in addition to the evaluation of its average sharpness with the
measure Ag . Variance is a statistical measure of signal strength, and can be
used as an edge detector because it responds to boundaries between regions
of dierent brightness 527]. In the procedure proposed by Mudigonda et al.,
the variance (w2 ) localized in a moving window of an odd number of pixels
(M ) in the perpendicular direction at a boundary pixel is computed as
bM=
X2c
2 1 fm (n) ; w ]2
w=M (7.44)
n=b;M=2c
where M = 5 fm (n) n = 0 1 2 : : : pm are the pixels considered at the mth
boundary point in the perpendicular direction and w is the running mean
intensity in the selected window:
bM=
X2c
w = M1 fm (n) : (7.45)
n=b;M=2c
The window is moved over the entire range of pixels made available at
a particular boundary point by the ribbon-extraction method described in
Section 7.9.1. The maximum of the variance values thus computed is used
to represent the edge strength at the boundary point being processed. The
coecient of variation (Gcv ) of the edge-strength values for all the points on
the boundary is then computed. The measure is not sensitive to the actual
location of the boundary within the selected ribbon, and is normalized so as
to be applicable to a mixture of images from dierent databases.
7.10 Remarks
In this chapter, we have examined the nature of texture in biomedical images,
and studied several methods to characterize texture. We have also noted
numerous applications of texture analysis in the classication of biomedical
images. Depending upon the nature of the images on hand, and the antici-
pated textural dierences between the various categories of interest, one may
have to use combinations of several measures of texture and contour rough-
ness (see Chapter 6) in order to obtain acceptable results. Relating statistical
and computational representations of texture to visually perceived patterns
or expert opinion could be a signicant challenge in medical applications. See
Ojala et al. 530] for a comparative analysis of several methods for the analysis
of texture. See Chapter 12 for examples of pattern classication via texture
analysis.
Texture features may also be used to partition or segment multitextured
images into their constituent parts, and to derive information regarding the
shape, orientation, and perspective of objects. Haralick and Shapiro 440]
(Chapter 9) describe methods for the derivation of the shape and orientation
of 3D objects or terrains via the analysis of variations in texture.
Examples of oriented texture were presented in this chapter. Given the
importance of oriented texture and patterns with directional characteristics in
biomedical images, Chapter 8 is devoted completely to the analysis of oriented
patterns.
639
640 Biomedical Image Analysis
Fibroglandular tissue, ligaments, and ducts in the breast see Figures
7.2 and 8.66.
Vascular networks in ligaments, lungs, and the heart see Figures 9.20
and 8.27.
8.2.5 Entropy
The concept of entropy from information theory 127] (see Section 2.8) can be
eectively applied to directional data. If we take p(n) as the directional PDF
of an image in the nth angle band, the entropy H of the distribution is given
by
X
N
H =; p(n) log2 p(n)]: (8.10)
n=1
Entropy provides a useful measure of the scatter of the directional elements
in an image. If the image is composed of directional elements with a uniform
distribution (maximal scatter), the entropy is at its maximum if, however,
the image is composed of directional elements oriented at a single angle or in
a narrow angle band, the entropy is (close to) zero. Thus, entropy, while not
giving the angle band of primary orientation or the principal axis, could give
a good indication of the directional spread or scatter of an image 35, 36, 414,
415]. (See Figure 8.24.)
Other approaches that have been followed by researchers for the character-
ization of directional distributions are: numerical and statistical characteri-
zation of directional strength 535], morphological operations using a rotating
644 Biomedical Image Analysis
structural element 541], laser small-angle light scattering 538, 539, 549], and
optical diraction and Fourier analysis 532, 548, 558, 560].
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.1
(a) A test image with a linear feature. (b) Log-magnitude Fourier spectrum
of the test image in (a). (c) Another test image with a linear feature at a
dierent angle. (d) Log-magnitude Fourier spectrum of the test image in (b).
See also Figure 2.30.
646 Biomedical Image Analysis
8.3.1 Sector ltering in the Fourier domain
Fourier-domain techniques are popular methods for directional quantication
of images 36, 532, 547, 550, 551, 552, 553, 557, 558, 559, 560, 562, 564,
565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 577, 578, 579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586,
587, 588, 589]. The results of research on biological visual systems provide
a biological base for directional analysis of images using lter-based methods
389, 563, 571, 572, 573, 575].
The Fourier transform is the most straightforward method for identifying
linear components. The Fourier transform of a line segment is a sinc function
oriented at =2 radians with respect to the direction of the line segment in
the spatial domain see Figure 8.1. This fact allows the selective ltering of
line segments at a specic orientation by ltering the transformed image with
a bandpass lter.
Consider a line segment of orientation (slope) a and y-axis intercept b in
the (x y) plane, with the spatial limits ;X X ] and ;Y Y ]. In order to
obtain the Fourier transform of the image, we could evaluate a line integral
in 2D along the line y = ax + b. To simplify the procedure, let us assume
that the integration occurs over a square region with X = Y . Because the
function f (x y) is a constant along the line, the term f (x y) in the Fourier
integral can be normalized to unity, giving the equation f (x y) = 1 along the
line y = ax + b. Making the substitution x = (y ; b)=a, we have the Fourier
transform of the line image given by
ZY ZY (y ; b)
F (u v) = ja1j exp ;j 2 u
a + v y dy dy
;Y ;Y
h u i
= 2jaYj exp j 2 bu
a sinc a +v Y : (8.11)
From the result above, we can see that, for the image of a line, the Fourier
transform is a sinc function with an argument that is a linear combination
of the two frequency variables (u v), and with a slope that is the negative
reciprocal of the slope of the original line. The intercept is translated into
a phase shift of b=a in the u variable. Thus, the Fourier transform of the
line is a sinc function oriented at 90o to the original line, centered about the
origin in the frequency domain regardless of the intercept of the original line.
This allows us to form lters to select lines solely on the basis of orientation
and regardless of the location in the space domain. Spatial components in
a certain angle band may thus be obtained by applying a bandpass lter in
an angle band perpendicular to the band of interest and applying the inverse
transform. If we include a spatial oset in the above calculation, it would
only result in a phase shift the magnitude spectrum would remain the same.
Figure 8.2 illustrates the ideal form of the \fan" lter that may used to select
oriented segments in the Fourier domain.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 647
FIGURE 8.2
Ideal fan lter in the Fourier domain to select linear components oriented
between +10o and ;10o in the image plane. Black represents the stopband
and white represents the passband. The origin (u v) = (0 0) is at the center
of the gure.
where
= slope of the weighting function = 0p:7
fr = normalized radial frequency = u2 + v2
p = order of the highpass lter = 6
q = order of the lowpass lter = 4
fH = upper cuto frequency (normalized) = 0:5
fL = lower cuto frequency (normalized) = 0:02
= angle of the Fourier transform sample = atan(v=u)
o = central angle of the desired angle band
B = angular bandwidth, and
= weighting factor = 0:5:
The combined lter with = 135o and B = 15o is illustrated in Figure 8.3.
Filtering an image with sector lters as above results in 12 component
images. Each component image contains the linear components of the original
image in the corresponding angle band.
Although the directional lter was designed to minimize spectral leakage,
some ringing artifacts were observed in the results. To minimize the artifacts,
a thresholding method was applied to accentuate the linear features in the
image. Otsu's thresholding algorithm 591] (see Section 8.3.2) was applied in
the study of collagen ber images by Chaudhuri et al. 36].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 649
FIGURE 8.3
Directional (sector) lter in the Fourier domain. The brightness is propor-
tional to the gain 36]. Figure courtesy of W.A. Rolston 542].
;1
LX
!1 (k) = P (C1) = p(l) = 1 ; !(k) (8.14)
l=k+1
650 Biomedical Image Analysis
and the class mean levels i for Ci , i = f0 1g are given by
X
k X
k
0 (k) = l P (ljC0 ) = l !p((lk)) = ! ((kk)) (8.15)
l=0 l=0 0
and
;1
LX ;1
LX
1 (k) = l P (ljC1) = l !p((lk)) = 1T;;! ((kk)) (8.16)
l=k+1 l=k+1 1
where
X
k
!(k) = p(l) (8.17)
l=0
and
X
k
(k) = l p(l) (8.18)
l=0
are the cumulative probability and rst-order moment of the PDF p(l) up to
the threshold level k, and
;1
LX
T = l p(l) (8.19)
l=0
is the average gray level of the image.
The class variances are given by
X
k X
k
02 (k) = l ; 0 (k)]2 P (ljC0 ) = l ; 0 (k)]2 !p((lk)) (8.20)
l=0 l=0 0
and
;1
LX ;1
LX
12 (k) = l ; 1 (k)]2 P (ljC1 ) = l ; 1 (k)]2 !p((lk)) : (8.21)
l=k+1 l=k+1 1
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
be unity. On the other hand, the limit as one approaches the origin from a
point within the stopband should be zero.
Various methods have been applied to overcome the problem stated above,
such as the use of spectrum-shaping smoothing functions with the ideal fan
lter for example, Chaudhuri et al. 36] used the Butterworth and raised
cosine functions, as described in Section 8.3.1. However, the performance
of even the best spectrum-shaping function is limited by the tight spectral
constraints imposed by the nonanalytic point at the origin. To obtain better
spectral shaping, as in 1D, high-order FIR lters or low-order IIR lters may
be used.
The discontinuity at the origin (u v) = (0 0) is the main problem in the
design of recursive fan lters. With nonrecursive or FIR lters, this problem
does not result in instability. With IIR lters, instability can occur if the lters
are not properly designed. Stability of lters is usually dened as bounded-
input { bounded-output (BIBO) stability 577]. Filters that are BIBO stable
ensure that all inputs that are not innite in magnitude will result in outputs
that are bounded.
2D lters are commonly derived from real, rational, continuous functions
of the form
P 2 PN2 q sm sn
T (s1 s2 ) = Q (s1 s2 ) = M
m=0 Pn=0 mn 1 2 (8.26)
P (s1 s2 ) PM N1
m=0 n=0 pmn s1 s2
1 m n
where s1 and s2 are the Laplace variables the function T (s1 s2 ) is the Laplace-
transformed version of the 2D partial dierential equation that is related to
the required lter response Q(s1 s2 ) is the numerator polynomial resulting
from the Laplace transform of the forward dierential forms expressed as a
sum of products in s1 and s2 with the coecients qmn M2 and N2 represent
the order of the polynomial Q in m and n, respectively P (s1 s2 ) is the de-
nominator polynomial obtained from the Laplace transform of the backward
dierential forms expressed as a sum of products in s1 and s2 with the coef-
cients pmn and M1 and N1 represent the order of the polynomial P in m
and n, respectively. The corresponding frequency response function T (u v) is
obtained by the substitution of s1 = j 2 u and s2 = j 2 v.
654 Biomedical Image Analysis
The discontinuous requirement in the continuous prototype lter at the
origin results in the lter transfer function T (s1 s2 ) having a nonessential
singularity of the second kind at the origin. A nonessential singularity of the
second kind occurs when the numerator and the denominator polynomials,
P (s1 s2 ) and Q(s1 s2 ) in Equation 8.26, approach zero at the same frequency
location (a1 a2 ), resulting in T (a1 a2 ) = 00 .
The discrete form of the function in Equation 8.26 is obtained through the
2D version of the bilinear transform in 1D, given as
si = ((zzi +
; 1)
for i = 1 2 (8.27)
i 1)
to obtain the following discrete version of the lter:
PM2 PN2 b z;m z;n
H (z1 z2 ) = BA((zz1 zz2)) = PMm=0 P n=0 mn 1
N ; m
2
;n (8.28)
1 2 m=0 n=0 amn z1 z2
1 1
where the orders of the polynomials M1 , N1 , M2 , and N2 are dierent from
the corresponding limits of the continuous-domain lter in Equation 8.26 due
to the bilinear transform.
Filter design using nonessential singularities: The 2D lter design
method of Bruton and Bartley 587] views the nonessential singularity in-
herent to fan lters not as an obstacle in the design process, but as being
necessary in order to generate useful magnitude responses. The method relies
on classical electrical circuit theory, and views the input image as a surface
of electrical potential. The surface of electrical potential is then acted upon
by a 2D network of electrical components such as capacitors, inductors, and
resistors the components act as integrators, dierentiators, and dissipators,
respectively. The central idea is to construct a network of components that
will not add energy to the input that is, to make a completely passive cir-
cuit. The passiveness of the resulting circuit will result in no energy being
added to the system (that is, the lter is \nonenergic"), and thus will ensure
that the lter is stable. Bruton and Bartley 587] showed that the necessary
condition for a lter to be stable is that the admittance matrix that links
the current and voltage surfaces must have negative Toeplitz symmetry with
reactive elements supplied by inductive elements that satisfy the nonenergic
constraint.
The nonenergic condition ensures that the lter is stable, because it implies
that the lter is not adding any energy to the system. The maximum amount
of energy that is output from the lter is the maximum amount put into the
system by the input image. The derivation given by Bruton and Bartley 587]
is the starting point of a numerical method for designing stable, recursive,
2D lters. The derivation shows that recursive lters can be built reliably, as
long as the condition above on the admittance matrix is met.
Bruton and Bartley 587] provided the design and coecients of a narrow,
15o fan-stop lter, obtained using a numerical optimization method with the
Analysis of Directional Patterns 655
TABLE 8.1
Coe cients of the Discrete-domain Fan Filter with a 15o Fan Stopband 542].
bmn n=0 n=1 n=2
m=0 0.02983439380935332 -0.6855181788590949 0.7027763362367445
m=1 -0.1469615281783627 3.397745073546105 -3.629041657524303
m=2 0.2998008459584214 -6.767662643767763 7.49061181619684
m=3 -0.3165448124171246 6.771378027945815 -7.725572280971142
m=4 0.1724438585800683 -3.403226865621513 3.981678690012933
m=5 -0.03857214742977072 0.6872844383634052 -0.82045337027416
L-
−θ
p θc
CL u
u L-
+θ
p L+ CL
L+
(a) (b)
FIGURE 8.5
(a) Original fan lter. (b) The fan lter after rotation by the transformation
given in Equation 8.29. Figure courtesy of W.A. Rolston 542].
(a)
(b) (c)
FIGURE 8.6
(a) A test image with overlapping directional components at 0o 45o 90o and
135o . Results of fan ltering at 90o after (b) one pass, (c) nine passes. Figure
courtesy of W.A. Rolston 542].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 659
conicting constraints at the DC point: approaching the DC point from any
location within the passband requires the lter gain to converge to unity how-
ever, approaching the same point from any location in the stopband requires
the lter gain to approach zero. In terms of complex analysis, this means
that the lter is not analytic, or that it does not satisfy the Cauchy-Riemann
equations. This prevents extending results in 1D to problems in 2D.
The Gabor lter provides a solution to the problem mentioned above by
increasing the resolution at the DC point. Gabor lters are complex, sinu-
soidally modulated, Gaussian functions that have optimal localization in both
the frequency and space domains 389]. Gabor lters have been used for tex-
ture segmentation and discrimination 381, 495, 542, 543, 593, 594, 595], and
may yield better results than simple Fourier methods for directional ltering.
Time-limited or space-limited functions have Fourier spectra of unlimited
extent. For example, the time-limited rectangular pulse function transforms
into the innitely long sinc function. On the other hand, the time-unlimited
sine function transforms into a delta function with innite resolution in the
Fourier domain. Innitely long functions cannot be represented in nite cal-
culating machinery. Gabor 596] suggested the use of time-limited functions
as the kernels of a transform instead of the unlimited sine and cosine functions
that are the kernel functions of the Fourier transform. The functional nature
of the Fourier transform implies that there exists an \uncertainty principle",
similar, but not identical, to the well-known Heisenberg uncertainty principle
of quantum mechanics. Gabor showed that complex, sinusoidally modulated,
Gaussian basis functions satisfy the lower bound on the fundamental uncer-
tainty principle that governs the resolution in time and frequency, given by
t f 41 (8.33)
where t and f are time and frequency resolution, respectively. The un-
certainty principle implies that there is a resolution limit between the spatial
and the Fourier domains. Gabor proved that there are functions that can
form the kernel of a transform that exactly satisfy the uncertainty relation-
ship. The functions named after Gabor are Gaussian-windowed sine and co-
sine functions. By limiting the kernel functions of the Fourier transform with
a Gaussian windowing function, it becomes possible to achieve the optimal
resolution limit in both the frequency and time domains. The size of the
Gaussian window function needs to be used as a new parameter in addition
to the frequency of the sine and cosine functions.
Gabor functions provide optimal joint resolution in both the Fourier and
time domains in 1D, and form a complete basis set through phase shift and
scaling or dilation of the original (mother) basis function. The set of functions
forms a multiresolution basis that is commonly referred to as a wavelet basis
(formalized by Mallat 386]).
Daugman 389] extended Gabor functions to 2D as 2D sinusoidal plane
waves of some frequency and orientation within a 2D Gaussian envelope. Ga-
660 Biomedical Image Analysis
bor functions have also been found to provide good models for the receptive
elds of simple cells in the striate cortex 571, 389] for this reason, there has
been a signicant amount of research conducted on using the functions for
texture segmentation, analysis, and discrimination 381, 495, 542, 543, 593,
594, 595].
The extension of the principle above to 2D leads to space-limited plane
waves or complex exponentials. Such an analysis was performed by Daug-
man 389]. The uncertainty relationship in 2D is given by
x y u v 1612 (8.34)
where x and y represent the spatial resolution, and u and v represent
the frequency resolution. The 2D Gabor functions are given as
h(x y) = g(x0 y0 ) exp;j 2 (Ux + V y)]
(x0 y0 ) = (x cos + y sin ;x sin + y cos ) (8.35)
where (x0 y0 ) are the (x y) coordinates rotated by an arbitrary angle ,
1 (x=)2 + y2
g(x y) = 2
2 exp ; 2
2 (8.36)
is a Gaussian shaping window with the aspect ratio , and U and V are the
center frequencies in the (u v) frequency plane. An example of the real part
of a Gabor kernel function is given in Figure 8.7 with
= 0:5 = 0:6 U =
1 V = 0 and = 0 (with reference to Equations 8.35 and 8.36). Another
Gabor kernel function is shown in gray scale in Figure 8.8.
The imaginary component of the Gabor function is the Hilbert transform
of its real component. The Hilbert transform shifts the phase of the original
function by 90o , resulting in an odd version of the function.
The \Gabor transform" is not a transform as such that is, there is usually
no transform domain into which the image is transformed. The frequency
domain is usually divided into a symmetric set of slightly overlapping regions
at octave intervals. Examples of the ranges related to a few Gabor functions
are shown in Figure 8.9 see also Figures 5.69, 8.57, and 8.68. It is evident
that Gabor functions act as bandpass lters with directional selectivity.
0.4
0.2
Magnitude
-0.2
-0.4
40
30 40
20 30
20
10 10
rows 0 0
columns
FIGURE 8.7
An example of the Gabor kernel with
= 0:5 = 0:6 U = 1 V = 0 and
= 0 (with reference to Equations 8.35 and 8.36). Figure courtesy of W.A.
Rolston 542].
FIGURE 8.8
An example of a Gabor kernel, displayed as an image. Figure courtesy of
W.A. Rolston 542].
662 Biomedical Image Analysis
v
FIGURE 8.9
Division of the frequency domain by Gabor lters. Two sets of oval regions
are shown in black, corresponding to the passbands of three lters in each
set, oriented at 0o and 90o . In each case, the three regions correspond to
three scales of the Gabor wavelets. There is a 90o shift between the angles
of corresponding lter functions in the space and frequency domains. Figure
courtesy of W.A. Rolston 542].
where x0 y0 1 and 2 are real numbers, and h is the basic or mother wavelet.
For large values of 1 and 2 , the basis function becomes a stretched or ex-
panded version of the prototype wavelet or a low-frequency function, whereas
for small 1 and 2 , the basis function becomes a contracted wavelet, that is,
a short, high-frequency function.
The wavelet transform is then dened as
1 Z1 Z1
FW (x0 y0 1 2 ) = p f (x y)
1 2 x=;1 y=;1
x ; x0 y ; y 0
h
1 2 dx dy: (8.39)
From this denition, we can see that wavelet analysis of a signal consists of
the contraction, dilation, and translation of the basic mother wavelet, and
computing the projections of the resulting wavelets on to the given signal.
664 Biomedical Image Analysis
8.4.2 Formation of the Gabor lter bank
In the method proposed by Bovik et al. 594], the given image is convolved
with the complex Gabor kernel, and the maximum magnitude of the result
is taken as an indicator to identify changes in the dominant orientation of
the image. In the work of Rolston and Rangayyan 542, 543], this method
was observed to fail in the presence of broad directional components. The
real component of the Gabor lter acts as a matched lter to detect broad
directional components, and thus, is better suited to the identication of such
regions.
The parameters of Gabor lters that may be varied are as follows: With
reference to Equations 8.35 and 8.36, the parameter
species the spatial
extent of the lter species the aspect ratio of the lter that modulates the
o
90
135 o 45
o
o o
180 0
FIGURE 8.10
Vector summation of the responses of Gabor lters at 0o 45o 90o and 135o .
Figure courtesy of W.A. Rolston 542].
(a)
(b) (c)
(d) (e)
FIGURE 8.11
(a) A test image with overlapping directional components at 0o 45o 90o and
135o . Results of Gabor ltering at 0o after decimation at (b) one-to-one,
(c) two-to-one, and (d) four-to-one. (e) Overall response at 0o after vec-
tor summation as illustrated in Figure 8.10. Figure courtesy of W.A. Rol-
ston 542].
668 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 8.12
(a) Computation of the area covered by directional segments. The arrows
perpendicular to the pattern boundaries represent gradient directions used for
detecting the interior of the linear segment over which the area is computed.
The directional information associated with the pattern is also stored for anal-
ysis. (b) Computation of occluded segments based upon the detected T-joints.
The subscripts denote dierent regions, and the superscripts denote the line
numbers. Reproduced with permission from Z.-Q. Liu, R.M. Rangayyan, and
C.B. Frank, \Directional analysis of images in scale-space", IEEE Transac-
tions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 13(11):1185{1192, 1991.
c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 669
Once the line segments have been labeled, a set of region descriptors is gen-
erated, which includes paired line labels, their starting and ending locations,
orientation, and the area of the region see Figure 8.12 (a)]. In region label-
ing, a line (for example, Line1A ) is paired with an adjacent line (for example,
Line2A ) having a direction that is in the sector opposite to that of Line1A
(see Figure 8.13). The area of the linear segment (RA ) is then computed by
counting the number of pixels contained by the pair of line segments. The
orientation of the linear segment is indicated by the orientation of the pair of
line segments. For instance, if Line1A and Line2A form a pair, their associated
region descriptor can be dened as
RfA (xs ys) (xe ye) ]1 (xs ys) (xe ye) ]2 g (8.40)
1 2
where the subscripts 1 and 2 represent LineA and LineA , respectively, and
is the area computed for the region RA see Figure 8.12 (a)].
FIGURE 8.13
The image plane is divided into eight sectors. Line1 and Line2 form a
pair. Reproduced with permission from Z.-Q. Liu, R.M. Rangayyan, and
C.B. Frank, \Directional analysis of images in scale-space", IEEE Transac-
tions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 13(11):1185{1192, 1991.
c IEEE.
ρ’
ρ
θ’
θ
FIGURE 8.14
Parameters in the representation of a straight line in the Hough transform
and a ray in the Radon transform. Reproduced with permission from R.M.
Rangayyan and W.A. Rolston, \Directional image analysis with the Hough
and Radon transforms", Journal of the Indian Institute of Science, 78: 17{29,
c Indian Institute of Science.
1998.
From the properties listed above, the Hough transform appears to be the
ideal tool for detecting linear components in images. However, there are some
limitations to this approach. The results are sensitive to the quantization
intervals used for the angle and the distance
. Decreasing the quantization
step for increases the computation time, because the calculation for
needs
to be performed across each value of and each pixel. Another problem with
this method is the \crosstalk" between multiple straight lines in the Hough
domain. If the image contains several lines parallel to the x axis, they would
correspond to several peak values in the Hough domain at diering
values
Analysis of Directional Patterns 673
for = 90o . However, the Hough transform would also detect false linear
segments for = 0o , which would show up as smaller peaks at a continuum
of
values in the Hough domain see Figure 8.15. This is caused by the fact
that the Hough transform nds line segments at specic
values that are not
necessarily contiguous. Another form of crosstalk can occur within a broad
directional element: several straight lines may be perceived within a broad
element with angles spread about the dominant orientation of the element, as
well as at several other angles: see Figure 8.16.
FIGURE 8.15
Crosstalk between multiple lines causing the Hough transform to detect false
lines. In the case illustrated, several short segments of vertical lines are de-
tected, in addition to the true horizontal lines.
The Hough transform has the desirable feature that it handles the occlusion
of directional components gracefully, because the size of the parameter peaks
is directly proportional to the number of matching points of the component.
The Hough transform also has the feature that it is robust to the addition
of random pixels from poor segmentation, because random image points are
unlikely to contribute coherently to a single point in the parameter space.
FIGURE 8.16
False detection of straight lines at several angles (dashed lines) within a broad
linear feature by the Hough transform.
(0 0) point in the original image, whereas, for the Radon transform, the
value would be calculated relative to the (128 128) point see Figure 8.14.
In the method proposed by Rangayyan and Rolston 542, 599], a Hough-
Radon hybrid transform is computed by updating the (
i i ) parameter point
by adding the pixel intensity and not by incrementing by one as with the
Hough transform. In this sense, brighter lines correspond to larger peaks in
the Hough-Radon domain. The Hough-Radon o
o p pspace is indexed from 0 to
180 along one axis, and from ;N to M 2 + N 2 for an image with M rows
and N columns, as shown in Figure 8.17.
The generation of the Hough-Radon space produces relative intensities of
the directional features in the given image. An example of the Hough-Radon
space is shown in Figure 8.18 for a simple test pattern. In directional analysis,
it would be of interest to obtain the number of pixels or the percentage of
the image area covered by linear segments within a particular angle band.
Therefore, it is necessary to form a shadow parameter space with the numbers
of the pixels that are in a particular cell in the parameter space. The shadow
parameter space is the Hough transform of the image with no accompanying
threshold.
It is necessary to form both the Hough-Radon transform space and the
Hough-transform shadow space, because performing only the Hough transform
on an unthresholded image will produce, for most images, a transform with
little information about the image. Computing the shadow parameter space
is the same as performing the Hough transform on a thresholded image for
all pixels with a gray level greater than zero. The Hough-Radon transform,
however, facilitates the dierentiation between the light and dark regions in an
Analysis of Directional Patterns 675
M -N
M 2 + N 2
o o
N 0 180
FIGURE 8.17
Mapping of a straight line from the image domain to the Hough-Radon space.
Reproduced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan and W.A. Rolston, \Di-
rectional image analysis with the Hough and Radon transforms", Journal of
c Indian Institute of Science.
the Indian Institute of Science, 78: 17{29, 1998.
90
0.09
0.09
0.06
2
0.1
0.0
13
6
0.
0.
1
05
0.1
0.0
5
0.09
0.07
0.08
180 0
(d)
FIGURE 8.18
(a) A test image with ve line segments. (b) The Hough-Radon space of
the image. (c) Filtered Hough-Radon space. (d) Rose diagram of directional
distribution. See also Figure 8.17. Reproduced with permission from R.M.
Rangayyan and W.A. Rolston, \Directional image analysis with the Hough
and Radon transforms", Journal of the Indian Institute of Science, 78: 17{29,
1998. c Indian Institute of Science.
676 Biomedical Image Analysis
image, thus retaining all of the information about the image while performing
the desired transform. The Hough transform is needed for further processing
when deriving the numbers of pixels regardless of the related intensity.
From the result shown in Figure 8.18 (b), we can see the high level of
crosstalk in the upper-right quadrant. From Figure 8.17, we see that this sec-
tion maps to the angle band 100o 165o ]. This is due to the Hough transform's
tendency to identify several lines of varying orientation within a broad linear
segment, as illustrated in Figure 8.16: this is both a strength and a weakness
of the Hough transform. A ltering procedure is described in the following
subsection to reduce this eect.
90
0.11
0.14
0.08
1
0.1
0.0
09
6
0.
0.
7
06
0.0
0.0
6
0.07
0.07
0.08
180 0
(d)
FIGURE 8.19
(a) An SEM image of a normal ligament with well-aligned collagen bers.
(b) The Hough-Radon space of the image. (c) Filtered Hough-Radon space.
(d) Rose diagram of directional distribution. See also Figure 8.17. Reproduced
with permission from R.M. Rangayyan and W.A. Rolston, \Directional im-
age analysis with the Hough and Radon transforms", Journal of the Indian
Institute of Science, 78: 17{29, 1998. c Indian Institute of Science.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 679
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.20
(a) A sample image showing collagen alignment in a normal ligament. Bina-
rized directional components in the angle band (b) 75o ; 90o , and (c) 0o ; 15o .
(d) Fractional ber-covered areas in the form a rose diagram. Figure courtesy
of S. Chaudhuri 610].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 683
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.21
(a) A sample image showing collagen alignment in ligament scar tissue. Bina-
rized directional components in the angle band (b) 75o ; 90o , and (c) 0o ; 15o .
(d) Fractional ber-covered areas in the form a rose diagram. Figure courtesy
of S. Chaudhuri 610].
684 Biomedical Image Analysis
entropy values that are close to the values at 14 weeks in all cases, and well
within the range for normal ligaments (the shaded region in Figure 8.24).
The results indicate that immobilization of the aected joint for three weeks
promotes the healing process, and that immobilization for the longer period
of six weeks does not provide any further advantage.
Among the limitations of the methods described above, it should be noted
that there is a certain degree of depth to the micrographs analyzed. The con-
tribution of bril components at varying depths in the dierent angle bands
is aected by a number of factors: the intensity of the electron beam in the
microscope, the depth of focus, photographic methods, and image digitization
parameters. The nal thresholding scheme applied to the ltered component
images, being adaptive in nature, aects the various component images dier-
ently depending upon their content this aspect cannot be controlled without
introducing bias. Artifacts are also caused by tissue xation and handling
(spaces between brils, ber disruption, and surface irregularities). Regard-
less, the results provide important quantitative information that can assist in
the understanding of ligament structure and healing.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 8.22
Sample images showing collagen alignment in ligament samples at three weeks,
six weeks, and 14 weeks after injury: (a) without immobilization of the af-
fected joint, (b) with immobilization of the aected joint for three weeks.
Images courtesy of C.B. Frank. See also Figure 8.23.
686 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 8.23
Composite rose diagrams showing collagen realignment in ligament samples at
three weeks, six weeks, and 14 weeks after injury: (a) without immobilization
of the aected joint, (b) with immobilization of the aected joint for three
weeks. See also Figure 8.22. Reproduced with permission from C.B. Frank,
B. MacFarlane, P. Edwards, R. Rangayyan, Z.Q. Liu, S. Walsh, and R. Bray,
\A quantitative analysis of matrix alignment in ligament scars: A comparison
of movement versus immobilization in an immature rabbit model", Journal
of Orthopaedic Research, 9(2): 219 { 227, 1991. c Orthopaedic Research
Society.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 687
FIGURE 8.24
Variation of the entropy of composite rose diagrams with collagen realign-
ment in ligament samples at three weeks, six weeks, and 14 weeks after injury.
The vertical bars indicate one standard deviation about the corresponding
means. \NON": without immobilization of the aected joint \3 IMM": with
immobilization of the aected joint for three weeks \6 IMM": with immobi-
lization of the aected joint for six weeks. The shaded region indicates the
range of entropy for normal ligament samples. See also Figures 8.23 and 8.22.
Reproduced with permission from C.B. Frank, B. MacFarlane, P. Edwards,
R. Rangayyan, Z.Q. Liu, S. Walsh, and R. Bray, \A quantitative analysis of
matrix alignment in ligament scars: A comparison of movement versus immo-
bilization in an immature rabbit model", Journal of Orthopaedic Research,
9(2): 219 { 227, 1991. c Orthopaedic Research Society.
688 Biomedical Image Analysis
ligament sections directly connected to the midsubstance scar were labeled as
the original ligament ends.
FIGURE 8.25
Gap-injury site in the ligament and the formation of scar. A: Gap injury cre-
ated by removing a 4 mm section of the MCL. B: Scar after healing. C: Ex-
tracted ligament and its main regions. See also Figure 8.26. Reproduced
with permission from K. Eng, R.M. Rangayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B. Frank, L.
Anscomb, and P. Veale, \Quantitative analysis of the ne vascular anatomy
of articular ligaments", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 39(3):
296 { 306, 1992. c IEEE.
FIGURE 8.26
Ligament sectioning procedure for the imaging of vascular anatomy. A: knee
joint. B: Extracted ligament and plane of sectioning. a: MCL complex. b: Lig-
ament. c: Epiligament. d: Femur. e: Tibia. f: Sectioning (imaging) plane.
See also Figure 8.25. Reproduced with permission from K. Eng, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B. Frank, L. Anscomb, and P. Veale, \Quantitative
analysis of the ne vascular anatomy of articular ligaments", IEEE Transac-
tions on Biomedical Engineering, 39(3): 296 { 306, 1992. c IEEE.
690 Biomedical Image Analysis
other hand, the scar tissue has a more abundant network of blood vessels to
facilitate the healing process, with extensive branching and lack of preferred
orientation.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 8.27
Microvascular structure in ligaments: (a) normal (b) 17-week scar. Images
courtesy of R.C. Bray.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 8.28
Microvascular structure in a normal ligament sample. (a) original image
(b) binarized image. See Figure 8.29 for details on the selection of the thresh-
old for binarization. Reproduced with permission from K. Eng, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B. Frank, L. Anscomb, and P. Veale, \Quantitative
analysis of the ne vascular anatomy of articular ligaments", IEEE Transac-
tions on Biomedical Engineering, 39(3): 296 { 306, 1992. c IEEE.
694 Biomedical Image Analysis
Log (counts)
Gray level
FIGURE 8.29
Logarithmically scaled histogram of the image in Figure 8.28 (a), along
with its convex hull and several possible thresholds for binarization. RATS:
Rutherford{Appleton threshold-selection algorithm. Reproduced with per-
mission from K. Eng, R.M. Rangayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B. Frank, L. Anscomb,
and P. Veale, \Quantitative analysis of the ne vascular anatomy of articular
ligaments", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 39(3): 296 { 306,
1992. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 695
FIGURE 8.30
Skeleton of the image in Figure 8.27 (b). See also Figure 6.13.
of each blood-vessel segment in the image. In the work of Eng et al. 414],
from each point (x y) in the skeleton image, a line segment consisting of
N = 11 points was extracted, with the center point located at (x y). If (xi,
yi ), i = 1 2 : : : N , represent the points in the line segment, the slope of the
best-tting straight line is given by
PN x PN y ; PN (x y )
m = i=1hP i i=1i2 i P i=1 i i : (8.52)
N x N (x )2
i=1 i ; i=1 i
It should be noted that, when the slope becomes large for a nearly vertical
line segment, slope estimation as above becomes inaccurate due to increasing
y-axis errors. This error can be obviated by adapting the least-squares formula
to minimize the x-axis errors if the slope found by Equation 8.52 is greater
than unity. The inverse of the slope is then given by
PN x PN y ; PN (x y )
1 =
m hPNi i=1i2 i PN i=1 2 i i :
i=1 (8.53)
y ;
i=1 i (y ) i=1 i
The angle of the skeleton at the point (x y) is then given by = atan(m).
The elemental area of the blood vessel at the point (x y) is
A(x y) = (x y) W ( ) (8.54)
where (x y) is the vessel thickness at (x y) as given by Equation 8.51, and
8 1 if j j < 45o
< cos( )
W( ) = : : (8.55)
1 if j j > 45o
sin( )
696 Biomedical Image Analysis
The factor W as above (in pixels), accounts for the fact that diagonally con-
nected pixels are farther apart than vertically or horizontally connected pixels.
The elemental area was added to the corresponding angle of the histogram,
and the process repeated for all points in the skeleton.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 8.31
Angular distributions of blood vessels in (a) normal ligaments (averaged over
82 images from four ligaments), and (b) 17-week scar tissues from three lig-
aments (115 images). Reproduced with permission from K. Eng, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B. Frank, L. Anscomb, and P. Veale, \Quantitative
analysis of the ne vascular anatomy of articular ligaments", IEEE Transac-
tions on Biomedical Engineering, 39(3): 296 { 306, 1992. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 697
TABLE 8.2
Measures of Entropy and Standard Deviation (SD) of Composite Angular
Distributions of Blood Vessels in Ligaments.
Tissue type Ligaments Images Entropy SD (o ) % Vasc.
NORMAL:
Ligament 4 82 4.39 36.10 0.98
Epiligament 4 20 4.64 38.53 1.19
CONTRALATERAL:
Ligament 3 93 4.33 34.79 1.05
Epiligament 3 36 4.79 42.98 2.40
SCAR: 3 115 4.79 42.52 2.50
ENDS:
Ligament 3 80 4.59 36.55 2.24
Epiligament 3 20 4.78 44.08 3.10
The maximum possible value for entropy is 4:91. `SCAR': midsubtance scar
`ENDS': original ligament ends see Figures 8.26 and 8.25. `% Vasc.': per-
centage of the analyzed tissue volume covered by the blood vessels detected.
Reproduced with permission from K. Eng, R.M. Rangayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B.
Frank, L. Anscomb, and P. Veale, \Quantitative analysis of the ne vascular
anatomy of articular ligaments", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineer-
c IEEE.
ing, 39(3): 296 { 306, 1992.
TABLE 8.3
Results of Statistical Comparison of the Relative Volume of
Vascularization (V ) and the Entropy of the Angular Distribution (H ) of
Various Ligament Samples.
Assertion Condence (%)
LIGAMENT:
V (normal) < V (contralateral) 70
V (normal) < V (midsubstance scar) 96
V (normal) < V (original ligament ends) 85
V (original ligament ends) < V (midsubstance scar) 55
H (contralateral) < H (normal) 73
H (normal) < H (midsubstance scar) 99
H (normal) < H (original ligament ends) 53
H (original ligament ends) < H (midsubstance scar) 96
EPILIGAMENT:
V (normal) < V (contralateral) 99
V (normal) < V (original ligament ends) 70
H (normal) < H (contralateral) 90
H (normal) < H (original ligament ends) 82
Reproduced with permission from K. Eng, R.M. Rangayyan, R.C. Bray, C.B.
Frank, L. Anscomb, and P. Veale, \Quantitative analysis of the ne vascular
anatomy of articular ligaments", IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineer-
c IEEE.
ing, 39(3): 296 { 306, 1992.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 699
It should be observed that blood vessels branch and merge in 3D within
the ligament. The sectioning procedure used to obtain 2D slices imposes a
limitation in the analysis: the segments of the blood vessels that traverse
across the sectioning planes are lost in the procedures for directional analysis.
The increased blood-vessel volume and greater directional chaos observed
in scar tissue as compared to normal ligaments indicate that the blood supply
pattern is related to the healing process. Interestingly, after a 17-week healing
period, increases in both the blood-vessel volume and dispersion were also ob-
served in the MCL from the opposite knee (contralateral), as compared to the
uninjured, normal MCL 414, 415]. The directional chaos of the contralateral
MCL decreased in the ligament region, but increased in the epiligament region
of the tissue as compared to the normal tissue. This may be attributed to a
possible change in loading conditions on the contralateral limb after injury,
or to a nervous response to injury transmitted by neural pathways 613]. As
expected, both the vascularity and the directional chaos of the blood vessels in
the original ligament ends increased as compared to the normal. This shows
that injury to one portion of the tissue has some eect on the vascularity of
connected ligament tissue.
Original image
FIGURE 8.32
Block diagram of the mass-detection algorithm. Figure courtesy of N.R.
Mudigonda 166].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 707
8.8.1 Framework for pyramidal decomposition
Malignant tumors, due to their invasive nature, possess heterogeneous den-
sity distributions and margins causing distortion in the orientation of the
surrounding tissues. In order to detect such structures as single entities, prior
smoothing of the image is required. Mudigonda et al. 275] employed recursive
wavelet decomposition and Gaussian smoothing operations in a multiresolu-
tion pyramidal architecture as preprocessing steps to achieve the required level
of smoothing of the image.
A pyramidal representation of the given image was obtained by iterative
decimation operations on the full-resolution image, thereby generating a hi-
erarchy of subimages with progressively decreasing bandwidth and increasing
scale 670, 671]. Wavelet decomposition divides the frequency spectrum of the
original image f into its lowpass-subband-equivalent image fL and highpass-
equivalent detail image fH at dierent scales. The lowpass-subband image
at each scale, produced by decimating its preceding higher-resolution image
present in the hierarchy by an octave level, was further smoothed by a 3 3
Gaussian kernel, and the resulting image was stretched to the range of 0 ; 60
in pixel value. The wavelet used was a symlet of eighth order. Symlets are
compactly supported wavelets with the least asymmetry and the highest num-
ber of vanishing moments for a given support width 672]. Figure 8.33 shows
plots of the decomposition lowpass kernels used with symlets, at two dierent
scales. The wavelet decomposition was performed recursively to three octave
levels using the symlets mentioned above.
The preprocessing steps of wavelet decomposition and Gaussian smooth-
ing operations described above successively and cumulatively modulate the
intensity patterns of mass regions to form smooth hills with respect to their
surroundings in low-resolution images. Figure 8.34 (a) shows a 1 024 1 024
section of a mammogram containing two circumscribed benign masses. Parts
(b) { (d) of the gure show the corresponding low-resolution images after the
rst, second, and third levels of decomposition, respectively. The eects of the
preprocessing steps mentioned above may be observed in the low-resolution
images.
The choice of the wavelet, the width of the kernel used for lowpass ltering,
and the degree or scale factor of decomposition can inuence the smoothed
results. The preprocessing operations described above were employed to ar-
rive at an estimate of the extent of isolated regions in a low-resolution image,
and studies were not performed with dierent sets of choices. However, sat-
isfactory smoothed results were obtained with the wavelet chosen due to its
symmetry. A scale factor of three, which causes the decomposition of the
original 50 m=pixel images to a resolution of 400 m=pixel, was found to be
eective on most of the images tested: decomposition to a higher scale resulted
in over-smoothing of images and merged multiple adjoining regions into single
large regions, whereas a scale factor of two yielded insignicant regions due to
708 Biomedical Image Analysis
1
Order = 4
0.5
−0.5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
Order = 8
0.5
−0.5
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
FIGURE 8.33
Plots of symlet decomposition lowpass lters at two scales. Figure courtesy
of N.R. Mudigonda 166].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 709
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
(a)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
(b)
0 0
20
50
40
100
60
150
80
200 100
120
250
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.34
(a) A 1 024 1 024 section of a mammogram containing two circumscribed
benign masses. Pixel size = 50 m. Image width = 51 mm. Low-resolution
images obtained by wavelet ltering: (b) After the rst level of decomposition
512 512 pixels, 100 m per pixel. (c) After two levels of decomposition
256 256 pixels, 200 m per pixel. (d) After three levels of decomposition
128 128 pixels, 400 m per pixel. The intensity of the ltered images has
been enhanced by four times for display purposes. Figure courtesy of N.R.
Mudigonda 166].
710 Biomedical Image Analysis
insucient smoothing. However, some researchers 632] have performed mass
detection after reducing images to a resolution of 800 m=pixel.
level 0
level 1
level 2
. .
. .
. .
level N .
.
.
background
FIGURE 8.35
Schematic illustration of the density-slicing operation. fmax represents the
maximum intensity in the image, and levels 0 1 2 : : : N represent a set
of N threshold values used for density slicing. Figure courtesy of N.R.
Mudigonda 166].
Contour domain
f
max
G1
Outermost
f
Low- max
Segmented
resolution G2
regions
image
Outermost
f
max
G3
Outermost
FIGURE 8.36
Schematic representation of hierarchical grouping of contours. G1, G2, and
G3 are groups of contours that represent isolated regions in the image. Repro-
duced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by density slicing and
texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12):
1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
714 Biomedical Image Analysis
Figure 8.39 shows a similar set of results of application of the mass-detection
algorithm to a 1 024 1 024 section of a mammogram containing a spiculated
malignant tumor.
As can be seen from Figures 8.37 and 8.39, the upsampled contours in the
full-resolution image contain the most signicant portions of the correspond-
ing masses, and are in close agreement with the corresponding areas manually
delineated by the radiologist. The results of application of the methods dis-
cussed above to full-size mammograms are presented in the subsections to fol-
low, along with methods based upon texture ow-eld principles for detailed
analysis of the various regions segmented in order to reject false positives.
The mass-detection algorithm was tested on segments of size up to 2 048
2 048 pixels of 39 mammographic images (28 benign and 11 malignant) from
the MIAS database 376], with a spatial resolution of 50 m 50 m. In
29 of the 39 cases (19 benign and 10 malignant), the segmented regions were
in agreement with the corresponding regions that were manually identied
by the radiologist. In six images, including ve images with circumscribed
benign masses and an image with a spiculated malignant tumor, the regions
segmented by the algorithm were not in agreement with the corresponding
regions manually delineated by the radiologist. The radiologist indicated that
he encountered diculty while tracing the boundaries of the masses in some
images from the MIAS database. In the remaining four images where the
method failed, all belonging to the spiculated benign category, the mass por-
tions are merged in fatty and glandular background. In these images, the
technique failed to generate a contour map with the specied minimum num-
ber of concentric closed contours to be able to delineate the mass regions. In
two of the images, including a circumscribed benign mass and a spiculated
benign mass, the masses are located close to the edges of the images, and the
process of generation of concentric closed contours was impeded.
Overall, the mass-detection algorithm performed well on images contain-
ing malignant tumors, and successfully segmented tumor areas that were in
agreement with the corresponding regions identied manually by the radi-
ologist. However, the method encountered limited success in images with
benign masses. In the detection scheme, only the contour map generated in
the lowest-resolution image is analyzed to segment the mass regions, and the
information available in the intermediate-resolution images along the hierar-
chy is not considered. Establishment of reliable intensity links through the
intermediate-resolution images may result in improved detection results.
Benign-versus-malignant pattern classication was carried out using the
BMDP 7M stepwise discriminant analysis program 674] with texture features
computed based upon averaged GCMs for the 29 masses (19 benign and 10
malignant) that were successfully segmented by the mass-detection procedure.
(See Sections 7.3.2 and 7.9.1 for details on the computation of texture features
using adaptive ribbons.) Four eective features including entropy, second
moment, second dierence moment, and correlation were short-listed. The
Analysis of Directional Patterns 715
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
(a)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
FIGURE 8.37
(a) Groups of isointensity contours and the outermost contour in each group in
the third low-resolution image of the mammogram section of Figure 8.34 (d).
(b) The contours (white) of two masses (indicated by arrows) and two false
positives detected in the full-resolution image of Figure 8.34 (a), with the
corresponding contours (black) of the masses drawn independently by a ra-
diologist. Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation and classication of mammo-
graphic masses", Proceedings of SPIE Volume 3979, Medical Imaging 2000:
Image Processing, pp 55 { 67, 2000. c SPIE.
4
x 10
2.5
1.5
Number of pixels
0.5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Intensity Threshold
FIGURE 8.38
Histogram of the low-resolution and smoothed image shown in Figure 8.37 (a).
Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and
J.E.L. Desautels, \Segmentation and classication of mammographic masses",
Proceedings of SPIE Volume 3979, Medical Imaging 2000: Image Processing,
pp 55 { 67, 2000. c SPIE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 717
(a)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
4
x 10
3.5
2.5
Number of pixels
1.5
0.5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Intensity Threshold
(c)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
FIGURE 8.40
Block diagram of the algorithm for the detection of masses in full mammo-
grams. Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by den-
sity slicing and texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical
Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001.
c IEEE.
722 Biomedical Image Analysis
250
200
150
w=5
100
50
0
−6 −4 −2 0 2 4 6
FIGURE 8.41
Plot of a Gaussian kernel with the support width of 15 pixels. The width at
half-maximum height is ve pixels. Figure courtesy of N.R. Mudigonda 166].
FIGURE 8.42
A mammogram (size 1 024 1 024 pixels, 200 m per pixel) with a spic-
ulated malignant tumor (radius = 2:28 cm). Case mdb184 from the MIAS
database 376]. Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M.
Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammo-
grams by density slicing and texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions
on Medical Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
724 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 8.43
The map of isointensity contours extracted in the smoothed and subsampled
version (size 512 512 pixels, 400 m per pixel) of the mammogram shown in
Figure 8.42. The breast outline detected is superimposed. In some cases, sev-
eral contours overlap to produce thick contours in the printed version of the
image. Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by den-
sity slicing and texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical
Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 725
tissues appear to merge with the surrounding breast parenchyma is around
the minimum threshold level of 44.
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
minimum threshold level
FIGURE 8.44
Histogram of the low-resolution image corresponding to the mammogram in
Figure 8.42. Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by
density slicing and texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical
Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
G G cos ( θ − θ )
mn mn mn pq
θ pq
(θ − θ )
mn pq ( m , n)
G
pq
θ pq
(p, q)
FIGURE 8.45
Schematic illustration of the projection of the gradient magnitude for com-
puting the dominant orientation angle and coherence (the scheme of Rao and
Schunck 653]). Gpq and pq indicate the gradient magnitude and orientation
at (p q), respectively. The corresponding parameters at (m n) are Gmn and
mn . The size of the neighborhood shown is P P = 5 5 pixels. Figure
courtesy of N.R. Mudigonda 166].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 729
The value of pq that is obtained using Equation 8.62 represents the direc-
tion of the maximal gradient output, because the second derivative shown in
Equation 8.63 is negative at = pq when the texture has only one dominant
orientation. The estimated orientation angle of ow pq at (p q) in the image
is then
pq = pq + 2 (8.64)
because the gradient vector is perpendicular to the direction of ow. The
angles computed as above range between 0 and radians.
In order to analyze mammograms with the procedure described above, the
original image was initially smoothed using a separable Gaussian kernel 677]
of a specied width, and the gradients in the x and y directions were computed
from the smoothed image using nite dierences in the respective directions.
The choice of the width of the Gaussian aects the gradient computation a
width of 2:2 mm (11 pixels) was used by Mudigonda et al. 275], in relation to
the range of the size of features related to breast masses. The lter has a width
of about 1 mm at its half-maximum height. This lter size is appropriate
given that mammograms may demonstrate lumps that are as small as 3 mm
in diameter.
The gradient estimates computed as above were smoothed using a neigh-
borhood of size 15 15 pixels (3 3 mm), the width of which was chosen to
be larger than the Gaussian that was initially used to compute the gradient
estimates. Figure 8.46 shows the intrinsic angle image of the mammogram
shown in Figure 8.42. The bright needles, overlaid on the image, indicate the
underlying dominant orientation at points spaced every fth row and fth
column, computed using Equation 8.62. Needles have been plotted only for
those pixels where the coherence, computed as follows, is greater than zero.
The coherence pq at a point (p q) in the given image was computed as the
cumulative sum of the projections of the gradient magnitudes of the pixels in
a window of size P P , in the direction of the dominant orientation at the
point (p q) under consideration, as
PP PP
pq = Gpq mn cos(mn ; pq ) :
m=1 Pn=1 GP (8.65)
P P
m=1 n=1 Gmn
The result was normalized with the cumulative sum of the gradient magni-
tudes in the window, and multiplied with the gradient magnitude at the point
under consideration in order to obtain high coherence values at the points in
the image having high visual contrast. The coherence image computed for
the mammogram in Figure 8.42 is shown in Figure 8.47. It can be observed
that glandular tissues, ligaments, ducts, and spicules corresponding to archi-
tectural distortion possess high coherence values.
730 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 8.46
Intrinsic angle information (white lines) for the mammogram shown in Fig-
ure 8.42. The boundaries (black) represent the mass and false-positive regions
segmented at the initial stage of the mass-detection algorithm. The breast
outline detected is superimposed. Reproduced with permission from N.R.
Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection of breast
masses in mammograms by density slicing and texture ow-eld analysis",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 731
FIGURE 8.47
Intrinsic coherence image of the mammogram shown in Figure 8.42. Repro-
duced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by density slicing and
texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12):
1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
732 Biomedical Image Analysis
8.8.7 Adaptive computation of features in ribbons
The regions detected by the method described above vary greatly in size and
shape. For this reason, a method was devised to compute adaptively the width
of the ribbon for the derivation of features (see Section 7.9.1), or equivalently,
the diameter of the circular morphological operator for a particular region
based upon the region's size and shape.
Figure 8.48 shows a schematic representation of the method used to com-
pute adaptively the size of the ribbon. Initially, the diameter of the bounding
circle enclosing a given candidate region was found by computing the maxi-
mal distance between any two points on its boundary. Then, the areas of the
region (Ar ) and the bounding circle (Ac ) enclosing the region were computed.
The width of the ribbon was computed as
Rw = Rc A
A
r (8.66)
c
where Rc is the radius of the bounding circle. The ratio AArc is a simple measure
of the narrowness and shape complexity of the region. The size of the ribbon
computed above was limited to a maximum of 8 mm or 40 pixels. The regions
for which the sizes of ribbons computed was less than 0:8 mm or four pixels
were rejected, and not processed further in the false-positive analysis stage.
The ribbons of pixels (white) extracted across the boundaries (black) of the
various regions detected in the image shown in Figure 8.42 are illustrated in
Figure 8.49.
A
c
A
r
2R
c
FIGURE 8.48
Schematic representation of the adaptive computation of the width of the
ribbon. Ar : area of the candidate region, Ac : area of the bounding circle, and
Rc : radius of the bounding circle. Figure courtesy of N.R. Mudigonda 166].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 733
FIGURE 8.49
Ribbons of pixels (white) extracted adaptively across the boundaries (black)
of the regions detected in the mammogram shown in Figure 8.42. Repro-
duced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by density slicing and
texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12):
1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
734 Biomedical Image Analysis
Features for mass-versus-false-positive classi
cation: In order to
classify the regions detected as true masses or false positives, the following
features were proposed by Mudigonda et al. 275], based upon certain well-
established radiological notions about breast masses as apparent on mammo-
grams.
Contrast (Cfg ) : Masses in mammograms may be presumed to be hy-
perdense, or at least isodense, with respect to their surroundings. For
this reason, the contrast (Cfg ) of a region was computed as the dier-
ence between the mean intensities of the foreground region or ROI, and
a background region dened as the region enclosed by the extracted rib-
bon of pixels excluding the ROI. Regions possessing negative contrast
values were rejected from further analysis.
Coherence ratio (r ) : The interior regions of masses are expected to be
less coherent than their edges. The ratio (r ) of the mean coherence of
the ROI (excluding the ribbon of pixels) to the mean coherence in the
ribbon of pixels was used as a feature in pattern classication.
Entropy of orientation estimates (Ho) : The orientation of spicules in
the margins of spiculated masses is usually random. Furthermore, the
orientation estimates computed in the margins of circumscribed masses
could cover a wide range of angles between zero and radians, and may
not possess any dominant orientation. On the contrary, broglandular
tissues are highly directional. For these reasons, the entropy (Ho ) of
the orientation estimates was computed in the ribbon of pixels of each
region detected for use as a feature in pattern classication.
Variance of coherence-weighted angle estimates (h2 ) : The fourth fea-
ture was based upon the coherence-weighted angular histogram, which
was computed for a particular region by incrementing the numbers of
occurrence of angles with the magnitudes of coherence values computed
at the respective points, after resampling the angle values in the rib-
bon regions to Q = 6 equally spaced levels between zero and . This
is equivalent to obtaining a cumulative sum of the coherence estimates
of the points belonging to each bin as the height of the corresponding
bin in the histogram. The histogram distributions obtained as above
were normalized with the cumulative sum of the coherence values com-
puted in the ribbons of the respective regions, and the variance (h2 ) was
computed as
Q
2 = 1
X
h Q i=1 ( i ; )2
h (8.67)
FIGURE 8.50
Adaptive ribbons of pixels (white) and boundaries (black) of the regions re-
tained in the mammogram shown in Figure 8.42 after the false-positive anal-
ysis stage. The larger region corresponds to the malignant tumor the other
region is a false positive. See also Figure 8.49. Reproduced with permission
from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection
of breast masses in mammograms by density slicing and texture ow-eld
analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001.
c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 739
FIGURE 8.51
A mammogram (size 1 024 1 024 pixels, 200 m per pixel) with a spiculated
malignant tumor (pointed by the arrow, radius = 0.54 cm). Case mdb144 from
the MIAS database 376]. Reproduced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda,
R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mam-
mograms by density slicing and texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transac-
tions on Medical Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
740 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 8.52
Ribbons of pixels (white) extracted adaptively across the boundaries (black)
of the regions detected in the mammogram shown in Figure 8.51. Repro-
duced with permission from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L.
Desautels, \Detection of breast masses in mammograms by density slicing and
texture ow-eld analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12):
1215 { 1227, 2001. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 741
FIGURE 8.53
Adaptive ribbons of pixels (white) and boundaries (black) of the regions re-
tained in the mammogram shown in Figure 8.51 after the false-positive anal-
ysis stage. The larger region corresponds to the malignant tumor the other
region is a false positive. See also Figure 8.52. Reproduced with permission
from N.R. Mudigonda, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection
of breast masses in mammograms by density slicing and texture ow-eld
analysis", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(12): 1215 { 1227, 2001.
c IEEE.
742 Biomedical Image Analysis
that were successfully segmented by the mass-detection procedure. Pattern
classication was carried out using the BMDP stepwise logistic regression
program 674]. The ve GCM-based texture features resulted in an overall
classication eciency of 0:79. The results obtained conrm that the mass
regions segmented in images of resolution 200 m possess adequate discrim-
inant information to permit their classication as benign or malignant with
texture features. Similar benign-versus-malignant classication results were
obtained using partial images of the same cases, but with 50 m resolution.
It appears that the detection and classication of masses may be successfully
performed using images of resolution 200 m with the techniques described
above.
(a)
(c)
0.018
Image histogram
Uncompressed fat
0.016 Fat
Nonuniform density
High density
0.014 Mixture summation
Frequency distribution
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray−level values
Figure 8.54 (d)
750 Biomedical Image Analysis
(e)
4. Delimit the broglandular disc based upon the density of the pectoral
muscle.
1. Excellent: Agreement between the segmented disc and the observed disc
on the mammogram is higher than 80%.
2. Good: Agreement between the segmented disc and the observed disc on
the mammogram is between 60 and 80%.
752 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
0.02
Image histogram
Uncompressed fat
0.018
Fat
High density
0.016 Mixture summation
0.014
Frequency distribution
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray−level values
Figure 8.55 (b)
Analysis of Directional Patterns 753
(c)
3. Average: Agreement between the segmented disc and the observed disc
on the mammogram is between 40 and 60%.
4. Poor: Agreement between the segmented disc and the observed disc on
the mammogram is between 20 and 40%.
5. Complete failure: Agreement between the segmented disc and the ob-
served disc on the mammogram is less than 20%.
2 2
(x y) = 2 exp ; 21 x2 + y 2 + j 2 Wx :
1 (8.73)
x y x y
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.56
Examples of Gabor wavelets in the space domain, with four orientations ( =
0o , 45o , 90o , and 135o ) and four scales (x = 11 5 2 1 and y = 32 16 7 4
pixels). The size of each wavelet image shown is 121 121 pixels. Reproduced
with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and
A.F. Frere, \Analysis of asymmetry in mammograms via directional ltering
with Gabor wavelets", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 {
964, 2001. c IEEE.
760 Biomedical Image Analysis
Ul=0.05 ; Uh=0.45
0.7
S=4 ; K=12
0.6
0.5
frequency (v) − [cycles/pixel]
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
−0.1
0.5
0.4
frequency (v) − [cycles/pixel]
0.3
0.2
0.1
−0.1
(b)
FIGURE 8.57
Examples of Gabor lters in the frequency domain. Each ellipse represents
the range of the corresponding lter response from 0:5 to 1:0 in squared mag-
nitude. The plots (a) and (b) illustrate two ways of dividing the frequency
spectrum by changing the Ul , Uh , S , and K parameters of the Gabor rep-
resentation. Plot (a) represents the lter bank used in the work of Ferrari
et al. 381] for the analysis of mammograms. The redundancy in the rep-
resentation is minimized by ensuring that the half-peak magnitude supports
of the lter responses touch one another. Reproduced with permission from
R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis
of asymmetry in mammograms via directional ltering with Gabor wavelets",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 { 964, 2001. c IEEE.
762 Biomedical Image Analysis
u = (a ; p 1)Uh (8.77)
(a + 1) 2 ln 2
h 2 i
tan( 2K ) Uh ; ( Uuh )2 ln 2
v = q (8.78)
2 ln 2 ; (2 lnU2)h2 u
2 2
where Ul and Uh denote the lower and upper center frequencies of interest.
The K and S parameters are, respectively, the number of orientations and
the number of scales in the desired multiresolution decomposition procedure.
The frequency of the sinusoid W is set equal to Uh , and m = 0 1 : : : S ; 1.
Because of the lack of orthogonality of the Gabor wavelets, the computation
of the expansion coecients becomes dicult. This task, however, is trivial
when using a set of orthogonal functions, because the expansion coecients,
given by
Z Z
cm n = hf (x y) m n (x y)i = f (x y) m n (x y) dx dy (8.79)
x y
are the projections of the image f (x y) onto the same set of functions, where
h i denotes the inner product. In this case, the analysis and synthesis win-
dows are the same, and the original image can be reconstructed as
X X
f (x y) = hf (x y) m n (x y)i m n (x y): (8.80)
m n
However, the joint localization and orthogonality of the set of functions are
properties that cannot be met simultaneously. Much work has been done to
overcome the problem of the lack of orthogonality of Gabor wavelets, with
most of them using dual frames or biorthogonal functions 720], iterative
methods 712], or adjustment of the phase-space sampling in order to ob-
tain a reasonably tight frame 385]. In Dthe dual-frame approach,
E for instance,
the set of projection coecients cm n = f (x y) m n (x y) of the dual frame
e
can be obtained by minimizing the cost function
2
X X
= f (x y) ; cm n m n (x y) (8.81)
m n
where em n is the dual frame.
In directional ltering and analysis, the interest lies in image analysis with-
out the requirement of exact reconstruction (synthesis) of the image. There-
fore, instead of using the wavelet coecients, Ferrari et al. 381] used the
magnitude of the lter response, computed as
am n = f (x y) mevenn (x y) (8.82)
where mevenn (x y) indicates only the even-symmetric part of the complex Ga-
bor lter, and represents 2D convolution.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 763
By adjusting the parameters Ul and Uh in the Gabor representation of
Manjunath and Ma 384], the range of the frequency spectrum to be used for
multiresolution analysis may be selected. The area of each ellipse indicated in
Figure 8.57 represents the spectrum of frequencies covered by the correspond-
ing Gabor lter. Once the range of the frequency spectrum is adjusted, the
choice of the number of scales and orientation may be made in order to cover
the range of the spectrum as required. The choice of the number of scales (S )
and orientations (K ) used in the work of Ferrari et al. 381] for processing
mammographic images was based upon the resolution required for detecting
oriented information with high selectivity 388, 389]. The frequency band-
widths of the simple and complex cells in the mammalian visual system have
been found to range from 0:5 to 2:5 octaves, clustering around 1:2 octaves
and 1:5 octaves, and their angular bandwidth is expected to be smaller than
30o 390, 389]. By selecting Ul = 0:05, Uh = 0:45, S = 4, and K = 12 for pro-
cessing mammographic images, Ferrari et al. 381] indirectly set the Gabor
representation to have a frequency bandwidth of approximately one octave
and an angular bandwidth of 15o . The eects of changing the Ul , Uh , S , and
K parameters of the Gabor representation as above on frequency localization
are shown in Figure 8.57.
The directional analysis method proposed by Ferrari et al. 381] starts by
computing the Gabor wavelets using four scales (S = 4) and twelve directions
(K = 12), with Ul = 0:05 and Uh = 0:45 cycles=pixel. The parameters Ul and
Uh were chosen according to the scales of the details of interest in the mam-
mographic images. Diering from other Gabor representations 500, 714, 385],
it should be noted that the parameters Ul , Uh , S , and K in the representation
described above have to be adjusted in a coordinated manner, by taking into
account the desirable frequency and orientation bandwidths. (In the Gabor
representation of Manjunath and Ma 384], the lters are designed so as to
represent an image with minimal redundancy the ellipses as in Figure 8.57
touch one another.)
The lter outputs for each orientation and the four scales were analyzed
by using the KLT (see Section 11.6.2). The KLT was used to select the
principal components of the lter outputs, preserving only the most relevant
directional elements present at all of the scales considered. Results were then
combined as illustrated in Figure 8.58, in order to allow the formation of an
S -dimensional vector (x) for each pixel from each set of the corresponding
pixels in the ltered images (S = 4).
The vectors corresponding to each position in the lter responses were used
to compute the mean vector and the covariance matrix . The eigenvalues
and eigenvectors of the covariance matrix were then computed and arranged in
descending order in a matrix A such that the rst row of A was the eigenvector
corresponding to the largest eigenvalue, and the last row was the eigenvector
corresponding to the smallest eigenvalue. The rst N principal components
corresponding to 95% of the total variance were then selected, and used to
represent the oriented components at each specic orientation. The principal
764 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 8.58
Formation of the vector x = x from the corresponding pixels of the same
orientation and four scales. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari,
R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis of asymmetry
in mammograms via directional ltering with Gabor wavelets", IEEE Trans-
actions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 { 964, 2001.
c IEEE.
FIGURE 8.59
Block diagram of the procedure for directional analysis using Gabor wavelets.
Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. De-
sautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis of asymmetry in mammograms via direc-
tional ltering with Gabor wavelets", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
20(9): 953 { 964, 2001. c IEEE.
766 Biomedical Image Analysis
8.9.6 Characterization of bilateral asymmetry
Figures 8.60 and 8.61 show two pairs of images from the Mini-MIAS database
376]. All of the images in this database are 1 024 1 024 pixels in size, with
200 m sampling interval and 8 b gray-level quantization. Figures 8.60 (a)
and (b) are, respectively, the MIAS images mdb043 and mdb044 representing
the right and left MLO mammograms of a woman, classied as a normal
case. Figures 8.61 (a) and (b) show the MIAS images mdb119 and mdb120,
classied as a case of architectural distortion.
Only the broglandular disc of each mammogram was used to compute the
directional components, due to the fact that most of the directional compo-
nents such as connective tissues and ligaments exist in this specic region of
the breast. The broglandular disc ROIs of the mammograms selected for
illustration are shown in Figures 8.60 (c), 8.60 (d), 8.61 (c), and 8.61 (d).
Figure 8.62 shows the principal components obtained by applying the KLT
to the Gabor lter outputs at the orientation of 135o and four scales for
the ROI in Figure 8.61 (d). It can be seen that the relevant information is
concentrated in the rst two principal components. This is evident based
upon an evaluation of the eigenvalues, listed in the caption of Figure 8.62. In
this example, only the rst two principal components were used to represent
the oriented components in the 135o orientation, because their eigenvalues
add to 99:34% (> 95% ) of the total variance. After thresholding the ltered
images with Otsu's method in order to eliminate the eects of spectral leakage,
the magnitude and phase images were composed by vector summation, as
illustrated in Figures 8.63 and 8.64.
Figures 8.63 (a) { (d) show the result of Gabor ltering for the normal
case in Figure 8.60. The rose diagrams in Figures 8.63 (c) and (d) show the
distribution of the tissues in the broglandular discs of both the left and right
views. An inspection of the rose diagrams shows that the results obtained
are in good agreement with visual analysis of the ltered results in Figures
8.63 (a) and (b), and the corresponding ROIs in Figures 8.60 (c) and (d). The
most relevant angular information indicated in the rose diagrams are similar.
The results of the ltering process for the case of architectural distortion
(see Figure 8.61), along with the respective rose diagrams, are shown in Fig-
ure 8.64. By analyzing the results of ltering, we can notice a modication of
the tissue pattern caused by the presence of a high-density region. An impor-
tant characteristic of the Gabor lters may be seen in the result: the lters
do not respond to regions with nearly uniform intensity, that is, to regions
without directional information see Figures 8.61 (c) and 8.64 (a)]. This is
an important outcome that could be used to detect asymmetric dense regions
and local foci of architecture distortion. The global distortion of the tissue
ow pattern is readily seen by comparison of the rose diagrams of the left and
right breasts.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 767
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.60
Images mdb043 and mdb044 of a normal case 376]. (a) and (b) Original im-
ages (1 024 1 024 pixels at 200 m=pixel). The breast boundary (white) and
pectoral muscle edge (black) detected are also shown. (c) and (d) Fibroglan-
dular discs segmented and enlarged (512 512 pixels). Histogram equalization
was applied to enhance the global contrast of each ROI for display purposes
only. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L.
Desautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis of asymmetry in mammograms via direc-
tional ltering with Gabor wavelets", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
20(9): 953 { 964, 2001. c IEEE.
768 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.61
Images mdb119 and mdb120 of a case of architectural distortion 376]. (a)
and (b) Original images (1 024 1 024 pixels at 200 m=pixel). The breast
boundary (white) and pectoral muscle edge (black) detected are also shown.
(c) and (d) Fibroglandular discs segmented and enlarged (512 512 pixels).
Histogram equalization was applied to enhance the global contrast of each
ROI for display purposes only. Reproduced with permission from R.J. Fer-
rari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis of asym-
metry in mammograms via directional ltering with Gabor wavelets", IEEE
Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 { 964, 2001.
c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 769
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.62
The images (a), (b), (c), and (d) are, respectively, the rst, second, third,
and fourth components resulting from the KLT applied to the Gabor lter re-
sponses with orientation 135o to the ROI of the image mdb120 shown in Fig-
ure 8.61 (d). The eigenvalues of the four components above are: 1 = 10:80,
2 = 0:89, 3 = 0:09, and 4 = 0:01. The images were full brightness-contrast
corrected for improved visualization. Reproduced with permission from R.J.
Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis of
asymmetry in mammograms via directional ltering with Gabor wavelets",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 { 964, 2001. c IEEE.
770 Biomedical Image Analysis
The rose diagrams in Figures 8.63 and 8.64 present a strong visual associ-
ation with the directional components of the corresponding images, and may
be used by radiologists as an aid in the interpretation of mammograms.
Feature extraction and pattern classi
cation: In order to characterize
bilateral asymmetry in an objective manner, three features were derived: the
entropy H (Equation 8.10), the rst moment M1 (Equation 8.6), and the
second central moment or variance M2 (Equation 8.7) of the rose diagram
given by the dierence between the rose diagrams computed for the left and
right mammograms of the same individual.
Classication of the normal and asymmetric cases was conducted by using
the Bayesian linear classier 721] (see Section 12.4.2). The Gaussian dis-
tribution was assumed in order to model the PDF, and the parameters of
the model were estimated by using the training samples. The prior proba-
bilities of the normal and asymmetry classes were assumed to be equal, and
the covariance matrix was calculated in a pooled manner by averaging the
covariance matrices of the normal and asymmetric classes. The leave-one-out
methodology 721] was used to estimate the classication accuracy.
The directional analysis scheme was applied to 80 images (20 normal cases,
14 cases of asymmetry, and six cases of architectural distortion) from the
Mini-MIAS database 376]. An exhaustive combination approach was used to
select the best set of features. The selection was conducted based upon the
classication results obtained by using the leave-one-out method. The best
result, by using only one feature in the classication process, was achieved
by the rst-order angular moment (M1 ), with the sensitivity, specicity, and
average accuracy values equal to 77:3%, 71:4%, and 74:4%, respectively. When
using two features, the best result was achieved with the combination of the
rst-order angular moment (M1 ) and the entropy (H ) features, indicating
that 80% of the asymmetric and distortion cases, and 65% of the normal
cases were correctly classied. The average rate of correct classication in
this case was 72:5%. The low rate of specicity may be explained by the
fact that even normal cases present natural signs of mild asymmetry the
mammographic imaging procedure may also distort the left and right breasts
in dierent ways.
In a subsequent study, Rangayyan et al. 681] revised the directional analysis
procedures as shown in Figure 8.65. The rose diagrams of the left and right
mammograms were aligned such that their mean angles corresponded to the
straight line perpendicular to the pectoral muscle, and then subtracted to
obtain the dierence rose diagram. In addition to the features H , M1 , and
M2 of the dierence rose diagram as described above, the dominant orientation
R and circular variance s2 were computed as follows:
N
X
XR = Ri cos i (8.83)
i=1
Analysis of Directional Patterns 771
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.63
Results obtained for the normal case in Figure 8.60. (a) and (b) Magnitude
images. (c) and (d) Rose diagrams. The magnitude images were histogram-
equalized for improved visualization. The rose diagrams have been congured
to match the mammograms in orientation. Reproduced with permission from
R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and A.F. Frere, \Analysis
of asymmetry in mammograms via directional ltering with Gabor wavelets",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 { 964, 2001. c IEEE.
772 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.64
Results obtained for the case of architectural distortion in Figure 8.61. (a) and
(b) Magnitude images. (c) and (d) Rose diagrams. The magnitude images
were histogram-equalized for improved visualization. The rose diagrams have
been congured to match the mammograms in orientation. Reproduced with
permission from R.J. Ferrari, R.M. Rangayyan, J.E.L. Desautels, and A.F.
Frere, \Analysis of asymmetry in mammograms via directional ltering with
Gabor wavelets", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(9): 953 { 964,
2001. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 773
N
X
YR = Ri sin i (8.84)
i=1
R = atan XYR (8.85)
R
and q
s2 = 1 ; XR2 + YR2 (8.86)
where Ri is the normalized value and i is the central angle of the ith angle
band of the dierence rose diagram, and N is the number of bins in the rose
diagram.
In addition, a set of 11 features including seven of Hu's moments (see Sec-
tion 6.2.2 and Equation 8.3) and the area, average density, eccentricity , and
stretch were computed to characterize the shape of the segmented broglan-
dular discs. Eccentricity was computed as
2
= (m20 ; m02 ) + 42 m11
2
(8.87)
(m20 + m02 )
where mpq are the geometric invariant moments as described in Section 6.2.2.
The stretch parameter was computed as
; xmin
= xymax ; (8.88)
max y min
where xmax , xmin , ymax , and ymin are the corner coordinates of the rectangle
delimiting the broglandular disc. Feature selection was performed by PCA
and exhaustive combination techniques. With PCA, only the components
associated with 98% of the total variance were used in the classication step.
Classication was performed using linear and quadratic Bayesian classiers
with the leave-one-out method.
The revised directional analysis scheme was applied to 88 images (22 nor-
mal cases, 14 cases of asymmetry, and eight cases of architectural distortion)
from the Mini-MIAS database 376]. The best overall classication accuracy
of 84:4% (with a sensitivity of 82:6% and specicity of 86:4%) was obtained us-
ing the four features R , M1 , M2 , and H computed from the aligned-dierence
rose diagrams using the quadratic classier. The morphometric measures and
moments, after PCA-based feature selection, resulted in an overall classica-
tion accuracy of only 71:1% with the linear classier. The combination of
all of the directional statistics, morphometric measures, and moments, after
PCA-based feature selection, resulted in an overall classication accuracy of
82:2%, with a sensitivity of 78:3% and specicity of 86:4% with the linear
classier. The results indicate the importance of directional analysis of the
broglandular tissue in the detection of bilateral asymmetry.
774 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 8.65
Block diagram of the revised procedure for the analysis of bilateral asymme-
try 681].
Analysis of Directional Patterns 775
(a) (b)
FIGURE 8.66
(a) Mammogram showing a normal breast image mdb243 from the Mini-
MIAS database 376]. Width of image = 650 pixels = 130 mm. (b) Archi-
tectural distortion present in a mammogram from the Mini-MIAS database
(mdb115). Width of image = 650 pixels = 130 mm. The square box overlaid
on the gure represents the ROI including the site of architectural distortion,
shown enlarged in Figure 8.67. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres
and R.M. Rangayyan, \Characterization of architectural distortion in mam-
mograms via analysis of oriented texture", IEEE Engineering in Medicine and
Biology Magazine, January 2005. c IEEE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 777
FIGURE 8.67
Detail of mammogram mdb115 showing the site of architectural distortion
marked by the box in Figure 8.66 (b). Width of image = 300 pixels = 60 mm.
Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres and R.M. Rangayyan, \Charac-
terization of architectural distortion in mammograms via analysis of oriented
texture", IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, January 2005.
c IEEE.
Ayres and Rangayyan 595, 679, 680] proposed the application of Gabor
lters and phase portraits to characterize architectural distortion in ROIs se-
lected from mammograms, as well as to detect sites of architectural distortion
in full mammograms their methods and results are described in the following
subsections.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 779
8.10.2 Phase portraits
Phase portraits provide an analytical tool to study systems of rst-order dif-
ferential equations 735]. The method has proved to be useful in characterizing
oriented texture 432, 736].
Let p(t) and q(t) denote two dierentiable functions of time t, related by a
system of rst-order dierential equations as
p_(t) = F p(t) q(t)] (8.89)
q_(t) = Gp(t) q(t)]
where the dot above the variable indicates the rst-order derivative of the
function with respect to time, and F and G represent functions of p and q.
Given initial conditions p(0) and q(0), the solution p(t) q(t)] to Equation 8.89
can be viewed as a parametric trajectory of a hypothetical particle in the
(p q) plane, placed at p(0) q(0)] at time t = 0, and moving through the (p q)
plane with velocity p_(t) q_(t)]. The (p q) plane is referred to as the phase
plane of the system of rst-order dierential equations. The path traced by
the hypothetical particle is called a streamline of the vector eld (p_ q_). The
phase portrait is a graph of the possible streamlines in the phase plane. A
xed point of Equation 8.89 is a point in the phase plane where p_(t) = 0 and
q_(t) = 0: a particle left at a xed point remains stationary.
When the system of rst-order dierential equations is linear, Equation 8.89
assumes the form
p_(t) = A p(t) + b (8.90)
q_(t) q(t)
where A is a 2 2 matrix and b is a 2 1 column matrix (a vector). In
this case, there are only three types of phase portraits: node, saddle, and
spiral 735]. The type of phase portrait can be determined from the nature of
the eigenvalues of A, as shown in Table 8.4. The center (p0 q0 ) of the phase
portrait is given by the xed point of Equation 8.90:
p_(t) = 0 ) p0 = ;A;1 b: (8.91)
q_(t) q0
Solving Equation 8.90 yields a linear combination of complex exponentials
for p(t) and q(t), whose exponents are given by the eigenvalues of A multiplied
by the time variable t. Table 8.4 illustrates the streamlines obtained by solving
Equation 8.90 for a node, a saddle, and a spiral phase portrait: the solid lines
indicate the movement of the p(t) and the q(t) components of the solution,
and the dashed lines indicate the streamlines. The formation of each phase
portrait type is explained as follows:
Node : the components p(t) and q(t) are exponentials that either simul-
taneously converge to, or diverge from, the xed-point coordinates p0
and q0 .
780 Biomedical Image Analysis
Saddle : the components p(t) and q(t) are exponentials while one of the
components either p(t) or q(t)] converges to the xed point, the other
diverges from the xed point.
Spiral : the components p(t) and q(t) are exponentially modulated sinu-
soidal functions | the resulting streamline forms a spiral curve.
Associating the functions p(t) and q(t) with the x and y coordinates of
the Cartesian (image) plane, we can dene the orientation eld generated by
Equation 8.90 as
(x yjA b) = arctan pq__((tt)) (8.92)
which is the angle of the velocity vector p_(t) q_(t)] with the x axis at (x y) =
p(t) q(t)]. Table 8.4 lists the three phase portraits and the corresponding
orientation elds generated by a system of linear rst-order dierential equa-
tions.
Using the concepts presented above, the orientation eld of a textured image
may be described qualitatively by determining the type of the phase portrait
that is most similar to the orientation eld, along with the center of the phase
portrait. This notion was employed by Ayres and Rangayyan 595, 679, 680]
to characterize architectural distortion.
TABLE 8.4
Phase Portraits for a System of Linear First-order Dierential
Equations 736].
Phase
portrait Eigenvalues Streamlines Appearance of the
type orientation eld
Real eigenvalues
Saddle of opposite sign
Spiral Complex
eigenvalues
Solid lines indicate the movement of the p(t) and the q(t) components of the
solution dashed lines indicate the streamlines. Reproduced with permission
from F.J. Ayres and R.M. Rangayyan, \Characterization of architectural dis-
tortion in mammograms via analysis of oriented texture", IEEE Engineering
in Medicine and Biology Magazine, January 2005. c IEEE.
782 Biomedical Image Analysis
The cosine term has a period of therefore, fo = 1= .
The value of y was dened as y = l x , where l determines the elongation
of the Gabor lter in the orientation direction, with respect to its thickness.
The values = 4 pixels (corresponding to a thickness of 0:8 mm at a pixel size
of 200 m) and l = 8 were determined empirically, by observing the typical
spicule width and length in mammograms with architectural distortion in the
Mini-MIAS database 376].
The eects of the dierent design parameters are shown in Figure 8.68, and
are as follows:
Figures 8.68 (a) and (e) show the impulse response of a Gabor lter and
its Fourier transform magnitude, respectively.
In Figure 8.68 (b), the Gabor lter of Figure 8.68 (a) is stretched in
the x direction, by increasing the elongation factor l. Observe that the
Fourier spectrum of the new Gabor lter, shown in Figure 8.68 (f), is
compressed in the horizontal direction.
The Gabor lter shown in Figure 8.68 (c) was obtained by increasing
the parameter of the original Gabor lter, thus enlarging the lter in
both the x and y directions. Correspondingly, the Fourier spectrum of
the enlarged lter, shown in Figure 8.68 (g), has been shrunk in both
the vertical and horizontal directions.
The eect of rotating the Gabor lter by 30o counterclockwise is dis-
played in Figures 8.68 (d) and (h), that show the rotated Gabor lter's
impulse response and the corresponding Fourier spectrum.
The texture orientation at a pixel was estimated as the orientation of the
Gabor lter that yielded the highest magnitude response at that pixel. The
orientation at every pixel was used to compose the orientation eld. The
magnitude of the corresponding lter response was used to form the magnitude
image. The magnitude image was not used in the estimation of the phase
portrait, but was found to be useful for illustrative purposes.
Let (x y) be the texture orientation at (x y), and gk (x y), k = 0 1 179,
be the Gabor lter oriented at k = ;=2 + k=180. Let f (x y) be the ROI
of the mammogram being processed, and fk (x y) = (f gk )(x y), where the
asterisk denotes linear 2D convolution. Then, the orientation eld of f (x y)
is given by
(x y) = kmax where kmax = argfmax k k
jf (x y)j]g : (8.94)
where XX
Sh = h(x y): (8.97)
x y
A map with a dense spatial concentration of votes is expected to have a large
maximum value and a low entropy. On the contrary, a map with a wide
scatter of votes may be expected to have a low maximum and a large entropy.
Figure 8.69 illustrates the results obtained for an image with architectural
distortion (mdb115). The maximum of the node map is larger than the max-
ima of the other two maps. Also, the scattering of votes in the node map is
less than that in the saddle and spiral maps. These results indicate that the
degree of scattering of the votes (quantied by the entropy of the correspond-
ing map) and the maximum of each of the three phase portrait maps could
be useful features to distinguish between architectural distortion and other
patterns.
Linear discriminant analysis was performed using SPSS 738], with stepwise
feature selection. Architectural distortion was considered as a positive nding,
with all other test patterns (normal tissue, masses, and calcications) being
considered as negative ndings. The statistically signicant features were
the entropy of the node map and the entropy of the spiral map: the other
features were deemed to be not signicant by the statistical analysis package,
and were discarded in all subsequent analysis. With the prior probability of
architectural distortion set to 50%, the sensitivity obtained was 82:4%, and
the specicity was 71:9%. The fraction of cases correctly classied was 73:6%.
Tables 8.5 and 8.6 present the classication results with the prior probability
of architectural distortion being 46:5%. An overall classication accuracy of
76:4% was achieved.
TABLE 8.6
Results of Linear Discriminant Analysis for ROIs Without
Architectural Distortion Using the Leave-one-out Method.
Type #ROIs Classied as
Architectural distortion Other
CB 19 4 15
Masses SB 11 3 8
CM 4 1 3
SM 8 3 5
Calcications 2 1 1
Normal 45 9 36
Total 89 FP = 21 TN = 68
FIGURE 8.70
Filtering and downsampling of the orientation eld. Figure courtesy of F.J.
Ayres.
8.11 Remarks
Preferred orientation and directional distributions relate to the functional
integrity of several types of tissues and organs changes in such patterns could
indicate structural damage as well as recovery. Directional analysis could,
792 Biomedical Image Analysis
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.71
(a) Image mdb115 from the Mini-MIAS database 376]. The circle indicates
the location and the extent of architectural distortion, as provided in the Mini-
MIAS database 376]. (b) Magnitude image after Gabor ltering. (c) Orien-
tation eld superimposed on the original image. Needles have been drawn for
every fth pixel. (d) Filtered orientation eld superimposed on the original
image. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres and R.M. Rangayyan,
\Detection of architectural distortion in mammograms using phase portraits",
Proceedings of SPIE Medical Imaging 2004: Image Processing, Volume 5370,
pp 587 { 597, 2004. c SPIE. See also Figure 8.72.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 793
(c) (d)
FIGURE 8.72
Phase portrait maps derived from the orientation eld in Figure 8.71 (d), and
the detection of architectural distortion. (a) Saddle map: values are scaled
from the range 0 20] to 0 255]. (b) Spiral map: values are scaled from the
range 0 47] to 0 255]. (a) Node map: values are scaled from the range
0 84] to 0 255]. (d) Detected sites of architectural distortion superimposed
on the original image: the solid line indicates the location and spatial extent
of architectural distortion as given by the Mini-MIAS database 376] the
dashed lines indicate the detected sites of architectural distortion (one true
positive and one false positive). Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres
and R.M. Rangayyan, \Detection of architectural distortion in mammograms
using phase portraits", Proceedings of SPIE Medical Imaging 2004: Image
Processing, Volume 5370, pp 587 { 597, 2004. c SPIE.
Analysis of Directional Patterns 795
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Sensitivity
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 5 10 15 20
False positives / image
FIGURE 8.73
Free-response receiver operating characteristics (FROC) curve for the detec-
tion of sites of architectural distortion. Reproduced with permission from F.J.
Ayres and R.M. Rangayyan, \Detection of architectural distortion in mam-
mograms using phase portraits", Proceedings of SPIE Medical Imaging 2004:
Image Processing, Volume 5370, pp 587 { 597, 2004. c SPIE.
796 Biomedical Image Analysis
therefore, be used to study the health and well-being of a tissue or organ, as
well as to follow the pathological and physiological processes related to injury,
treatment, and healing.
In this chapter, we explored the directional characteristics of several biomed-
ical images. We have seen several examples of the application of fan lters
and Gabor wavelets. The importance of multiscale or multiresolution analysis
in accounting for variations in the size of the pattern elements of interest has
been demonstrated. In spite of theoretical limitations, the methods for direc-
tional analysis presented in this chapter have been shown to lead to practically
useful results in important applications.
797
798 Biomedical Image Analysis
The integral of f (x y) along the ray path AB is given by
Z Z 1Z1
p (t1 ) = f (x y) ds = f (x y) (x cos + y sin ; t1 ) dx dy
AB ;1 ;1
(9.2)
where ( ) is the Dirac delta function, and s = ;x sin + y cos . The mutually
parallel rays within the imaging plane are represented by the coordinates (t s)
that are rotated by angle with respect to the (x y) coordinates as indicated
in Figures 1.9, 1.19, and 9.1, with the s axis being parallel to the rays ds is
thus the elemental distance along a ray. When this integral is evaluated for
dierent values of the ray oset t1 , we obtain the 1D projection p (t). The
function p (t) is known as the Radon transform of f (x y). Note: Whereas a
single projection p (t) of a 2D image at a given value of is a 1D function,
a set of projections for various values of could be seen as a 2D function.
Observe that t represents the space variable related to ray displacement along
a projection, and not time.] Because the various rays within a projection are
parallel to one another, this is known as parallel-ray geometry.
Theoretically, we would need an innite number of projections for all to be
able to reconstruct the image. Before we consider reconstruction techniques,
let us take a look at the projection or Fourier slice theorem.
Projection
p (t)
θ
p (t ) t
θ 1
B
y
s
f (x, y)
t1
t
θ
x
ds Ray
x cos θ + y sin θ = t
1
A
FIGURE 9.1
Illustration of a ray path AB through a sectional plane or image f (x y). The
(t s) axis system is rotated by angle with respect to the (x y) axis system.
ds represents the elemental distance along the ray path AB. p (t1 ) is the ray
integral of f (x y) for the ray path AB. p (t) is the parallel-ray projection
(Radon transform or integral) of f (x y) at angle . See also Figures 1.9 and
1.19. Adapted, with permission, from A. Rosenfeld and A.C. Kak, Digital
Picture Processing, 2nd ed., New York, NY, 1982. c Academic Press.
800 Biomedical Image Analysis
p (t)
θ1 1D FT
y v F(u,v)
θ2 f (x,y)
θ1 F(w, θ1 ) = Pθ (w)
1
x u
2D FT F(w, θ2 ) = Pθ (w)
2
p (t)
θ2 1D FT
FIGURE 9.2
Illustration of the Fourier slice theorem. F (u v) is the 2D Fourier trans-
form of f (x y). F (w 1 ) = P 1 (w) is the 1D Fourier transform of p 1 (t).
F (w 2 ) = P 2 (w) is the 1D Fourier transform of p 2 (t). Reproduced, with
permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction",
Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1,
Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This
material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
9.3 Backprojection
Let us now consider the simplest reconstruction procedure: backprojection
(BP). Assuming the rays to be ideal straight lines, rather than strips of nite
width, and the image to be made of dimensionless points rather than pixels
or voxels of nite size, it can be seen that each point in the image f (x y)
contributes to only one ray integral per parallel-ray projection p (t), with
t = x cos + y sin . We may obtain an estimate of the density at a point by
simply summing (integrating) all rays that pass through it at various angles,
that is, by backprojecting the individual rays. In doing so, however, the
contributions to the various rays of all of the other points along their paths
are also added up, causing smearing or blurring yet this method produces a
reasonable estimate of the image. Mathematically, simple BP can be expressed
as 11] Z
f (x y) ' p (t) d where t = x cos + y sin : (9.9)
0
This is a sinusoidal path of integration in the ( t) Radon space. In practice,
only a nite number of projections and a nite number of rays per projection
will be available, that is, the ( t) space will be discretized hence, interpola-
tion will be required.
802 Biomedical Image Analysis
Examples of reconstructed images: Figure 9.3 (a) shows a synthetic
2D image (phantom), which we will consider to represent a cross-sectional
plane of a 3D object. The objects in the image were dened on a discrete
grid, and hence have step and/or jagged edges. Figure 9.4 (a) is a plot of the
projection of the phantom image computed at 90o observe that the values
are all positive.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.3
(a) A synthetic 2D image (phantom) with 101 101 eight-bit pixels, repre-
senting a cross-section of a 3D object. (b) Reconstruction of the phantom
in (a) obtained using 90 projections from 2o to 180o in steps of 2o with the
simple BP algorithm. Reproduced, with permission, from R.M. Rangayyan
and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New
York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material is used by permission of John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Figure 9.3 (b) shows the reconstruction of the phantom obtained using 90
projections from 2o to 180o in steps of 2o with the simple BP algorithm.
While the objects in the image are faintly visible, the smearing eect of the
BP algorithm is obvious.
Considering a point source as the image to be reconstructed, it becomes
evident that BP produces a spoke-like pattern with straight lines at all pro-
jection angles, intersecting at the position of the point source. This may be
considered to be the PSF of the reconstruction process, which is responsible
for the blurring of details.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 803
12000
10000
8000
Ray sum
6000
4000
2000
0
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
Ray number
(a)
600
400
200
Ray sum
−200
−400
−600
(b)
FIGURE 9.4
(a) Projection of the phantom image in Figure 9.3 (a) computed at 90o .
(b) Filtered version of the projection using only the ramp lter inherent to the
FBP algorithm. Reproduced, with permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A.
Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Elec-
tronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York,
NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material is used by permission of John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
804 Biomedical Image Analysis
The use of limited projection data in reconstruction results in geometric dis-
tortion and streaking artifacts 744, 745, 746, 747, 748]. The distortion may
be modeled by the PSF of the reconstruction process if it is linear and shift-
invariant this condition is satised by the BP process. The PSFs of the simple
BP method are shown as images in Figure 9.5 (a) for the case with 10 projec-
tions over 180o , and in Figure 9.5 (b) for the case with 10 projections from 40o
to 130o . The reconstructed image is given by the convolution of the original
image with the PSF the images in parts (c) and (d) of Figure 9.5 illustrate the
corresponding reconstructed images of the phantom in Figure 9.3 (a). Lim-
ited improvement in image quality may be obtained by applying deconvolution
lters to the reconstructed image 744, 745, 746, 747, 748, 749, 750, 751]. De-
convolution is implicit in the ltered (convolution) backprojection technique,
which is described next.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 9.5
PSF of the BP procedure using: (a) 10 projections from 18o to 180o in steps
of 18o (b) 10 projections from 40o to 130o in steps of 10o . The images (a)
and (b) have been enhanced with = 3. Reconstruction of the phantom in
Figure 9.3 (a) obtained using (c) 10 projections as in (a) with the BP algo-
rithm (d) 10 projections as in (b) with the BP algorithm. Reproduced, with
permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction",
Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1,
Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This
material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
806 Biomedical Image Analysis
It is now seen that a perfect reconstruction of f (x y) may be obtained by
backprojecting ltered projections q (t) instead of backprojecting the original
projections p (t) hence the name ltered backprojection (FBP). The lter is
represented by the jwj function, known as the ramp lter see Figure 9.6.
Observe that the limits of integration in Equation 9.12 are (0 ) for and
(;1 1) for w. In practice, a smoothing window should be applied to reduce
the amplication of high-frequency noise by the jwj function. Furthermore,
the integrals change to summations in practice due to the nite number of
projections available, as well as the discrete nature of the projections them-
selves and of the Fourier transform computations employed. (Details of the
discrete version of FBP are provided in the next section.)
An important feature of the FBP technique is that each projection may be
ltered and backprojected while further projection data are being acquired,
which was of help in on-line processing with the rst-generation CT scanners
(see Figure 1.20). Furthermore, the inverse Fourier transform of the lter
jwj (with modications to account for the discrete nature of measurements,
smoothing window, etc. see Figure 9.7) could be used to convolve the projec-
tions directly in the t space 74] using fast array processors. FBP is the most
widely used procedure for image reconstruction from projections however,
the procedure provides good reconstructed images only when a large number
of projections spanning the full angular range of 0o to 180o are available.
Then,
1 h m i b (w)
1 p 2m
X
P (w) = 2W W exp ; j 2w 2W W (9.16)
m=;1
where
bW (w) = 1 if jwj W
= 0 otherwise: (9.17)
Image Reconstruction from Projections 807
(a)
−w w=0 +w
(b)
FIGURE 9.6
(a) The (bandlimited) ramp lter inherent to the FBP algorithm. (b) The
ramp lter weighted with a Butterworth lowpass lter. The lters are shown
for both positive and negative frequency along the w axis with w = 0 at the
center. The corresponding lters are shown in the Radon domain (t space) in
Figure 9.7.
808 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
−t t=0 +t
(b)
FIGURE 9.7
(a) The inverse Fourier transform of the (bandlimited) ramp lter inherent to
the FBP algorithm (in the t space). (b) The inverse Fourier transform of the
ramp lter weighted with a Butterworth lowpass lter. The functions, which
are used for convolution with projections in the CBP method, are shown for
both +t and ;t, with t = 0 at the center. The corresponding lters are shown
in the frequency domain (w space) in Figure 9.6.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 809
If the projections are of nite order, that is, they can be represented by a
nite number of samples N + 1, then
N=
X2 h
1
P (w ) = 2W p 2m exp ; j 2 w m i b ( w ): (9.18)
m=;N=2 W 2W W
Let us assume that N is even, and let the frequency axis be discretized as
w = k 2NW for k = ; N2 0 N2 : (9.19)
Then,
1 N= X2
P k 2NW = 2W p 2m W exp ;j 2N mk (9.20)
m=;N=2
k = ; N2 0 N2 : This represents a DFT relationship, and may be eval-
uated using the FFT algorithm.
The ltered projection q (t) may then be obtained as
Z W
q (t) = P (w)jwj exp(j 2wt)dw (9.21)
;W
2W N=X2
' 2 W 2W 2W
N k=;N=2 P k N k N exp j 2k N t : (9.22)
If we want to evaluate q (t) for only those values of t at which p (t) has been
sampled, we get
m 2W N=
X2
P k 2NW
2W
q 2W ' N k exp j 2 mk (9.23)
N N
k=;N=2
m = ; N2 ;1 0 1 N:
2
In order to control noise enhancement by the jk 2NW j lter, it may be bene-
cial to include a lter window such as the Hamming window then,
2W N= X2
q 2m
W ' N k=;N=2 P k 2W k 2W
N N
2 W 2
G k N exp j N mk (9.24)
with
G k 2NW = 0:54 + 0:46 cos k 2NW W k = ; N2 0 N : (9.25)
2
810 Biomedical Image Analysis
Using the convolution theorem, we get
m
q 2mW ' 2NW p 2m W g1 2W (9.26)
projections are
Z1
q (t) = P (w)H (w) exp(j 2wt)dw (9.29)
l
;1 l
where the lter H (w) = jwjbW (w), with bW (w) as dened in Equation 9.17.
The impulse response of the lter H (w) is 11]
h(t) = 21 2 sin(2 t=2 ) ; 1 sin(t=2 ) 2 : (9.30)
2t=2 4 2 t=2
Because we require h(t) only at integral multiples of the sampling interval ,
we have 8 1
>
> 4 2
> n=0
>
<
h(n ) = > 0 n even : (9.31)
>
>
>
:
; n 1
2 2 2 n odd
Image Reconstruction from Projections 811
The ltered projections q (m ) may be obtained as
l
;1
NX
q (m ) =
l
p (n ) h(m ; n ) m = 0 1
l
N ; 1 (9.32)
n=0
where N is the nite number of samples in the projection p (m ). Observe
that h(n ) is required for n = ;(N ; 1) 0 N ; 1. When the l-
l
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.8
(a) Reconstruction of the phantom in Figure 9.3 (a) obtained using 90 pro-
jections from 2o to 180o in steps of 2o with the FBP algorithm only the ramp
lter that is implicit in the FBP process was used. (b) Reconstruction of the
phantom with the FBP algorithm as in (a), but with the additional use of
a Butterworth lowpass lter. See also Figure 9.5. Reproduced, with permis-
sion, from R.M. Rangayyan and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley
Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor:
J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material is
used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 813
The Radon transform may be interpreted as a transformation of the given
image from the (x y) space to the ( t) space. In practical CT scanning, the
projection or ray-integral data are obtained as samples at discrete intervals in t
and . Just as we encounter the (Nyquist or Shannon) sampling theorem in the
representation of a 1D signal in terms of its samples in time, we now encounter
the requirement to sample adequately along both the t and axes. A major
distinction lies in the fact that the measurements made in CT scanners are
discrete to begin with, and the signal (the body or object being imaged)
cannot be preltered to prevent aliasing. Undersampling in either axis will
lead to aliasing errors and poor reconstructed images.
Figure 9.9 (a) shows the reconstructed version of the phantom in Fig-
ure 9.3 (a) obtained using only 10 projections spanning the 0o ; 180o range
in sampling steps of 18o and using the FBP algorithm. Although the edges
of the objects in the image are sharper than those in the reconstruction ob-
tained using the BP algorithm with the same parameters see Figure 9.5 (c)],
the image is aected by severe streaking artifacts 753] due to the limited num-
ber of projections used. Figure 9.9 (b) shows the reconstructed image of the
phantom obtained using 10 projections but spanning only the angular range
of 40o ; 130o in steps of 10o . The limited angular coverage provided by the
projections has clearly aected the quality of the image, and has introduced
geometric distortion 753, 746, 748, 744, 747].
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.9
(a) Reconstruction of the phantom in Figure 9.3 (a) obtained using 10 projec-
tions from 18o to 180o in steps of 18o with the FBP algorithm. (b) Reconstruc-
tion of the phantom obtained using 10 projections from 40o to 130o in steps
of 10o with the FBP algorithm. The ramp lter that is implicit in the FBP
process was combined with a Butterworth lowpass lter in both cases. See
also Figure 9.5. Reproduced, with permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A.
Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Elec-
tronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York,
NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material is used by permission of John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 815
Let the image to be reconstructed be divided into N cells, fn denoting the
value in the nth cell. The image density or intensity is assumed to be constant
within each cell. Let M be the number of ray sums available, expressed as
N
X
pm = wmn fn m = 1 2 M (9.33)
n=1
where wmn is the contribution factor of the nth image element to the mth ray
sum, equal to the fractional area of the nth cell crossed by the mth ray path,
as illustrated in Figure 9.10. (Note: An image and its Radon transform are
each represented using only one index in this formulation of ART.) Observe
that for a given ray m, most of wmn will be zero, because only a few elements
of the image contribute to the corresponding ray sum. Equation 9.33 may
also be expressed as
w11 f1 +w12 f2 + +w1N fN = p1
w21 f1 +w22 f2 + +w2N fN = p2
.. (9.34)
.
wM 1 f1 +wM 2 f2 + +wMN fN = pM :
A grid representation with N cells gives the image N degrees of freedom.
Thus, an image represented by f = f1 f2 fN ]T may be considered to
be a single point in an N -dimensional hyperspace. Then, each of the above
ray-sum equations will represent a hyperplane in this hyperspace. If a unique
solution exists, it is given by the intersection of all the hyperplanes at a single
point. To arrive at the solution, the Kaczmarz method takes the approach of
successively and iteratively projecting an initial guess and its successors from
one hyperplane to the next.
Let us, for simplicity, consider a 2D version of the situation (with N = M =
2), as illustrated in Figures 9.11 and 9.12. Let f (0) represent vectorially the
initial guess to the solution, and let w1 = w11 w12 ]T represent vectorially
the series of weights (coecients) in the rst ray equation. The rst ray sum
may then be written as
w1 f = p1 : (9.35)
The hyperplane represented by this equation is orthogonal to w1 . (Consider
two images or points f1 and f2 belonging to the hyperplane. We have w1 f1 =
p1 and w1 f2 = p1 . Hence, w1 f1 ; f2 ] = 0: Therefore, w1 is orthogonal to
the hyperplane.)
With reference to Figure 9.12, Equation 9.35 indicates that, for the vector
OC corresponding to any point C on the hyperplane, its projection on to the
vector w1 is of a constant length. The unit vector OU along w1 is given by
OU = pww1 w : (9.36)
1 1
816 Biomedical Image Analysis
f f
1 2
p
m
ray m of
width τ Β
Α C
∆y fn D f
N
∆x
area of ABCD
weight for cell n and ray m is w =
mn
∆x ∆y
FIGURE 9.10
ART treats the image as a matrix of discrete pixels of nite size (x y).
Each ray has a nite width. The fraction of the area of the nth pixel
crossed by the mth ray is represented by the weighting factor wmn =
area of ABCD=(xy) for the nth pixel fn in the gure. Adapted, with
permission, from A. Rosenfeld and A.C. Kak, Digital Picture Processing, 2nd
ed., New York, NY, 1982. c Academic Press.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 817
The perpendicular distance of the hyperplane from the origin is
Now,
f (1) = f (0) ; GH (9.38)
and
kGHk = kOFk ; kOAk = f (0) OU ; kOAk (9.39)
= pf w ww1 ; pw p1 w = f pw w1 w
; p1 :
(0) (0)
1 1 1 1 1 1
Because the directions of GH and OU are the same, GH = kGHk OU.
Thus,
GH = f
(0)
w ; p1
w 1
(0)
f w
pw1 w1 pw1 w1 = w1 w1 w1:
1 1 ; p1
(9.40)
Therefore,
(0)
f w
; w1 w1 w1:
f (1) = f (0) 1 ; p 1
(9.41)
f
2
6
Ray sum 1:
2f - f = 2
Root: 1 2
5
[3, 4] T
4 After iteration 2:
[3.05, 3.95] T
After iteration 1:
T
f (2) = [3.5, 3.5]
3
Ray sum 2:
f + f = 7
T 1 2
2 f (1) = [2, 2]
Initial
1 estimate
f (0) = [4, 1] T
0 1 2 3 4 5 f
1
FIGURE 9.11
Illustration of the Kaczmarz method of solving a pair of simultaneous equa-
tions in two unknowns. The solution is f = 3 4]T . The weight vectors
for the two ray sums (straight lines) are w1 = 2 ;1]T and w2 = 1 1]T .
The equations of the straight lines are w1 f = 2f1 ; f2 = 2 = p1 and
w2 f = f1 + f2 = 7 = p2 . The initial estimate is f (0) = 4 1]T . The
rst updated estimate is f (1) = 2 2]T the second updated estimate is
f (2) = 3:5 3:5]T . Because two ray sums are given, two corrections constitute
one cycle (or iteration) of ART. The path of the second cycle of ART is also
illustrated in the gure. Reproduced, with permission, from R.M. Rangayyan
and A. Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New
York, NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material is used by permission of John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 819
f
2
Improved
estimate G
(1) (0) H Initial
f f guess
OC C
O
OU OA w1 f
U A 1
F
w .f = p
1 1
FIGURE 9.12
Illustration of the algebraic reconstruction technique. f (1) is an improved
estimate computed by projecting the initial guess f (0) on to the hyperplane
(the straight line AG in the illustration) corresponding to the rst ray sum
given by the equation w1 f = p1 . Adapted, with permission, from A. Rosen-
feld and A.C. Kak, Digital Picture Processing, 2nd ed., New York, NY, 1982.
c Academic Press.
820 Biomedical Image Analysis
If the hyperplanes of all the given ray sums are mutually orthogonal,
we may start with any initial guess and reach the solution in only one
cycle.
On the other hand, if the hyperplanes subtend small angles with one
another, a large number of iterations will be required. The number of
iterations may be reduced by using optimized ray-access schemes 755].
If the number of ray sums is greater than the number of pixels, that is,
M N , but the measurements are noisy, no unique solution exists |
the procedure will oscillate in the neighborhood of the intersections of
the hyperplanes.
If M < N , the system is under-determined and an indenite or innite
number of partial solutions exist. It has been shown that unconstrained
ART converges to the minimum-variance estimate 752].
The major advantage of ART is that any a priori information available
about the image may be introduced easily into the iterative procedure
(for example, upper and/or lower limits on pixel values, and the spatial
boundaries of the image). This may help in obtaining a useful \solution"
even if the system is under-determined.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.13
(a) A synthetic 2D image (phantom) with 101 101 eight-bit pixels, repre-
senting a cross-section of a 3D object the same image as in Figure 9.3 (a)].
(b) Reconstruction of the phantom obtained using 90 projections from 2o to
180o in steps of 2o with three iterations of constrained additive ART. See
also Figure 9.8. Reproduced, with permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A.
Kantzas, \Image reconstruction", Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Elec-
tronics Engineering, Supplement 1, Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York,
NY, pp 249{268, 2000. c This material is used by permission of John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
824 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.14
Reconstruction of the phantom in Figure 9.13 (a) obtained using: (a) 10 pro-
jections from 18o to 180o in steps of 18o with three iterations of constrained
additive ART (b) 10 projections from 40o to 130o in steps of 10o with three
iterations of constrained additive ART. See also Figures 9.5 and 9.9. Re-
produced, with permission, from R.M. Rangayyan and A. Kantzas, \Image
reconstruction", Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineer-
ing, Supplement 1, Editor: J. G. Webster, Wiley, New York, NY, pp 249{268,
2000. c This material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 825
; 1 (9.50)
w
where
is the measured attenuation coecient, and
w is the attenuation
coecient of water. The K parameter used to be set at 500 in early models
of the CT scanner. It is now common to use K = 1 000 to obtain the CT
number in Hounseld units (HU ) 758], named after the inventor of the rst
commercial medical CT scanner 77]. This scale results in values of about
+1 000 for bone, 0 for water, about ;1 000 for air, ;80 to 20 for soft tissue,
and about ;800 for lung tissue 38]. Table 9.1 shows the mean and SD of the
CT values in HU for several types of tissue in the abdomen.
826 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 9.1
Mean and SD of CT Values in
Hounseld Units (HU ) for a Few
Types of Abdominal Tissue.
Tissue Mean HU SD
Air2 -1,006 2
Fat1 -90 18
Bile1 +16 8
Kidney1 +32 10
Pancreas1 +40 14
Blood (aorta)1 +42 18
Muscle1 +44 14
Necrosis2 +45 15
Spleen1 +46 12
Liver1 +60 14
Viable tumor2 +91 25
Marrow1 +142 48
Calcication2 +345 155
Bone2 +1,005 103
1 Based upon Mategrano et al. 759]. 2 Estimated from CT exams with con-
trast (see Section 9.9), based upon 1 000 { 4 000 pixels in each category. The
contrast medium is expected to increase the CT values of vascularized tissues
by 30 ; 40 HU . The CT number for air should be ;1000 the estimated
value is slightly dierent due to noise in the images. Reproduced with per-
mission from F.J. Ayres, M.K. Zuo, R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone
Filho, and M. Valente, \Estimation of the tissue composition of the tumor
mass in neuroblastoma using segmented CT images", Medical and Biological
Engineering and Computing, 42:366 { 377, 2004. c IFMBE.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 827
The dynamic range of CT values is much wider than those of common dis-
play devices and that of the human visual system at a given level of adaptation.
Furthermore, clinical diagnosis requires detailed visualization and analysis of
small density dierences. For these reasons, the presentation of the entire
range of values available in a CT image in a single display is neither practi-
cally feasible nor desirable. In practice, small \windows" of the CT number
scale are selected and linearly expanded to occupy the capacity of the display
device. The window width and level (center) values may be chosen inter-
actively to display dierent density ranges with improved perceptibility of
details within the chosen density window. Values above or below the window
limits are displayed as totally white or black, respectively. This technique,
known as windowing or density slicing, may be expressed as
if f (x y) m
8
>>0
>
>
<
g(x y) = > (MN;m) f (x y) ; m] if m < f (x y) < M (9.51)
>
>
>
:
N if f (x y) M
where f (x y) is the original image in CT numbers, g(x y) is the windowed
image to be displayed, m M ] is the range of CT values in the window to be
displayed, and 0 N ] is the range of the display values. The window width is
M ; m] and the window level (or center) is (M + m)=2 the display range is
typically 0 255] with 8-bit display systems.
Example: Figure 9.15 shows a set of two CT images of a patient with
head injury, with each image displayed using two sets of window level and
width. The eects of the density window chosen on the features of the image
displayed are clearly seen in the gure: either the fractured bone or the brain
matter are seen in detail in the windowed images, but not both in the same
image. See Figures 1.24 and 4.4 for more examples of density windowing
in the display of CT images. See also Figures 1.22, 1.23, and 2.15, as well
as Section 9.9 for more examples of X-ray CT images. Examples of images
reconstructed from projection data from other modalities of medical imaging
such as MRI, SPECT, and PET are provided in Sections 1.7 and 1.9.
A dramatic visualization of details may be achieved with pseudo-color tech-
niques. Arbitrary or structured color scales could be assigned to CT values
by LUTs or gray-scale-to-color transformations. Some of the popular color
transforms are the rainbow (VIBGYOR: violet { indigo { blue { green { yel-
low { orange { red) and the heated metal color (black { red { yellow { white)
sequences. Diculties may arise, however, in associating density values with
dierent colors if the transformation is arbitrary and not monotonic in in-
tensity or total brightness. Furthermore, small changes in CT values could
cause abrupt changes in the corresponding colors displayed, especially with
a mapping such as VIBGYOR. An LUT linking the displayed colors to CT
numbers or other pixel attributes may assist in improved visual analysis of
image features in engineering and scientic applications.
828 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 9.15
Two CT images of a patient with head injury, with each image displayed
with two sets of window level and width. Images (a) and (b) are of the same
section images (c) and (d) are of another section. The window levels used to
obtain images (a) { (d) are 18 138 22 and 138 HU , respectively the window
widths used are 75 400 75 and 400 HU , respectively. The windows in (b)
and (d) display the skull, the fracture, and the bone segments, but the brain
matter is not visible the windows (a) and (c) display the brain matter in
detail, but the fracture area is saturated. Images courtesy of W. Gordon,
Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 829
FIGURE 9.16
A portable CT scanner to image live trees. Reproduced with permission from
A.M. Onoe, J.W. Tsao, H. Yamada, H. Nakamura, J. Kogure, H. Kawamura,
and M. Yoshimatsu, \Computed tomography for measuring annual rings of a
live tree", Proceedings of the IEEE, 71(7):907{908, 1983. c IEEE.
830 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 9.17
CT images of a Douglas r utility pole and photographs of the correspond-
ing physical sections. The sections in (a) demonstrate normal annual growth
rings. The sections in (b) indicate severe decay in the heartwood region.
Reproduced with permission from A.M. Onoe, J.W. Tsao, H. Yamada, H.
Nakamura, J. Kogure, H. Kawamura, and M. Yoshimatsu, \Computed to-
mography for measuring annual rings of a live tree", Proceedings of the IEEE,
71(7):907{908, 1983. c IEEE.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 831
9.8 Microtomography
The resolution of common CT devices used in medical and other applications
varies from the common gure of 1 1 mm to about 200 200
m in cross-
section, and 1;5 mm between slices. Special systems have been built to image
small samples of the order of 1 cm3 in volume with resolution of the order of
5;10
m in cross-section 134, 763, 764, 765, 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772].
(See Section 2.12 for illustrations of the LSF and MTF of a
CT system.) Such
an imaging procedure is called microtomography, microCT, or
CT, being a
hybrid of tomography and microscopy. Most
CT studies are performed with
nely focused and nearly monochromatic X-ray beams produced by a particle
accelerator (such as a synchrotron). Stock 763] provides a review of the basic
principles, techniques, and applications of
CT. Whereas most
CT studies
have been limited to small, excised samples, Sasov 768] discusses the design
of a
CT to image whole, small animals with resolution of the order of 10
m.
Umetani et al. 767] present the application of synchrotron-based
CT in
a microangiography mode to the study of microcirculation within the heart
of small animals. Shimizu et al. 766] studied the eects of alveolar hem-
orrhage and alveolitis (pneumonia) on the microstructure of the lung using
synchrotron-based
CT. Johnson et al. 764] developed a microfocal X-ray
imaging system to image the arterial structure in the rat lung, and studied
the decrease in distensibility due to pulmonary hypertension.
Shaler et al. 769] applied
CT to study the ber orientation and void
structure in wood, paper, and wood composites. Illman and Dowd 765]
studied the xylem tissue structure of wood samples, and analyzed the loss
of structrural integrity due to fungal degradation.
Example of application to the analysis of bone structure: Injury
to the anterior cruciate ligament is expected to lead to a decrease in bone
mineral density. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis is known to cause joint space
narrowing and full-thickness cartilage erosion. It has been established that
the cancellous architecture of bone is related to its mechanical properties and
strength 134, 771, 772].
Conventional studies on bone structure have been performed through histo-
logical analysis of thin slices of bone samples. Spatial resolution of the order
of 0:3
m can be realized with optical microscopy or microradiography. How-
ever, in addition to being destructive, this procedure could cause artifacts due
to the slicing operation. Furthermore, limitations exist in the 3D information
derived from a few slices. Boyd et al. 771] applied
CT techniques to analyze
the morphometric and anisotropic changes in periarticular cancellous bone
due to ligament injury and osteoarthritis.
In the work of Boyd et al., anterior cruciate ligaments of dogs were tran-
sected by arthrotomy. After a specic recovery period, at euthanasia, the
femora and tibia were extracted. Cylindrical bone cores of diameter 6 mm
832 Biomedical Image Analysis
and length 12 ; 14 mm were obtained from the weight-bearing regions of
the medial femoral condyles and the medial tibial plateaus. Contralateral
bone core samples were also extracted and processed to serve as internal con-
trols. The cores were scanned at a resolution of 34
m, and 3D images with
diameter of 165 voxels and length of up to 353 voxels were reconstructed.
Morphometric parameters such as bone volume ratio, relative surface density,
and trabecular thickness were estimated from the images. It was postulated
that the anisotropy of the bone fabric or trabecular orientation is related to
mechanical anisotropy and loading conditions.
Figure 9.18 shows two sample bone-core sectional images each of a case
of transected anterior cruciate ligament of a dog after 12 weeks of recovery,
and the corresponding contralateral control sample Figure 9.19 shows 3D
renditions of the same samples. The bone core related to ligament transection
demonstrates increased trabecular spacing, and hence lower bone density, than
the contralateral sample. Boyd et al. observed that signicant periarticular
bone changes occur as early as three weeks after ligament transection the
changes were more pronounced 12 weeks after transection.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.18
(a) Two sample sectional images of a bone core sample in a case of anterior
cruciate ligament transection after 12 weeks of recovery. (b) Two sample
sectional images of the corresponding contralateral bone core sample. The
diameter of each sample is 6 mm. See also Figure 9.19. Images courtesy of
S.K. Boyd, University of Calgary 772].
FIGURE 9.19
3D renditions of
CT reconstructions of a bone core sample in a case of
anterior cruciate ligament transection after 12 weeks of recovery (left), and
the corresponding contralateral bone core sample (right). The diameter of
each sample is 6 mm. See also Figure 9.18. Images courtesy of S.K. Boyd,
University of Calgary 772].
834 Biomedical Image Analysis
In one of the experiments of Umetani et al., the left side of the heart of a
rat was xed in formalin after barium sulphate was injected into the coronary
artery. Figure 9.20 (a) shows a projection image (a microradiograph) of the
specimen obtained at a resolution of 24
m. The image clearly shows the left-
anterior-descending coronary artery. Figure 9.20 (b) shows a 3D visualization
of a part of the specimen (of diameter 3:5 mm and height 5 mm) reconstructed
at a resolution of 6
m. The 3D structure of small blood vessels with diameter
of the order of 30 ; 40
m was visualized by this method. Visualization of
tumor-induced small vessels that feed lesions was found to be useful in the
diagnosis of malignant tumors.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 9.20
(a) Projection image of a rat heart specimen obtained using synchrotron ra-
diation. (b) 3D
CT image of the rat heart specimen. Reproduced with per-
mission from K. Umetani, N. Yagi, Y. Suzuki, Y. Ogasawara, F. Kajiya, T.
Matsumoto, H. Tachibana, M. Goto, T. Yamashita, S. Imai, and Y. Kajihara,
\Observation and analysis of microcirculation using high-spatial-resolution
image detectors and synchrotron radiation", Proceedings SPIE 3977: Medical
Imaging 2000 { Physics of Medical Imaging, pp 522{533, 2000, c SPIE.
836 Biomedical Image Analysis
Sixty-ve percent of the tumors related to neuroblastoma are located in the
abdomen approximately two-thirds of these arise in the adrenal gland. Fif-
teen percent of neuroblastoma are thoracic, usually located in the sympathetic
ganglia of the posterior mediastinum. Ten to twelve percent of neuroblastoma
are disseminated without a known site of origin 782].
Staging and prognosis: The most recent staging system for neuroblas-
toma is the International Neuroblastoma Staging System, which takes into
account radiologic ndings, surgical resectability, lymph-node involvement,
and bone-marrow involvement 783]. The staging ranges from Stage 1 for a
localized tumor with no lymph-node involvement, to Stage 4 with the disease
spread to distant lymph nodes, bone, liver, and other organs 783].
The main determinant factors for prognosis are the patient's age and the
stage of the disease 776, 782]. The survival rate of patients diagnosed with
neuroblastoma under the age of one year is 74%, whereas it is only 14% for
patients over the age of three years 776]. Whereas the survival rate of patients
diagnosed with Stage 1 neuroblastoma is in the range 95 ; 100%, it is only
10 ; 30% for patients diagnosed with Stage 4 of the disease 776].
The site of the primary tumor is also said to be of relevance in the overall
prognosis. Tumors arising in the abdomen and pelvis have the worst prognosis,
with adrenal tumors having the highest mortality. Thoracic neuroblastoma
has a better overall survival rate (61%) than abdominal tumors (20%) 782].
Surgical resection of the primary tumor is recommended whenever possi-
ble. However, the primary tumor of a patient with advanced neuroblastoma
(Stages 3 and 4) can be unresectable, if there is risk of damaging vital struc-
tures in the procedure, notably when the mass encases the aorta see Fig-
ure 9.21. Treatment in these cases requires chemotherapy or radiotherapy for
initial shrinkage of the mass, after which (delayed) surgical resection may be
performed 773].
Radiological analysis: The radiology of neuroblastoma has been studied
extensively over the past three decades, and several review articles concerning
the radiological aspects of the disease have been published 776, 782, 784, 785,
786]. Radiological exams can be useful in the initial diagnosis, assessment of
extension, staging, presurgical evaluation, treatment, and follow-up.
Several imaging modalities have been investigated in the context of neu-
roblastoma, including ultrasound, CT, MRI, bone and marrow scintigraphy,
excretory urography, and chest radiography. CT and MRI are regarded to be
the best modalities for the evaluation of tumor stage 776], resectability 787],
and prognosis and follow-up 776]. CT and MRI exams are mandatory for the
analysis of the primary tumor, and some investigators have reported that MRI
could be more useful than CT in evaluating metastatic disease 788, 789, 790].
Comparing CT and MRI, the latter has a higher diagnostic accuracy (the
highest among all imaging modalities) and is said to be more suitable for the
demonstration of tumor spread and visualization of the tumor in relationship
to neighboring blood vessels and vessels within the tumor 776], which are im-
portant factors in therapy and assessment of resectability. MRI also provides
Image Reconstruction from Projections 837
FIGURE 9.21
CT image of a patient with Stage 3 neuroblastoma, with the mass outline
drawn by a radiologist. The mass encases the aorta, which is the small, circu-
lar object just above the spine. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres,
M.K. Zuo, R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente,
\Estimation of the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma
using segmented CT images", Medical and Biological Engineering and Com-
puting, 42:366 { 377, 2004. c IFMBE.
better soft-tissue contrast than CT, and is more promising for the estimation
of tissue composition 791, 792]. Another advantageous feature is that MRI
uses nonionizing radiation. Nevertheless, CT is considered to be the modal-
ity of choice in several investigations, because it is comparable in usefulness
to MRI in evaluating local disease 776], and is more cost-eective. CT is
known to be eective in detecting calcications (a nding in favor of neu-
roblastoma 784] and against Wilms tumor), detection and assessment of the
extension of local disease, evaluation of lymph-node involvement, recurrent
disease, and nonskeletal metastasis 782].
On CT exams, abdominal neuroblastoma is seen as a mass of soft tissue,
commonly suprarenal or paravertebral, irregularly shaped, lobulated, extend-
ing from the ank toward the midline, and lacking a capsule. The mass tends
to be inhomogeneous due to tumor necrosis intermixed with viable tumor, and
contains calcications in 85% of patients. Calcications are usually dense,
amorphous, and mottled in appearance. Sometimes, neuroblastoma presents
areas of central necrosis, shown as low-attenuation areas, that are more ap-
parent after contrast enhancement 773, 776, 782]. Figure 9.21 shows a CT
image of a patient with Stage 3 neuroblastoma, with the mass outline drawn
by a radiologist. The mass encases the aorta, which makes it unresectable.
Despite the proven usefulness of imaging techniques in the detection, de-
lineation, and staging of the primary tumor, there is a need for improvement
in the usage of these techniques for more accurate assessment of the local
838 Biomedical Image Analysis
disease that could lead to better treatment planning and follow-up. Foglia
et al. 793] argued that the primary tumor status in advanced neuroblastoma
cannot be assessed denitively by diagnostic imaging, due to errors in sensitiv-
ity and specicity as high as 38%, when assessing tumor viability by imaging
methods and comparing it to ndings in delayed surgery. They also reported
that CT exams could not dierentiate viable tumor from brotic tissue or
nonviable tumor destroyed by previous chemotherapy.
Computer-aided image analysis could improve radiological analysis of neu-
roblastoma by oering more sophisticated, quantitative, accurate, and repro-
ducible measures of information in the image data 251, 794, 795]. Neverthe-
less, few researchers have investigated the potential of CAD of neuroblastoma
using diagnostic imaging related published works are limited to tumor volume
measurement using manually segmented CT slices (planimetry) 796, 797].
Ayres et al. 798, 799, 800] proposed methods for computer-aided quantita-
tive analysis of the primary tumor mass, in patients with advanced neurob-
lastoma, using X-ray CT exams. Specically, they proposed a methodology
for the estimation of the tissue content of the mass via statistical modeling
and analysis of manually segmented CT images. The results of the method
were compared with the results of histological analysis of surgically resected
masses.
; (x ;2
i2 i)
2
pi (xji ) = p 1 exp . (9.52)
2 i
Let M be the true number of the dierent types of tissue in the given tumor
mass (assumed to be known for the moment estimation of the value of M will
be described later.) Let i be the probability that a givenPvoxel came from
the ith type of tissue in the tumor mass. By denition, M i=1 i = 1. The
value of i can be seen as the fraction of the tumor volume that is composed
of the ith type of tissue. Then, the PDF for the entire mass is a mixture of
Gaussians, specied by the P parameter vector # = (1 : : : M 1 : : : M )T ,
and described by p(xj#) = M i=1 i pi (xji ).
Let N be the number of voxels in the tumor mass, and let x = (x1 x2 : : :
xN )T be a vector composed of the values of the voxels (the observed data).
Under the condition of the observed data, the posterior probability of the
parameters is obtained by Bayes rule 700] (see Section 12.4.1) as
p(#jx) = p(#)p(px()xj#) : (9.53)
Here, p(x) is the probability of the data, regardless of the parameters be-
cause the estimation problem is conditional upon the observed data, p(x) is a
constant term. The term p(#) is the prior probability of the vector of param-
eters #. The term p(xj#) is called the likelihood of #, denoted by L(#jx),
and given by
Image Reconstruction from Projections
histogram of Gaussian mixture model
CT exam segmentation the primary model fitting parameters
tumour via EM
delayed
surgery
validation
of the method
FIGURE 9.22
Schematic representation of the proposed method for the analysis of neuroblastoma. EM: Expectation-maximization. Re-
produced with permission from F.J. Ayres, M.K. Zuo, R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente,
\Estimation of the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma using segmented CT images", Medical and
Biological Engineering and Computing, 42:366 { 377, 2004. c IFMBE.
841
842 Biomedical Image Analysis
N
4 p(xj#) =
L(#jx) =
Y
p(xj j#) : (9.54)
j =1
In the case that there is no prior belief about #, that is, nothing is known
about its prior probability, the situation is known as a
at prior 812]. In
this case, Equation 9.53 becomes p(#jx) = c p(xj#), where c is a normalizing
constant. Thus, nding the most probable value of # given the data, without
any prior knowledge about the PDF of the parameters, is the same as nding
the value of # that maximizes the likelihood, or the log-likelihood dened as
logL(#jx)]: this is the maximum likelihood (ML) principle 700, 812]. The
adoption of this principle leads to simplied calculations with reasonable re-
sults 813]. Fully Bayesian approaches for classication and parameter estima-
tion can provide better performance, at the expense of greater computational
requirements and increased complexity of implementation 814, 815].
In order to maximize the likelihood, Ayres et al. used the EM algo-
rithm 700, 811, 812, 813, 816]. The EM algorithm is an iterative procedure
that starts with an initial guess #g of the parameters, and iteratively improves
the estimate toward the local maximum of the likelihood. The generic EM
algorithm is comprised of two steps: the expectation step (or E-step) and the
maximization step (or M-step). In the E-step, one computes the parametric
probability model given the current estimate of the parameter vector. In the
M-step, one nds the parameter vector that maximizes the newly calculated
model, which is then treated as the new best estimate of the parameters. The
iterative procedure continues until some stopping condition is met, for exam-
ple, the dierence logL(#n+1 jx)] ; logL(#n jx)] or the modulus j#n+1 ; #n j
of the dierence vector between successive iterations n and n + 1 is smaller
than a predened value.
For each tissue type i, let p(ijxj #) represent the probability that the j th
voxel, with the value xj , belongs to the ith tissue type. This can be calculated
using Bayes rule as
9.9.5 Discussion
With treatment, all of the four cases in the study of Ayres et al. demon-
strated a signicant response with an overall reduction in tumor bulk. Fre-
quently, the tumor undergoes necrosis, seen as an increase in the relative
846 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c)
FIGURE 9.23
(a) Initial diagnostic CT image of Case 1, Exam 1a (April 2001). (b) Interme-
diate follow-up CT image, Exam 1b (June 2001). (c) Presurgical CT image,
Exam 1c (September 2001). The contours of the tumor mass drawn by a ra-
diologist are also shown. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres, M.K.
Zuo, R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente, \Esti-
mation of the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma using
segmented CT images", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing,
42:366 { 377, 2004. c IFMBE.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 847
12000 12000
10000 10000
8000 8000
Voxel count
4000 4000
2000 2000
0 0
-50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Voxel Value (HU) Voxel Value (HU)
(a) (b)
12000
10000
8000
Voxel count
6000
4000
2000
0
-50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Voxel Value (HU)
(c)
FIGURE 9.24
Results of decomposition of the histogram of Exam 1a. Plots (a), (b), and
(c) show two, three, and four estimated Gaussian kernels (thin lines), respec-
tively, and the original histogram (thick line) for comparison. The sum of
the Gaussian components is indicated in each case by the dotted curve how-
ever, this curve is not clearly visible in (c) because it overlaps the original
histogram. Figure courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
848 Biomedical Image Analysis
12000
10000
8000
Voxel count
6000
4000
2000
0
-100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Voxel value (HU)
(a)
1600
1400
1200
1000
Voxel count
800
600
400
200
0
-100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Voxel value (HU)
Figure 9.25 (b)
Image Reconstruction from Projections 849
400
350
300
250
Voxel count
200
150
100
50
0
-100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Voxel Value (HU)
(c)
FIGURE 9.25
Results of decomposition of the histograms of the three CT exams of Case 1
(Figure 9.23) with three estimated Gaussian kernels (thin lines) for each his-
togram. The original histograms (thick line) are also shown for comparison.
In each case, the sum of the Gaussian components is indicated by the dotted
curve however, this curve may not be clearly visible due to close matching
with the original histogram. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres,
M.K. Zuo, R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente,
\Estimation of the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma
using segmented CT images", Medical and Biological Engineering and Com-
puting, 42:366 { 377, 2004. c IFMBE.
850 Biomedical Image Analysis
1 600
0.9
500
0.8
0.7
400
0.6
0.5 300
0.4
200
0.3
0.2
100
0.1
0 0
m 64 94 134 94 175 323 114 215 398
s 12 24 57 25 60 146 35 71 139
Apr 2001 Jun 2001 Sep 2001
1a 1b 1c
FIGURE 9.26
Results of estimation of the tumor volume and tissue composition of each CT
Exam of Case 1. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres, M.K. Zuo,
R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente, \Estimation of
the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma using segmented
CT images", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 42:366 {
377, 2004. c IFMBE.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 851
(a) (b)
FIGURE 9.27
(a) Initial diagnostic CT image of Case 2, Exam 2a (March 2000). (b) Presur-
gical CT image, Exam 2b (July 2000). The contours of the tumor mass drawn
by a radiologist are also shown. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres,
M.K. Zuo, R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente,
\Estimation of the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma
using segmented CT images", Medical and Biological Engineering and Com-
puting, 42:366 { 377, 2004. c IFMBE.
852 Biomedical Image Analysis
1 1000
0.9 900
0.8 800
Weight of Gaussians
FIGURE 9.28
Results of estimation of the tumor volume and tissue composition of each CT
exam of Case 2. Reproduced with permission from F.J. Ayres, M.K. Zuo,
R.M. Rangayyan, G.S. Boag, V. Odone Filho, and M. Valente, \Estimation of
the tissue composition of the tumor mass in neuroblastoma using segmented
CT images", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 42:366 {
377, 2004. c IFMBE.
Image Reconstruction from Projections 853
volume of tissue with lower attenuation values. The necrotic tissue may sub-
sequently undergo calcication, and therefore, ultimately result in an increase
in the high-attenuation calcied component. One may hypothesize, there-
fore, that a progression in the pattern of the histograms from predominantly
intermediate-density tissues to predominantly low-attenuation necrotic tissue
and ultimately to predominantly high-attenuation calcied tissue represents a
good response to therapy, with the tumor progressing through necrosis to ulti-
mate dystrophic calcication. On the contrary, the absence of this progression
from necrosis to calcication, and the persistence of signicant proportions of
intermediate-attenuation soft tissue may be a predictor of residual viable tu-
mor. As such, the technique proposed by Ayres et al. may be of considerable
value in assessing response to therapy in patients with neuroblastoma.
Objective demonstration of the progression of a tumor through various
stages, as described above, requires the use of Gaussians of variable mean
values. In order to allow for the three possible tissue types mentioned above,
it is necessary to allow the use of at least three Gaussians in the mixture
model. However, when a tumor lacks a certain type of tissue, two (or more)
of the Gaussians derived could possibly be associated with the same tissue
type. This is evident, for example, in Exam 1c (Figure 9.26) where the two
Gaussians with mean values of 215 and 398 HU correspond to calcied tis-
sue. (Varying degrees of calcication of tissues and the partial-volume eect
could have contributed to a wide range of HU values for calcied tissue in
Exam 1c.) Furthermore, the results for Exam 1c indicate the clear absence
of viable tumor, and those for Exam 2a the clear absence of calcication. It
may be desirable to apply some heuristics to combine similar Gaussians (of
comparable mean and variance).
Although some initial work in tissue characterization of this type was per-
formed using CT, many investigators have shifted their interest away from CT
toward MRI for the purpose of tissue characterization. Although MRI shows
more long-term promise in this eld due to its inherently superior denition
of soft tissues, the CT technique may still be of considerable value. Specif-
ically, MRI scanners remain an expensive and dicult-to-access specialty in
many areas, whereas CT scanners have become much more economical and
widespread. With regard to the clinical problem of neuroblastoma presenting
in young children, the current standards of medical care for such patients in-
clude assessment by CT in almost all cases. On the other hand, MRI is used
only in a minority of cases, due to the lower level of accessibility, the need for
anesthesia or sedation in young children, expense, and diculties with artifact
due to bowel peristalsis. As such, CT methods for tissue characterization and
assessment of tumor bulk, tissue composition, and response to therapy may
be of considerable value in neuroblastoma.
It is clear from the study of Ayres et al., as well as past clinical experi-
ence, that the CT number by itself is not sucient to dene tumor versus
normal tissues. Tumor denition and diagnosis require an analysis of the
spatial distribution of the various CT densities coupled with a knowledge of
854 Biomedical Image Analysis
normal anatomy. Some work has been conducted in attempts to dene auto-
matically the boundaries of normal anatomical structures, and subsequently
identify focal or diuse abnormalities within those organs 820]. Ayres et
al. made no attempt to automatically dene normal versus abnormal struc-
tures, but rather attempted an analysis of the tissues in a manually identied
abnormality. However, this process may ultimately prove of value for the
analysis of abnormalities identied automatically by future image analysis
techniques 365, 366].
9.10 Remarks
The Radon transform oers a method to convert a 2D image to a series of 1D
functions (projections). This facilitates improved or convenient implementa-
tion of some image processing tasks in the Radon domain in 1D instead of in
the original 2D image plane some examples of this approach include edge de-
tection 821] and the removal of repeated versions of a basic pattern 444, 505]
(see Section 10.3).
The 1980s and 1990s brought out many new developments in CT imaging.
Continuing development of versatile imaging equipment and image processing
algorithms has been opening up newer applications of CT imaging. 3D imag-
ing of moving organs such as the heart is now feasible. 3D display systems
and algorithms have been developed to provide new and intriguing displays
of the interior of the human body. 3D images obtained by CT are being used
in planning surgery and radiation therapy, thereby creating the new elds of
image-guided surgery and treatment. The practical realization of portable
scanners has also made possible eld applications in agricultural sciences and
other biological applications. CT is a truly revolutionary investigative imaging
technique | a remarkable synthesis of many scientic principles.
857
858 Biomedical Image Analysis
where f is the original image, h is the impulse response of the degrading
LSI system, g is the observed (degraded) image, and is additive random
noise that is statistically independent of the image-generating process. The
functions represented by upper-case letters represent the Fourier transforms
of the image-domain functions represented by the corresponding lower-case
letters. A block diagram of the image degradation system as above is given
in Figure 10.1.
linear shift-
invariant system +
f g
h
original degraded
image image
η
noise
FIGURE 10.1
Image degradation model involving an LSI system and additive noise.
It is evident that the inverse lter requires knowledge of the MTF of the
degradation process see Sections 2.9, 2.12, and 10.1.6 for discussions on meth-
ods to derive this information.
The major drawback of the inverse lter is that it fails if H (u v) has zeros,
or if h is singular. Furthermore, if noise is present (as in Equation 10.1), we
get
F~ (u v) = F (u v) + H((uu vv)) : (10.11)
Problems arise because H (u v) is usually a lowpass function, whereas (u v)
is uniformly distributed over the entire spectrum then, the amplied noise at
higher frequencies (the second component in the equation above) overshadows
the restored image.
An approach to address the singularity problem associated with the inverse
lter is the use of the singular value decomposition (SVD) method 825]. A
widely used implementation of this approach is an iterative algorithm based on
Bialy's theorem to solve the normal equation 829] the algorithm is also known
as the Landweber iterative method 830]. McGlamery 831] demonstrated
the application of the inverse lter to restore images blurred by atmospheric
turbulence.
860 Biomedical Image Analysis
In an interesting extension of the inverse lter to compensate for distor-
tions or aberrations caused by abnormalities in the human eye, Alonso and
Barreto 832] applied a predistortion or precompensation inverse lter to test
images prior to being displayed on a computer monitor. The PSF of the af-
fected eye was estimated using the wavefront aberration function measured
using a wavefront analyzer. In order to overcome the limitations of the in-
verse lter, a weighting function similar to the parametric Wiener lter (see
Section 10.1.3) was applied. The subjects participating in the study indicated
improved visual acuity in reading predistorted images of test-chart letters
than in reading directly displayed test images.
Example: The original \Shapes" test image (of size 128 128 pixels) is
shown in Figure 10.2 (a), along with its log-magnitude spectrum in part (b) of
the gure. The image was blurred via convolution with an isotropic Gaussian
PSF having a radial standard deviation of two pixels. The PSF and the
related MTF are shown in parts (c) and (d) of the gure, respectively. The
blurred image is shown in part (e) of the gure. Gaussian-distributed noise of
variance 0:01 was added to the blurred image after normalizing the image to
the range 0 1] the degraded, noisy image is shown in part (f) of the gure.
The results of application of the inverse lter to the noise-free and noisy
blurred versions of the \Shapes" image are shown in Figure 10.3 in both the
space and frequency domains. The result of inverse ltering of the noise-free
blurred image for radial frequencies up to the maximum frequency in (u v),
shown in part (a) of the gure, demonstrates eective deblurring. A small
amount of ringing artifact may be observed upon close inspection, due to the
removal of frequency components beyond a circular region see the spectrum
in part (b) of the gure]. Inverse ltering of the noisy degraded image, even
when limited to radial frequencies less than 0:4 times the maximum frequency
in (u v), resulted in signicant amplication of noise that led to the complete
loss of the restored image information, as shown in part (c) of the gure. Lim-
iting the inverse lter to radial frequencies less than 0:2 times the maximum
frequency in (u v) prevented noise amplication, but also severely curtailed
the restoration process, as shown by the result in part (e) of the gure. The
results illustrate a severe practical limitation of the inverse lter. (See also
Figures 10.5 and 10.6.)
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.2
(a) \Shapes" test image size 128 128 pixels. (b) Log-magnitude spectrum
of the test image. (c) PSF with Gaussian shape radial standard deviation
= 2 pixels. (d) MTF related to the PSF in (c). (e) Test image blurred with
the PSF in (c). (f) Blurred image in (e) after normalization to 0 1] and the
addition of Gaussian noise with variance = 0:01.
862 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.3
(a) Result of inverse ltering the blurred \Shapes" image in Figure 10.2 (e).
Result of inverse ltering the noisy blurred \Shapes" image in Figure 10.2 (f)
using the inverse lter up to the radial frequency equal to (c) 0:4 times and
(e) 0:2 times the maximum frequency in (u v). The log-magnitude spectra of
the images in (a), (c), and (e) are shown in (b), (d), and (f), respectively.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 863
Equation 10.1 as well as the constraint mentioned above to the result, we get
f~(u v) = jL(u v)j2 jH (u v)j2 f (u v) + (u v) (10.12)
= f ( u v )
where L(u v) represents the MTF of the lter L. Rearranging the expression
above, we get
1
LPSE (u v) = jL(u v)j = jH (u v)j2 f((uu vv)) + (u v)
2
(10.13)
f
2 31
2
= 4
1 5 : (10.14)
(uv)
jH (u v )j + f (uv)
2
2 = Tr f ; f hT LT ; L h f + L h f hT LT + L LT
;
(10.29)
= Tr f ; 2 f hT LT + L h f hT LT + L LT :
(Note: Tf = f and T = because the autocorrelation matrices are
symmetric, and the trace of a matrix is equal to the trace of its transpose.)
At this point, the MSE is no longer a function of f, g, or , but depends
only on the statistical characteristics of f and , as well as on h and L.
In order to derive the optimal lter L, we could set the derivative of 2 with
respect to L to zero:
@2 = ;2 hT + 2 L h hT + 2 L = 0 (10.30)
@L f f
which leads to the optimal Wiener lter function
;
; 1
LW = f hT h f hT + : (10.31)
Note that this solution does not depend upon the inverses of the individual
ACF matrices or h, but upon the inverse of their combination. The combined
matrix could be expected to be invertible even if the individual matrices are
singular.
Considerations in implementation of the Wiener lter: Consider
the matrix to be inverted in Equation 10.31:
Z = h f hT + : (10.32)
This matrix would be of size N 2 N 2 for N N images, making inversion
practically impossible. Inversion becomes easier if the matrix can be written
as a product of diagonal and unitary matrices. A condition that reduces the
complexity of the problem is that h, f , and each be circulant or block-
circulant. We can now make the following observations:
We know, from Section 3.5, that h is block-circulant for 2D LSI opera-
tions expressed using circular convolution.
is a diagonal matrix if is white (uncorrelated) noise.
In most real images, the correlation between pixels reduces as the dis-
tance (spatial separation) increases: f is then banded and may be
approximated by a block-circulant matrix.
866 Biomedical Image Analysis
Based upon the observations listed above, we can write (see Section 3.5)
h = W Dh W;1 (10.33)
f = W Df W ; 1 (10.34)
and
= W D W ;1 (10.35)
where the matrices D are diagonal matrices resulting from the application of
the DFT to the corresponding block-circulant matrices, with the subscripts
indicating the related entity (f : original image, h : degrading system, or :
noise). Then, we have
Z = W Dh Df Dh W;1 + W D W;1
(10.36)
= W (Dh Df Dh + D ) W;1 :
The Wiener lter is then given by
LW = W Df Dh (Dh Df Dh + D );1 W;1 : (10.37)
The optimal MMSE estimate is given by
~f = LW g
= W Df Dh (Dh Df Dh + D );1 W;1 g: (10.38)
Interpretation of the Wiener lter: With reference to Equation 10.38,
we can make the following observations that help in interpreting the nature
of the Wiener lter.
W;1 g is related to G(u v ) the Fourier transform of the given degraded
image g(x y).
Df is related to the PSD f (u v ) of the original image f (x y ).
D is related to the PSD (u v ) of the noise process.
Dh is related to the transfer function H (u v ) of the degrading system.
Then, the output of the Wiener lter before the nal inverse Fourier trans-
form is given by
F~ (u v) = H (u v)f(u(uv) vH) H(u (uv) vG)(+u v) (u v)
2
f 3
H (u v )
=4 (uv) G(u v )
5
jH (u v )j2 + f (uv)
2 3
jH (u v)j2 G(u v)
=4 H (u v) : (10.39)
5
j H (u v)j2 + f ((uv
uv)
)
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 867
The Wiener lter itself is given by the expression
2 3
LW ( u v ) = 4 H (u v )
2 (uv) : (10.40)
5
jH (u v )j + f (uv)
We can now note the following characteristics of the Wiener lter 9, 589]:
In the absence of noise, we have (u v ) = 0, and the Wiener lter
reduces to the inverse lter. This is also applicable at any frequency
(u v) where (u v) = 0.
The gain of the Wiener lter is modulated by the noise-to-signal (spec-
tral) ratio f ((uv )
uv) . If the SNR is high, the Wiener lter is close to the
inverse lter.
If the SNR is poor and both the signal and noise PSDs are \white",
the ratio f is large and could be assumed to be a constant. Then, the
Wiener lter is close to the matched lter H (u v).
If the noise-to-signal PSD ratio is not available as a function of (u v ),
it may be set equal to a constant K = SNR 1 . The lter is then known
as the parametric Wiener lter.
The Wiener lter is not often singular or ill-conditioned. Wherever
H (u v) = 0, the output F~ (u v) = 0.
If h(x y ) = (x y ), then H (u v ) = 1 that is, there is no blurring and
the degradation is due to additive noise only. Then
F~ (u v) = (u vf) (+u v) (u v) G(u v) (10.41)
f
which is the original Wiener lter for the degradation model g = f +
(see Section 3.6.1 and Rangayyan 31]). The Wiener lter as in Equa-
tion 10.38 was proposed by Helstrom 197].
Comparative analysis of the inverse, PSE, and Wiener lters:
When the noise PSD is zero, or, at all frequencies where the noise PSD
is equal to zero, the PSE lter is equivalent to the inverse lter in mag-
nitude.
When the noise PSD is zero, or, at all frequencies where the noise PSD
is equal to zero, the Wiener lter is equivalent to the inverse lter.
The gains of the inverse, PSE, and Wiener lter are related as
jLI (u v)j > jLPSE (u v)j > jLW (u v)j: (10.42)
868 Biomedical Image Analysis
The PSE lter is the geometric mean of the inverse and Wiener lters,
that is,
LPSE (u v) = LI (u v) LW (u v)] 21 : (10.43)
Because jLPSE (u v)j > jLW (u v)j, the PSE lter admits more high-
frequency components with larger gain than the Wiener lter. There-
fore, the result will be a sharper, but more noisy, image.
The PSE lter does not have a phase component. Phase correction, if
required, may be applied in a separate step.
Examples: The original \Shapes" test image and a degraded version of the
image, with blurring via convolution using an isotropic Gaussian PSF having
a radial standard deviation of two pixels as well as the addition of Gaussian-
distributed noise of variance 0:01 to the blurred image after normalizing the
image to the range 0 1], are shown in Figure 10.4 (a) and (b), respectively.
(See also Figures 10.2 and 10.3.) In order to design the appropriate Wiener
and PSE lters, a model PSD of the image was prepared by computing the
PSD of an image of a square object of size 11 11 pixels values of the PSD less
than a limit equal to 10% of its maximum were replaced by the limit. The
noise PSD was prepared as an array of constant value equal to the known
variance of the noise times N 2 , where N N is the size the PSD array. The
results of the Wiener and PSE lters are shown in Figure 10.4 (c) and (d),
respectively. It is evident that both lters have removed the blur to some
extent however, as expected, the result of the PSE lter is noisier than that
of the Wiener lter.
Figures 10.5 and 10.6 illustrate the application of the inverse, Wiener, and
PSE lters to degraded versions of the Lenna and Cameraman images, re-
spectively. The Lenna image was blurred using a Gaussian-shaped blur func-
tion with a radial standard deviation of three pixels and additive noise to
SNR = 35 dB . The Cameraman image was blurred with a straight line of
length nine pixels, simulating blurring due to motion in the horizontal direc-
tion, and then degraded further with additive noise to SNR = 35 dB . Inverse
ltering even to limited ranges of frequency has resulted in distorted images
due to the amplication of noise as well as ringing artifacts. The Wiener and
PSE lters have removed the blur to a good extent, with control over the
noise. Further examples of application of the Wiener lter are provided in
Section 10.4.2.
Aghdasi et al. 202] applied the parametric Wiener lter to deblur mammo-
grams after removing noise using the local LMMSE lter (see Section 3.7.1) or
a Bayesian lter. King et al. 834] and Honda et al. 835] applied the Wiener
lter to the restoration of nuclear medicine images. A comparative analysis
of the performance of the PSE, Wiener, and Metz lters, in the restoration of
nuclear medicine images, is provided in Section 10.5.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 869
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 10.4
(a) \Shapes" test image size 128 128 pixels. (b) Test image blurred with
a Gaussian PSF of radial standard deviation = 2 pixels and degraded with
additive Gaussian noise with variance = 0:01 after normalization to 0 1].
(c) Result of Wiener restoration. (d) Result of restoration using the PSE
lter.
870 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.5
(a) Lenna test image of size 128 128 pixels. (b) Blurred image with a
Gaussian-shaped blur function and noise to SNR = 35 dB . Deblurred im-
ages: (c) Inverse ltering up to the radial frequency 0:3 times the maximum
frequency in (u v) (d) Inverse ltering up to the radial frequency 0:2 times
the maximum frequency in (u v) (e) Wiener ltering (f) Power spectrum
equalization. Reproduced with permission from T.F. Rabie, R.M. Rangayyan,
and R.B. Paranjape, \Adaptive-neighborhood image deblurring", Journal of
Electronic Imaging, 3(4): 368 { 378, 1994. c SPIE.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 871
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.6
(a) Cameraman test image of size 128 128 pixels and gray-level range 0 ; 255.
(b) Image blurred by 9-pixel horizontal motion and degraded by additive
Gaussian noise to SNR = 35 dB . Deblurred images: (c) Inverse ltering up
to the radial frequency 0:8 times the maximum frequency in (u v) (d) Inverse
ltering up to the radial frequency 0:4 times the maximum frequency in (u v)
(e) Wiener ltering (f) Power spectrum equalization. Reproduced with per-
mission from T.F. Rabie, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.B. Paranjape, \Adaptive-
neighborhood image deblurring", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(4): 368 {
378, 1994. c SPIE.
872 Biomedical Image Analysis
10.1.4 Constrained least-squares restoration
The Wiener lter is derived using a statistical procedure based on the cor-
relation matrices of the image and noise processes. The lter is optimal, in
an average sense, for the class of images represented by the statistical entities
used. It is possible that the result provided by the Wiener lter for a specic
image on hand is less than satisfactory. Gonzalez and Wintz 589] describe
a restoration procedure that is optimal for the specic image given, under
particular constraints that are imposed, as follows.
Let L be a linear lter operator. Using the degradation model as in Equa-
tion 10.15, the restoration problem may be posed as the following constrained
optimization problem: Minimize kL ~f k2 subject to kg ; h ~f k2 = kk2 , where ~f
is the estimate of f being derived. Using the method of Lagrange multipliers,
we now seek ~f that minimizes the function
h i
J (~f ) = kL ~f k2 + kg ; h ~f k2 ; kk2 (10.44)
where is the Lagrange multiplier. Taking the derivative of J (~f ) with respect
to ~f and setting it equal to zero, we get
@J (~f ) = 0 = 2 LT L ~f ; 2 hT (g ; h ~f ) (10.45)
@~f
which leads to
~f = (hT h +
LT L);1 hT g (10.46)
where
= .1
Due to the ill-conditioned nature of restoration procedures, the results are
often obscured by noise and high-frequency artifacts. Artifacts and noise may
be minimized by formulating a criterion of optimality based on smoothness,
such as minimizing the Laplacian of the output. In order to agree with the
matrix-vector formulation as above, let us construct a block-circulant matrix
L using the Laplacian operator in Equation 2.83. Now, L is diagonalized by
the 2D DFT as DL = W;1 L W, where DL is a diagonal matrix. Then, we
have
~f = ;hT h +
LT L
;1 hT g
;
;1
(10.47)
;
= W Dh Dh W +
W DL DL W
1 ; 1 ;
W Dh W g: 1
(10.50)
We wish to adjust
such that
krk2 = k k2 (10.51)
where is a factor of accuracy. Iterative trial-and-error methods or the
Newton-Raphson procedure may be used to determine the optimal value for
.
A simple iterative procedure to nd the optimal value for
is as follows 589]:
1. Choose an initial value for
.
2. Compute F~ (u v) and ~f .
3. Form the residual vector r and compute krk2 .
4. Increment
if krk2 < kk2 ; ,
or decrement
if krk2 > kk2 + , and return to Step 2.
Stop if krk2 = kk2 .
Note: kk2 is the total squared value or total energy of the noise process, and
is given by (2 + 2 ) multiplied with the image area.
Other approaches to constrained restoration: Several constrained op-
timization methods have been developed, such as the constrained least squares
method, the maximum-entropy method, and the Leahy-Goutis method 829].
The constrained least squares method requires only information about the
mean and variance of the noise function, and the estimate of the image is
dened as that which minimizes the output of a linear operator applied to the
image the result may be further subjected to an a priori constraint or an a
posteriori measurable feature, such as the smoothness of the image 196, 836].
The maximum-entropy approach maximizes the entropy of the image data
subject to the constraint that the solution should reproduce the ideal im-
age exactly or within a tolerable uncertainty dened by the observation noise
statistics 11, 837, 838]. The Leahy-Goutis method optimizes a convex crite-
rion function, such as minimum energy or cross entropy, over the intersection
of two convex constraint sets 839].
874 Biomedical Image Analysis
In constrained approaches, the estimate needs to satisfy a priori constraints
on the ideal image. The a priori constraints may be obtained from informa-
tion about the blur, noise, or the image 829]. An example of constrained
approaches is the PSE lter, which estimates the image using a linear trans-
form of the image based on the constraint that the PSD of the ltered image
be equal to that of the ideal image: see Section 10.1.2.
The maximum-a-posteriori probability (MAP) technique is designed to nd
the estimate that maximizes the probability of the actual image conditioned
on the observation (posterior probability). In the case of linear systems and
under Gaussian assumptions, the MAP estimate reduces to the LMMSE es-
timate 11].
Several other constraints may be imposed upon restoration lters and their
results. A simple yet eective constraint is that of nonnegativity of the im-
age values, which is relevant in several practical applications where the pixels
represent physical parameters that cannot take negative values. Biraud 840]
described techniques to increase the resolving power of signals by imposing
nonnegativity. Boas and Kac 841] derived inequalities for the Fourier trans-
forms of positive functions that may be used as limits on spectral components
of restored signals or images. Webb et al. 842] developed a constrained decon-
volution lter for application to liver SPECT images several parameters of
the lter could be varied to render the lter equivalent to the inverse, Wiener,
PSE, and other well-known lters.
where is a factor that controls the extent in frequency up to which the in-
verse lter is predominant, after which the noise-suppression feature becomes
stronger. It is apparent that, if = 0, the gain of the Metz lter reduces to
zero. Given that most degradation phenomena have a blurring or smoothing
eect, H (u v) is a lowpass lter. As a consequence, 1 ; H 2 (u v)] is a highpass
lter, and the numerator in Equation 10.52 is a lowpass lter, whose response
is controlled by the factor . The factor may be selected so as to minimize
the MSE between the ltered and the ideal images.
King et al. 834, 844, 845, 846, 847, 848, 849], Gilland et al. 850], Honda
et al. 835], Hon et al. 132], and Boulfelfel et al. 86, 749, 751, 851] applied
the Wiener and Metz lters for the restoration of nuclear medicine images. A
comparative analysis of the performance of the Metz lter with other lters,
in the restoration of nuclear medicine images, is provided in Section 10.5.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 875
10.1.6 Information required for image restoration
It is evident from Equations 10.10, 10.14, and 10.40 that image restoration,
using techniques such as the inverse, PSE, and Wiener lters, requires spe-
cic items of information, including the MTF of the degradation phenomenon
H (u v), the PSD of the noise process (u v), and the PSD of the original
image process f (u v). Although this requirement may appear to be onerous,
methods and approaches may be devised to obtain each item based upon prior
or additional knowledge, measurements, and derivations.
Several methods to obtain the PSF and MTF are described in Sections 2.9
and 2.12. The PSF or related functions may be measured if the imaging sys-
tem is accessible and phantoms may be constructed for imaging as described
in Sections 2.9 and 2.12. The PSF may also be modeled mathematically if the
blurring phenomenon is known precisely, and can be represented as a mathe-
matical process an example of this possibility is described in Section 10.1.7.
The PSD of an image-generating stochastic process may be estimated as
the average of the PSDs of several observations or realizations of the process
of interest. However, care needs to be exercised in selecting the samples such
that they characterize the same process or type of images. For example, the
PSDs of a large collection of high-quality CT images of the brain of similar
characteristics may be averaged to derive a PSD model to represent such a
population of images. It would be inappropriate to combine CT images of the
brain with CT images of the chest or the abdomen, or to combine CT images
with MR images. In order to overcome the limitations imposed by noise as
well as a specic and small collection of sample images, a practical approach
would be to estimate the average ACF of the images, t a model such as a
Laplacian, and apply the Fourier transform to obtain the PSD model.
The PSD of noise may be estimated by using a collection of images taken
of phantoms with uniform internal characteristics, or a collection of parts of
images outside the patient or object imaged (representing the background).
When the required functions are unavailable, it will not be possible to apply
the inverse, PSE, or Wiener lters. However, using a few approximations, it
becomes possible to overcome the requirement of explicit and distinct knowl-
edge of some of the functions image restoration may then be performed while
remaining \blind" to these entities. Methods for blind deblurring are de-
scribed in Section 10.2.
= T sin(ua
(ua + vb)] exp;j (ua + vb)]:
+ vb) (10.58)
3. Stop when the MSE between the lth estimate and the (l + 1)th estimate
is less than a certain limit.
5. Take the inverse Fourier transform of Equation 10.73 to obtain the de-
blurred image f~(x y).
Although the method described above neglects noise, it can still be used
for deblurring images corrupted by blur and additive noise after rst reducing
the noise in the blurred image 865, 864].
Examples: Figure 10.7 (a) shows the original test image \Lenna". Part
(b) of the gure shows the test image blurred by a Gaussian-shaped PSF with
the radial standard deviation r = 3 pixels. The magnitude of the inverse
Fourier transform of the enhanced phase function SM Mf ] exp jg ] is shown in
f
part (c) of the gure. It is evident that the enhanced phase image retains
most of the edges in the original image that were made weak or imperceptible
by blurring. Part (d) of the gure shows the initial estimate of f~(x y), formed
by the addition of the image in part (b) of the gure to the image in part
(c), as described in Equation 10.72. The addition has emphasized the edges
of the blurred image, thus giving a sharper image (albeit with a larger MSE
than that of the blurred image, as listed in the caption of Figure 10.7). The
dynamic range of the image in part (d) is dierent from that of the original
image in part (a) of the gure.
The image generated by combining the rst estimate M~ f1 obtained by using
Equation 10.68 with the phase of the blurred image exp jg ] is shown in part
(e) of the gure. Even after only one iteration, the deblurred image closely
resembles the original image. The restored image after four iterations, shown
in part (f) of the gure, demonstrates sharp features with minimal artifacts.
The smoothing operator S was dened as the 5 5 mean lter, applied to the
128 128 Fourier spectrum of the image 852, 854, 864].
Figures 10.8 and 10.9 illustrate the restoration of an image with text,
blurred to two dierent levels. The enhanced phase images clearly depict
the edge information retained in the phase of the blurred image. The restored
images demonstrate signicantly improved quality in terms of sharpened edges
and improved readability of the text, as well as reduced MSE.
882 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.7
Iterative blind deconvolution with the Lenna test image of size 128 128 pixels
and 256 gray levels: (a) original image (b) blurred image with Gaussian-
shaped blur function of radial standard deviation r = 3 pixels, MSE = 606
(c) enhanced phase image, with the range 0 100] mapped to the display range
0 256] (d) initial estimate image, MSE = 877 (e) deblurred image after the
rst iteration, MSE = 128 (f) deblurred image after four iterations, MSE =
110. Reproduced with permission from T.F. Rabie, R.B. Paranjape, and R.M.
Rangayyan, \Iterative method for blind deconvolution", Journal of Electronic
Imaging, 3(3):245{250, 1994. c SPIE.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 883
(a) (b)
(a) (b)
+ Linear
+ Complex cepstrum
filter
+ Fourier
+ Exponential
x Inverse *
transform transform Fourier
transform Filtered
image
FIGURE 10.10
Operations involved in a homomorphic lter for convolved signals. The symbol at the input or output of each block indicates
the operation that combines the signal components at the corresponding step. Reproduced with permission from Reproduced
with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, Biomedical Signal Analysis: A Case-Study Approach, IEEE Press and Wiley, New
York, NY, 2002. c IEEE.
887
888
Phase
Phase unwrapping and
linear component
removal
Inverse
Exponential Fourier
Fourier
window transform
Input signal transform
Magnitude
Log
Phase
Insert linear
phase component
Inverse Inverse
FIGURE 10.11
Detailed block diagram of the steps involved in deconvolution of signals using the complex cepstrum. Reproduced with
permission from A.C.G. Martins and R.M. Rangayyan, \Complex cepstral ltering of images and echo removal in the Radon
c Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
domain", Pattern Recognition, 30(11):1931{1938, 1997.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 889
Radon Cepstral Reconstruction
transform filter from projections
FIGURE 10.12
Homomorphic (complex cepstral) ltering of an image in the Radon domain.
Reproduced with permission from A.C.G. Martins and R.M. Rangayyan,
\Complex cepstral ltering of images and echo removal in the Radon do-
c Pattern Recognition
main", Pattern Recognition, 30(11):1931{1938, 1997.
Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Z +1 Z +1 Z +1 Z +1
+a f (
) (x ; x0 ) ; (y ; y0 ) ;
]
;1 ;1 ;1 ;1
(x cos + y sin ; t) dx dy d d
: (10.82)
Here, t is the displacement between the projection samples (rays) in the Radon
domain. Using the properties of the function (see Section 2.9), we get
Z +1 Z +1
p (t) = f (
) ( cos +
sin ; t) d d
;1 ;1
Z +1 Z +1
+a f (
) (x0 + ) cos + (y0 +
) sin ; t] d d
:
;1 ;1
(10.83)
890 Biomedical Image Analysis
Dening
n = x0 cos + y0 sin (10.84)
and
Z +1 Z +1
f (t) = f (
) ( cos +
sin ; t) d d
(10.85)
;1 ;1
we get
p (t) = f (t) + a f (t ; n ): (10.86)
Here, f (t) represents the projection of the basic element image f (x y) at
angle , and n is a displacement or shift (in the Radon domain) for the given
angle and position (x0 y0 ). Equation 10.86 indicates that the projection of
the composite image at a given angle is the summation of the projections at
the same angle of the basic element image and its replication (or echo) with
an appropriate shift factor n .
In order to demonstrate the eect of an echo in a signal on its complex
cepstrum, we could apply the Fourier transform, the log operation, and then
the inverse Fourier transform, as follows: Applying the Fourier transform to
Equation 10.86, we get
P (w) = F (w) + a exp(;j 2 w n ) F (w) (10.87)
where P (w) and F (w) are the Fourier transforms of p (t) and f (t), re-
spectively, and w is the Fourier-domain variable corresponding to the space-
domain (Radon-domain) variable t. Applying the natural log, we get
P^ (w) = F^ (w) + ln1 + a exp(;j 2 w n )] (10.88)
where the ^ represents the log-transformed version of the variable under the
symbol. If a < 1, the log function may be expanded into a power series as
2
P^ (w) = F^ (w) + a exp(;j 2 w n ) ; a exp(;j22 w n )] + : : : : (10.89)
Applying the inverse Fourier transform, we get the complex cepstrum of p (t)
as 2
p^ (t) = f^ (t) + a (t ; n ) ; a2 (t ; 2n ) + : : : : (10.90)
Thus, the complex cepstrum p^ (t) of the projection p (t) at angle of the
image fe (x y) is composed of the complex cepstrum f^ (t) of the projection at
angle of the basic element image f (x y), and a train of impulses. If f^ (t)
and the impulse train are su ciently separated in the cepstral domain, the
use of a lowpass lter, followed by the inverse cepstrum operation, gives the
ltered projection f (t) of the basic element image. The impulse train may
also be suppressed by using a notch or a comb function. After the ltered
projections are obtained at several angles, it will be possible to reconstruct
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 891
the basic element image f (x y). If the eects of the echoes are considered to
be a type of image distortion, ltering as above may be considered to be an
operation for image restoration.
If a
1, that is, if the echoes are of amplitude equal to or greater than that
of the basic element image, the impulses in the cepstrum will appear with
negative delays, and the ltering operation will lead to the extraction of an
echo image 505]. The situation may be modied easily by applying decaying
exponential weighting factors to the original image and/or the projections,
such that the weighted echoes and/or their projections are attenuated to lower
amplitudes. Then, the eect is equivalent to the situation with a < 1.
Example: A composite image with ve occurrences of a simple circular
object is shown in Figure 10.13 (a). If the object at the lower-right corner of
the image is considered to be the original object, the remaining four objects
could be viewed as echoes of the original object. Although echoes would, in
general, be of lower amplitude (intensity) than the original object, they have
been maintained at the same intensity as the original in this image. The test
image is of size 101 101 pixels the radius of each circle is 10 pixels, and the
intensity of each circle is 100 on an inverted gray scale.
The Radon-domain homomorphic lter was applied to the test image. The
image was multiplied by a weighting function given by y3 , where y is the
vertical axis of the image and the origin is at the top-left corner of the image.
Furthermore, another weighting function, given by t with = 0:985, was
applied to each projection before computing the complex cepstrum. The
weighting functions were used in order to reduce the eect of the echoes and
facilitate ltering of the cepstrum 239, 31]. The cepstrum was lowpass ltered
with a window of 40 pixels. Eighteen projections in the range 0o 170o ] in steps
of 10o were computed, ltered, and used to reconstruct the basic element
image. The result, shown in Figure 10.13 (b), was thresholded at the gray
level of 100. It is seen that a single circular object has been extracted, with
minimal residual artifact.
The method was extended to the extraction of the basic element in images
with periodic texture, known as the texton, by Martins and Rangayyan 444]
see Section 7.7.1.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 10.13
Illustration of homomorphic (complex cepstral) ltering of an image in the
Radon domain to remove echoes in images. (a) Original image. (b) Filtered
image after thresholding. Reproduced with permission from A.C.G. Martins
and R.M. Rangayyan, \Complex cepstral ltering of images and echo removal
c Pat-
in the Radon domain", Pattern Recognition, 30(11):1931{1938, 1997.
tern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
images are not stationary, and, at best, may be described as locally stationary
furthermore, in practice, the PSD of the uncorrupted original image is not
given, and needs to be estimated.
A common procedure to estimate the PSD of a signal involves sectioning
the signal into smaller, presumably stationary segments, and averaging their
modied PSDs or periodograms 12, 825, 853, 862, 863, 865, 878, 879, 880, 881,
882]. The procedure assumes shift-invariance of the blur PSF, and averages
out the nonstationary frequency content of the original image. In order for
the sectioning approach to be valid, the blurring PSF must have an ROS
(spatial extent) that is much smaller than the size of the subimages as a
result, the size of the subimages cannot be made arbitrarily small. Thus, the
number of subimages that may used to form the ensemble average is limited
consequently, the variance of the PSD estimate from the subimages could be
high, which leads to a poor estimate of the PSD of the original image.
Another consequence of the assumption of image stationarity and the use
of space-invariant ltering is the fact that the deblurred images suer from
artifacts at the boundaries of the image 853]. In a simple mathematical rep-
resentation of this problem, it is assumed that the image is of innite extent
however, practical images are of nite extent and the performance of a lter
may vary depending upon the assumptions made regarding the edges of the
image. The eect at the edges from deconvolution with incomplete informa-
tion (due to the lack of information beyond the image boundary) could cause
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 893
dierent contributions from outside the image boundary during deblurring
than those that were convolved into the image during the actual degrada-
tion process. This leads to a layer of boundary pixels taking incorrect values
during deblurring, and consequently, artifacts at the image boundaries.
Attempts to overcome the problems caused by the inherent nonstationar-
ity of images have led to several methods. Angel and Jain 883] proposed
a technique to solve the general superposition integral iteratively by using a
conjugate-gradient method. The method faces problems with convergence in
the presence of noise. Techniques have been proposed to enhance the perfor-
mance of nonadaptive lters by using radiometric and geometric transforms
to generate images that are nearly stationary (block stationary) in the rst
and second moments 884]. The radiometric transform generates stationary
mean and variance, whereas the geometric transform provides stationary au-
tocorrelation.
Adaptive techniques for space-variant restoration have been proposed based
upon sectioning the given image into smaller subsections and assuming dier-
ent stationary models for each section 177, 865, 885, 886]. Two approaches
to sectioned deblurring are described in Sections 10.4.1 and 10.4.2.
The Kalman lter is the most popular method for truly space-variant l-
tering, and is described in Section 10.4.3.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.14
Sectioning of the Lenna image of size 128 128 pixels and gray-level range of
0 ; 255. (a) Original image. (b) Blurred image with a Gaussian-shaped blur
function and noise to SNR = 35 dB MSE = 607. (c), (d), and (e): Three 32
32 sections mean-padded to 128 128 pixels. (f) Hamming-windowed version
of the region in (e). Reproduced with permission from T.F. Rabie, R.M.
Rangayyan, and R.B. Paranjape, \Adaptive-neighborhood image deblurring",
Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(4): 368 { 378, 1994. c SPIE.
900 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.15
Adaptive-neighborhood segmentation of the Lenna image of size 128 128
pixels and gray-level range of 0 ; 255. (a) Original image. (b) Blurred image
with a Gaussian-shaped blur function and noise to SNR = 35 dB , MSE =
607. (c), (d), and (e): Three adaptive-neighborhood mean-padded regions.
(f) Hamming-windowed version of the region in (e). Reproduced with per-
mission from T.F. Rabie, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.B. Paranjape, \Adaptive-
neighborhood image deblurring", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(4): 368 {
378, 1994. c SPIE.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 901
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.16
(a) Lenna test image. (b) Blurred image with a Gaussian-shaped blur func-
tion and noise to SNR = 35 dB , MSE = 607. Sectioned deblurring with
overlapped sections of size (c) 16 16 pixels, MSE = 783 and (d) 32 32
pixels, MSE = 501. (e) Full-frame Wiener ltering, MSE = 634. (f) Adaptive-
neighborhood deblurring, MSE = 292. Reproduced with permission from T.F.
Rabie, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.B. Paranjape, \Adaptive-neighborhood image
c SPIE.
deblurring", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(4): 368 { 378, 1994.
902 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
FIGURE 10.17
(a) Cameraman test image of size 128 128 pixels and gray-level range 0 ; 255.
(b) Image blurred by 9-pixel horizontal motion and degraded by additive
Gaussian noise to SNR = 35 dB , MSE = 1,247. Deblurred images: (c) Sec-
tioned deblurring with overlapped sections of size 16 16 pixels, MSE = 539.
(d) Sectioned deblurring with overlapped sections of size 3232 pixels, MSE =
424. (e) Full-frame Wiener ltering, MSE = 217. (f) Adaptive-neighborhood
deblurring, MSE = 181. Reproduced with permission from T.F. Rabie, R.M.
Rangayyan, and R.B. Paranjape, \Adaptive-neighborhood image deblurring",
Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(4): 368 { 378, 1994. c SPIE.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 903
TABLE 10.1
Mean-squared Errors of the Results of Sectioned and
Adaptive-neighborhood Deblurring of the Lenna and Cameraman
Images of Size 128 128 Pixels and 256 Gray Levels for Various
Neighborhood Sizes and Two Dierent Blurring Functions, and
Approximate Computer Processing Time Using a SUN/Sparc-2
Workstation.
Filter Section Time Mean-squared error
size (minutes) Lenna Cameraman
Degraded | | 607 1,247
Wiener 16 16 25 783 539
PSE 16 16 751 538
Wiener 32 32 10 501 424
PSE 32 32 513 425
Wiener 64 64 5 483 463
PSE 64 64 488 460
Wiener Full frame 2 634 217
PSE Full frame 605 220
Adaptive
neighborhood max = 16 384 15 292 181
Reproduced with permission from T.F. Rabie, R.M. Rangayyan, and R.B.
Paranjape, \Adaptive-neighborhood image deblurring", Journal of Electronic
c SPIE.
Imaging, 3(4): 368 { 378, 1994.
904 Biomedical Image Analysis
related to the sequence of the state or observation vectors. It is assumed
that the input is generated by a driving (or process) noise source d (n), and
that the output is aected by an observation noise source o (n). A state
transition matrix a(n + 1 n) is used to indicate the modication of the state
vector from one instant n to the next instant (n + 1). Note: The argument
in the notation a(n + 1 n) is used to indicate the dependence of the variable
(matrix) a upon the instants of observation n and (n +1), and not the indices
of the matrix a. This notation also represents the memory of the associated
system.] An observation matrix h(n) is used to represent the mapping from
the state vector to the observation vector.
Figure 10.18 illustrates the concepts described above in a schematic form. A
state vector could represent a series of the values of a 1D signal, or a collection
of the pixels of an image in a local ROS related to the pixel being processed
see Figure 10.19 for an illustration of two commonly used types of ROS in
image ltering. The state vector should be composed of the minimal amount
of data that would be adequate to describe the behavior of the system. As we
have seen in Section 3.5, images may be represented using vectors, and image
ltering or transformation operations may be expressed as multiplication with
matrices. The state transition matrix a(n + 1 n) could represent a linear
prediction or autoregressive model (see Section 11.8) that characterizes the
input state. The state vector would then be composed of a series of the
signal or image samples that would be related to the order of the model, and
be adequate to predict the subsequent values of the state and observation
vectors (with minimal error). The observation matrix h(n) could represent
a blurring PSF that degrades a given image. Observe that the Kalman lter
formulation permits the representation of the signals and their statistics, as
well as the operators aecting the signals, as functions that are nonstationary,
dynamic, or varying with time (or space).
Process Observation
system system
η (n)
o
a (n+1,n)
FIGURE 10.18
State-space representation of the basic Kalman lter formulation.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 905
The Kalman lter formulation 833] represents a new or updated value of
the state vector f recursively in terms of its previous value and new input as
f (n + 1) = a(n + 1 n) f (n) + d (n): (10.108)
This is known as the process equation the corresponding model is also known
as the plant, process, or message model. If we let the state vector f be of
size M 1, then the state transition matrix a is of size M M , and the
driving noise vector d is of size M 1. We may interpret the driving noise
vector d as the source of excitation of the process system represented by the
state vector f and the state transition matrix a. It is assumed that the noise
process d is a zero-mean white-noise process that is statistically independent
of the stochastic process underlying the state vector f . The noise process d
is characterized by its M M correlation matrix (ACF) d as
E d (n) Td (k) = 0 d (n) ifotherwise
n=k
: (10.109)
The state transition matrix a(n + 1 n) is characterized by the following
properties 833]:
a(l m) a(m n) = a(l n) product rule
a;1 (m n) = a(n m) inverse rule (10.110)
a( m m ) = I identity:
For a stationary system, the state transition matrix would be a constant
matrix a that is stationary or independent of time or space.
The output side of the dynamic system (see Figure 10.18) is characterized
by a measurement or observation matrix h(n) that transforms the state vector
f (n). The result is corrupted by a source of measurement or observation noise
o , which is assumed to be a zero-mean white-noise process that is statistically
independent of the processes related to the state vector f and the driving noise
d . It is assumed that the observation vector g(n) is of size N 1 (dierent
from the size of the state vector f which is M 1) then, the observation
matrix h(n) is required to be of size N M , and the observation noise o (n)
is required to be of size N 1. We then have the measurement or observation
equation
g(n) = h(n) f (n) + o (n): (10.111)
Similar to the characterization of the driving noise in Equation 10.109, the
observation noise o (n) is characterized by its N N correlation matrix (ACF)
o . Due to the assumption of statistical independence of d and o , we have
E d (n) To (k) = 0 8 n k: (10.112)
With the situation formulated as above, the Kalman ltering problem may
be stated as follows: given a series of the observations Gn = fg(1) g(2)
906 Biomedical Image Analysis
(0,0)
past
(m,n)
present
pixel
future
(N-1, N-1)
(a)
(0,0) (0,0)
recent recent
past P past P
3 1
P P
2 2
P (m,n) (m,n)
1 present present
pixel pixel
future future
k=1
;1
nX
E f (n) T (k) ; 1 (k) (k)
= a(n + 1 n)
k=1
= a(n + 1 n) ~f (njGn;1 ): (10.130)
Interpretation of the expression in Equation 10.128 is made easier by the
following formulations.
The Kalman gain: Let
K(n) = E f (n + 1) T (n) ; 1 (n)
(10.131)
this is a matrix of size M N , whose signicance will be apparent after a few
steps. The expectation in the equation above represents the cross-correlation
matrix between the state vector f (n + 1) and the innovation process (n).
Using Equations 10.131 and 10.130, Equation 10.128 may be simplied to
~f (n + 1jGn ) = a(n + 1 n) ~f (njGn;1 ) + K(n) (n): (10.132)
910 Biomedical Image Analysis
This is an important result, indicating that we may obtain the MMSE esti-
mate of the state vector ~f (n + 1jGn ) by applying the state transition matrix
a(n +1 n) to the previous estimate of the state vector ~f (njGn;1) and adding a
correction term. The correction term K(n) (n) includes the innovation pro-
cess (n) multiplied with the matrix K(n) for this reason, and in recognition
of the original developer of the underlying procedures, the matrix K(n) is
referred to as the Kalman gain.
In order to facilitate practical implementation of the steps required to com-
pute the Kalman gain matrix, we need to examine a few related entities, as
follows. Using Equation 10.117, we can write
E p (n n ; 1) Tp (n n ; 1)
h i
= E f (n) Tp (n n ; 1) ; E ~f (njGn;1 ) Tp (n n ; 1)
= E f (n) Tp (n n ; 1) (10.133)
where the last step follows from the property that the estimated state vec-
tor ~f (njGn;1 ) and the predicted state error vector p (n n ; 1) are mutually
orthogonal. Using Equations 10.129, 10.116, and 10.133, we have
E f (n + 1) T (n) ]
= a(n + 1 n) E f (n) T (k)
= a(n + 1 n) E f (n) fh(n) p (n n ; 1) + o (n)gT
= a(n + 1 n) E f (n) Tp (n n ; 1) hT (n)
= a(n + 1 n) E p (n n ; 1) Tp (n n ; 1) hT (n)
= a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n): (10.134)
In arriving at the result above, Equation 10.121 has been used use has also
been made of the property that f and o are independent processes. Using
Equation 10.134 in Equation 10.131, we get the Kalman gain matrix as
K(n) = a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n) ; 1 (n) (10.135)
which upon the use of the expression in Equation 10.120 for (n) gives
K(n) = a(n+1 n) p (n n;1) hT (n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n) + o (n) ;1 :
(10.136)
This expression for the Kalman gain matrix may be used with Equation 10.132
to update the estimate of the state vector.
Practical computation of the Kalman gain matrix may be facilitated fur-
ther by the following derivations 833]. Extending Equation 10.117 one step
further, we have
p (n + 1 n) = f (n + 1) ; ~f (n + 1jGn ): (10.137)
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 911
Putting together Equations 10.108, 10.115, 10.132, and 10.137, we have
h i
p (n + 1 n) = a(n + 1 n) f (n) ; ~f (njGn;1 )
h i
; K(n) g(n) ; h(n) ~f (njGn;1) + d (n): (10.138)
Using the measurement equation 10.111 and Equation 10.117, the equation
above may be modied to
p (n + 1 n) = a(n + h1 n) p (n n ; 1) i
; K(n) h(n) f (n) + o (n) ; h(n) ~f (njGn;1 ) + d (n)
= a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1)
h i
; K(n) h(n) f (n) ; ~f (njGn;1 ) + d (n) ; K(n) o (n)
= a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) aT (n + 1 n)
; K(n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) aT (n + 1 n)
; a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n)KT (n)
+ K(n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n)KT (n)
+ d (n) + K(n) o (n)KT (n)
= a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) aT (n + 1 n)
; K(n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) aT (n + 1 n)
; a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n)KT (n)
+ K(n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n) + o (n) KT (n) + d (n)
= a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) aT (n + 1 n)
912 Biomedical Image Analysis
; K(n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) aT (n + 1 n)
; a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n)KT (n)
+ K(n) (n)KT (n) + d (n) (10.140)
which results in
p (n + 1 n) = a(n + 1 n) p (n) aT (n + 1 n) + d (n): (10.141)
In arriving at the result above, Equations 10.120 and 10.135 have been used.
A new matrix p (n), of size M M , has been introduced, dened as
p (n) = p (n n ; 1) ; a(n n + 1) K(n) h(n) p (n n ; 1) (10.142)
use has been made of the property a;1 (n + 1 n) = a(n n + 1), which follows
from the inverse rule in Equation 10.110. Equation 10.141 is known as the
Riccati equation, and assists in the recursive computation of the ACF matrix
of the predicted state error.
The procedures developed to this point are referred to as Kalman's one-step
or one-stage prediction algorithm 833, 889]. The algorithm is represented by,
in order, Equations 10.135, 10.120, 10.115, 10.132, 10.142, and 10.141.
Application to ltering: In ltering, the aim is compute the estimate
~f (njGn ). The one-step prediction algorithm developed in the preceding para-
graphs may be extended to the ltering application as follows.
Because the processes f and d are mutually independent, it follows from
Equation 10.108 that the MMSE estimate of f (n + 1) given Gn is
~f (n + 1jGn ) = a(n + 1 n) ~f (njGn ) + d (njGn )
= a(n + 1 n) ~f (njGn ): (10.143)
Premultiplying both sides by a(n n + 1), and using the inverse rule in Equa-
tion 10.110, we get
a(n n + 1) ~f (n + 1jGn ) = a(n n + 1) a(n + 1 n) ~f (njGn)
= ~f (njGn ) (10.144)
or
~f (njGn ) = a(n n + 1) ~f (n + 1jGn ): (10.145)
Thus, given the result of the one-step prediction algorithm f (n + 1jGn ), we
can derive the ltered estimate ~f (njGn ).
Let us now consider the ltered estimation error, dened as
e (n) = g(n) ; h(n) ~f (njGn ): (10.146)
Using Equations 10.115, 10.132, and 10.145, we can modify Equation 10.146
as follows:
h i
e (n) = g(n) ; h(n) a(n n + 1) ~f (n + 1jGn )
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 913
h i
= g(n) ; h(n) a(n n + 1) fa(n + 1 n) ~f (njGn;1 ) + K(n) (n)g
= g(n) ; h(n) ~f (njGn;1 ) ; h(n) a(n n + 1) K(n) (n)
= (n) ; h(n) a(n n + 1) K(n) (n)
= I ; h(n) a(n n + 1) K(n)] (n): (10.147)
This expression indicates that the ltered estimation error e (n) is related to
the innovation process (n) through a conversion factor that is given by the
matrix within the square brackets. Using Equations 10.120 and 10.135, we
may simplify the expression above as follows:
h i
e (n) = I ; h(n) a(n n + 1) a(n + 1 n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n) ; 1
(n) (n)
h i
= I ; h(n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n) ; 1 (n) (n)
= (n) ; h(n) p (n n ; 1) hT (n) ; 1 (n) (n)
5. Using Equation 10.141, update the ACF matrix of the predicted state
error as
p (n + 1 n) = a(n + 1 n) p (n) aT (n + 1 n) + d (n): (10.166)
916 Biomedical Image Analysis
The Kalman lter formulation is a general formulation of broad scope, rel-
evance, and application. Haykin 833] provides a discussion on the Kalman
lter as the unifying basis for recursive least-squares (RLS) lters. Sage and
Melsa 889] present the derivation of a stationary Kalman lter and relate it
to the Wiener lter.
Extension to of the Kalman lter to image restoration: Extending
the Kalman lter to 2D image ltering poses the following challenges:
dening the state vector
determining the size (spatial extent) of the state vector
deriving the dynamic (space-variant) state transition matrix (process,
phenomenon, or model)
obtaining the dynamic (space-variant) observation matrix (system)
estimating the driving and observation noise correlation matrices and
dealing with the matrices of large size due to the large number of ele-
ments in the state vector.
Woods and Radewan 891, 892] and Woods and Ingle 893] proposed a scalar
processor that they called as the reduced-update Kalman lter (RUKF), dis-
cussing in detail the options for the ROS of the lter in particular the NSHP
ROS, see Figure 10.19 (b)] as well as the problems associated with the bound-
ary conditions (see also Tekalp et al. 894, 895, 896]). Boulfelfel et al. 750]
modied the RUKF algorithm of Woods and Ingle 893] for application to the
restoration of SPECT images with the following main characteristics:
The state transition matrix was derived using a 2D AR model (see Sec-
tion 11.8).
The observation matrix was composed by selecting one of 16 PSFs de-
pending upon the distance of the pixel being processed from the center
of the image (see Figure 10.20 and Section 10.5 for details).
Filtering operations were performed in a QP ROS, as illustrated in Fig-
ure 10.19 (c). The image was processed pixel-by-pixel in raster-scan
order, by moving the QP ROS window from one pixel to the next.
The size of the ROS was determined as the larger of the AR model order
(related to the state transition matrix) and the width of the PSF.
With the assumption that the observation noise follows the Poisson
PDF, the variance of the observation noise was estimated as the total
photon count in a local window.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 917
FIGURE 10.20
In order to apply the nonstationary Kalman lter to SPECT images, the
image plane is divided into 16 zones based upon the distance from the center
of the axis of rotation of the camera 750]. A dierent PSF (MTF) is used to
process the pixels in each zone. The width of the PSF increases with distance
from the center.
The steps and equations of the scalar RUKF algorithm are as follows:
Update index n to n + 1 at the end of a row, reset n = 1, and update m
to m + 1.
1. Project the previous estimate of the state vector one step forward by
using the dynamic system model as
XX
f~b(mn) (m n) = a(mn) (
) f~a(mn;1)(m ; n ;
): (10.167)
2. Project the error ACF matrix one step forward as
XX
(bmn) (m n
) = a(mn) (r s) (amn;1)(m ; r n ; s
)
r s
(10.168)
and
XX
(bmn) (m n m n) = a(mn) (
) (bmn)(m n m ; n ;
)
+ 2(mn) :
d (10.169)
918 Biomedical Image Analysis
3. Compute the updated Kalman gain matrix as
hP P i
K (mn) (p q) = (mn) (
) (mn) (m ; n ;
m ; p n ; q )
h b
hP P P P
p qh
(mn) (
) h(mn)(p q) (bmn)(m ; n ;
m ; p n ; q)
i
+ 2(omn) :
(10.170)
4. Update the state vector as
Quality
control
Reconstruction from
projections
Post-reconstruction
restoration: 2D or 3D
filter applied to the
SPECT images
FIGURE 10.21
Schematic representation of the application of several techniques to improve
the quality of nuclear medicine images. Attenuation correction may be
achieved via averaging of conjugate projections, modications to the recon-
struction algorithm, or other methods applied to the planar projections or the
reconstructed SPECT data. The blocks are shown separately to emphasize
the various procedures for quality improvement. Only one of the two blocks
shown in dashed lines | prereconstruction or post-reconstruction processing
| would be used.
922 Biomedical Image Analysis
10.5.1 Quality control
The quality of images obtained using a gamma camera is aected by imperfec-
tions in the detection system of the camera. System misalignment, detector
nonlinearity, and detector nonuniformity are the major contributors to im-
age degradation in this category. System misalignment errors arise when an
incorrect axis of rotation is used in the reconstruction process, or due to non-
linearities in the eld of view of the camera, and result in smearing of the
SPECT image 46, 902]. System misalignment may be corrected through reg-
ular calibration of the camera system 902, 903]. Detector nonlinearity arises
due to the compression of events located near the centers of the PMTs and an
expansion between the PMTs 904, 905]. Detector nonlinearities are usually
not perceptible however, they can have signicant eects on image nonuni-
formities and misalignment. The nite number of PMTs in the detector is
also a source of image nonuniformity, which results in variations in counts in
the acquired image of a uniform object 904, 906, 907].
The common approach to correct nonuniformity is by acquiring an image
of a ood-eld (a uniform source) and then using it as a correction matrix for
other images 46, 905, 908]. However, this method only corrects for variations
in amplitude. A more sophisticated method stores correction matrices for
regional dierences in pulse-height spectra and for positions over the entire
area of the detector. The correction matrices are then used on an event-
by-event basis to compensate for regional dierences by adjusting either the
system gain or the pulse-height window, and to compensate for nonlinearities
by accurately repositioning each event 904].
H (u v) = exp :;2
<
(u2 + v2 ) =
(10.174)
Nf s
where = + 180o refers to the angle of the camera. The geometric mean
of the two MTFs given above is given by
Hg (u v) = H (u v) H (u v)]1=2 : (10.179)
Therefore, we have
2 u2 + v 2 )
v) = exp ; 2 2(N
H 2 (u
g 2 f2 (a + b d)2 + a + b (2R ; d)]2
s
2 u2 + v 2 )
= exp ; 2 2(N
2 f2 2a2 + 4Rab + b2 (2d2 ; 4Rd + 4R2 )
s
(10.180)
which leads to
2 u2 + v 2 )
Hg (u v) = exp ; 2 2(N
2 fs2 a2 + 2Rab + b2 (d2 ; 2Rd + 2R2 ) :
(10.181)
If the point source is located at the center of rotation of the camera, we
have d = R, and the MTF is reduced to
2 (u2 + v 2 )
H (u v) = exp ; 2 2 2
a + 2Rab + b R :2
(10.182)
0 2 N 2 fs2
Letting
2 u2 + v 2 )
B (u v) = ; 2 2(N 2 f2 (10.183)
s
we have
H (u v) = exp B (u v) (a2 + 2abd + b2 d2 ) (10.184)
Hg (u v) = exp B (u v) a2 + 2Rab + b2 (d2 ; 2Rd + 2R2 ) (10.185)
and
H0 (u v) = exp B (u v) (a2 + 2Rab + b2 R2 ) : (10.186)
Equations 10.184, 10.185, and 10.186 are, respectively, the MTF related to a
point source located at a distance d from a camera rotating around a circle of
radius R, the geometric mean of the MTFs related to two opposing projections
of a point source located at distances d and (2R ; d) from the camera, and the
MTF of a point source located at the center of rotation of the camera with
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 929
2R - d d
camera camera
R point
source
FIGURE 10.22
Gamma-camera imaging geometry illustrating conjugate projections being ob-
tained for a point source at distances d and 2R ; d from the camera in the
two views, where R is the radius of rotation of the camera. The same prin-
ciples apply to imaging with a dual-camera or multi-camera imaging system.
Reproduced with permission from D. Boulfelfel, R.M. Rangayyan, L.J. Hahn,
and R. Kloiber, \Use of the geometric mean of opposing planar projections
in prereconstruction restoration of SPECT images", Physics in Medicine and
Biology, 37(10): 1915{1929, 1992. c IOP Publishing Ltd.
FIGURE 10.23
Plots of the distance functions f (d) in Equation 10.187 (solid line), fg (d) in
Equation 10.188 (dashed line), and f0 (d) in Equation 10.189 (dotted line).
Reproduced with permission from D. Boulfelfel, R.M. Rangayyan, L.J. Hahn,
and R. Kloiber, \Use of the geometric mean of opposing planar projections
in prereconstruction restoration of SPECT images", Physics in Medicine and
Biology, 37(10): 1915{1929, 1992. c IOP Publishing Ltd.
FIGURE 10.24
Computed proles of MTFs related to point sources in gamma-camera imag-
ing: (a) averaged MTF with d = 20 cm and d = 40 cm, (b) MTF at the center
of rotation of the camera (d = R = 30 cm), (c) d = 20 cm, and (d) d = 40 cm.
Reproduced with permission from D. Boulfelfel, R.M. Rangayyan, L.J. Hahn,
and R. Kloiber, \Use of the geometric mean of opposing planar projections
in prereconstruction restoration of SPECT images", Physics in Medicine and
Biology, 37(10): 1915{1929, 1992. c IOP Publishing Ltd.
932 Biomedical Image Analysis
shows proles of the PSF derived from the LSF for source-to-collimator dis-
tances d = 20 30 and 40 cm, obtained using the ADAC GENESYS camera
with the low-energy general-purpose collimator at the Foothills Hospital, Cal-
gary. The averaged PSF for d = 20 cm and 40 cm is also plotted in the gure.
It is seen that the averaged PSF matches closely the PSF at the central posi-
tion of d = 30 cm.
FIGURE 10.25
Experimentally measured proles of PSFs in gamma-camera imaging: (a) d =
20 cm, (b) at the center of rotation of the camera (d = R = 30 cm), (c)
d = 40 cm, and (d) averaged PSF with d = 20 cm and d = 40 cm. Re-
produced with permission from D. Boulfelfel, R.M. Rangayyan, L.J. Hahn,
and R. Kloiber, \Use of the geometric mean of opposing planar projections
in prereconstruction restoration of SPECT images", Physics in Medicine and
Biology, 37(10): 1915{1929, 1992. c IOP Publishing Ltd.
The preceding derivations and arguments were based upon a point source
being imaged. In order to extend the arguments to a combination of dis-
tributed sources, we could consider a planar source image p(x y) that is par-
allel to the plane of the camera. A 3D source may then be modeled as a
collection of several planar sources, with the individual planes being parallel
to the plane of the camera. Then, the acquired image of each plane could be
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 933
modeled as being convolved with the blur PSF for the corresponding distance
to the camera. The net projection of the 3D source would be the sum of the
blurred images of the constituent planes.
For a planar source p(x y) placed away from the center of the axis of rota-
tion of the camera, let us consider two planar images acquired, at an angle
and its conjugate . In the frequency domain, we may represent the planar
images as
P (u v) = H (u v) P (u v) (10.190)
and
P (u v) = H (u v) P (u v): (10.191)
The geometric mean of the pair of conjugate planar images is given as
Pg (u v) = H (u v) P (u v) H (u v) P (u v)]1=2
= H (u v) H (u v)]1=2 P (u v)
= Hg (u v) P (u v): (10.192)
Therefore, the geometric mean of a pair of conjugate planar images of a planar
source is equal to the original source distribution blurred by an MTF that
is given by the geometric mean of the individual MTFs. This implies that
geometric means of pairs of conjugate planar images may be deconvolved by
using the geometric mean of the corresponding MTFs. In practice, it may be
appropriate to assume that the MTF is independent of the angular position
of the camera(s) then, the same averaged MTF may be used for all angles.
Pixel-by-pixel geometric averaging of opposing projections before prerecon-
struction restoration can improve the performance of the restoration lter
because it reduces the space-variance of the blur furthermore, the averag-
ing procedure reduces the eects of scatter and attenuation. The averaging
technique is applicable when the object to be restored is of medium size, over
which the averaged PSF (or MTF) may be assumed to be space-invariant
(see Figure 10.23). Prereconstruction restoration requires large computing
resources because each projection image needs to be restored. Averaging re-
duces the ltering time for restoration by 50%, because each opposing pair of
projections is replaced by a single image. Geometric averaging of opposing
projections performs well in applications where the object is not located in a
corner of the eld of view of the camera. It is required that projections be
acquired through the full range of 0o ; 360o .
Geometric averaging reduces the shift-variance of the blur function, but
does not completely eliminate the variance. Therefore, artifacts due to the
shift-variance of the blur function may remain in regions situated close to the
edges of the eld of view of the camera. Prereconstruction restoration ltering
assumes that the blur function for all averaged projections is the same as for
points located at the axis of rotation of the camera. Geometric averaging and
prereconstruction restoration procedures are well-suited to SPECT imaging
934 Biomedical Image Analysis
of the brain, where the image is centered and does not occupy the full eld of
view of the camera.
Examples of the application of geometric averaging as a preprocessing step
prior to the restoration of SPECT images are presented in Section 10.5.6.
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 10.26
Projection (planar) images of the tubular phantom with the source-to-
collimator distance of (a) 5 cm and (b) 20 cm. (c) Result of Wiener restoration
of the image in (b). Figures courtesy of D. Boulfelfel 86]. See also Figures
10.27 and 10.28.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 937
FIGURE 10.27
Proles of planar images of the tubular phantom across the center. Solid
line: ideal (true) prole. Dotted line: prole of the acquired planar image
with the source-to-collimator distance of 20 cm see Figure 10.26 (b). Dashed
line: prole of the Wiener-ltered planar image see Figure 10.26 (c). Figure
courtesy of D. Boulfelfel 86].
41 61
93
FIGURE 10.29
Schematic representation of the cardiac phantom (Data Spectrum Corpora-
tion 912]) used to simulate myocardial perfusion images with \defect" inserts
to simulate myocardial ischemia and infarction. The dimensions shown are in
mm.
FIGURE 10.31
Top: A sample planar projection image of a patient. (a) Short-axis SPECT
image showing the myocardium of the left ventricle in cross-section. Re-
sults of post-reconstruction restoration applied to the SPECT image using
(b) the Wiener, (c) the PSE, and (d) Metz lters. Results of prereconstruc-
tion restoration applied to the planar images using (e) the Wiener, (f) the
PSE, and (g) Metz lters. Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and
R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
942 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 10.32
Top: A sample planar projection image of a patient. (a) Short-axis SPECT
image showing the myocardium of the left ventricle in cross-section. Re-
sults of post-reconstruction restoration applied to the SPECT image using
(b) the Wiener, (c) the PSE, and (d) Metz lters. Results of prereconstruc-
tion restoration applied to the planar images using (e) the Wiener, (f) the
PSE, and (g) Metz lters. Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and
R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 943
step to reduce both attenuation and shift-variance of the blur before restora-
tion. Brain images are also not as low in statistics as myocardial images.
In the procedure for nuclear medicine imaging of the brain, after the 99m Tc-
chloride administered to the patient had accumulated in the brain, 44 planar
projections, each of size 64 64 pixels, were acquired. The time for the
acquisition of each projection was 30 s. The projections were acquired over the
full range of 360o in a circular trajectory with the radius of rotation of 20 cm.
Two energy peaks were used in the acquisition of the projections to perform
scatter correction using the dual-energy-window subtraction technique.
Figures 10.33 and 10.34 show a set of opposing projection images as well
as their geometric mean for two patients. Transverse SPECT images were re-
constructed after performing geometric averaging of conjugate projections and
(prereconstruction) restoration using the Wiener, PSE, and Metz lters 86].
Figures 10.33 and 10.34 show one representative SPECT image in each case,
along with several restored versions. The results show that averaging of conju-
gate projections improves the quality of the restored images, which are sharper
than the images restored without averaging.
Images of a resolution phantom: Boulfelfel et al. 86, 87, 749, 750, 935]
conducted several restoration experiments with SPECT images of a \resolu-
tion" phantom. The phantom contains nine pairs of hot spots of diameters
39 22 17 14 12 9 8 6 and 5 mm in the \hot lesion" insert (Nuclear Asso-
ciates), with a total diameter of 200 mm see Figure 3.68 for related illustra-
tions. The phantom was lled with 1 mCi of 201 Tl-chloride, centered at the
axis of rotation of the gamma camera at a distance of 217 mm, and 120 pro-
jections, each of size 128 128 pixels, were acquired over 360o . SPECT images
of dierent transaxial slices were reconstructed using the Siemens Micro-Delta
software.
Given the large size of the phantom, it would be inappropriate to assume
that the degradation phenomena are shift-invariant. Boulfelfel et al. 750, 948]
applied the Kalman lter for restoration of SPECT images of the resolution
phantom. Figure 10.35 shows a representative SPECT image of the phantom,
along with (post-reconstruction) restoration of the image using the Kalman
lter the results of application of the shift-invariant Wiener and PSE lters
are also shown for comparison. It is evident that the shift-variant Kalman
lter has provided better results than the other lters: the Kalman-restored
image clearly shows seven of the nine pairs of hot spots, whereas the results
of the Wiener and PSE lters show only four or ve pairs. For the sake
of comparison, the results of prereconstruction restoration of the resolution
phantom image obtained by applying the shift-invariant Wiener, PSE, and
Metz lters after geometric averaging of conjugate projections are shown in
Figure 10.36. Observe that the orientation of these results is dierent from
that of the images in Figure 10.35 due to the alignment procedure required
for averaging. Although the results show some of the hot spots with more
clarity than the original image in Figure 10.35 (a), they are of lower quality
than the result of Kalman ltering, shown in Figure 10.35 (d).
944 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 10.33
Top row: A sample pair of conjugate projections of a patient, along with their
geometric mean. (a) SPECT image showing the brain in cross-section. Results
of prereconstruction restoration applied to the planar images using (b) the
Wiener, (c) the PSE, and (d) Metz lters. Results of geometric averaging
and prereconstruction restoration applied to the planar images using (e) the
Wiener, (f) the PSE, and (g) Metz lters. The orientation of the images in
(e) { (g) is dierent from that of the images in (a) { (d) due to the alignment
of conjugate projection images for geometric averaging. Images courtesy of
D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 945
FIGURE 10.34
Top row: A sample pair of conjugate projections of a patient, along with their
geometric mean. (a) SPECT image showing the brain in cross-section. Results
of prereconstruction restoration applied to the planar images using (b) the
Wiener, (c) the PSE, and (d) Metz lters. Results of geometric averaging
and prereconstruction restoration applied to the planar images using (e) the
Wiener, (f) the PSE, and (g) Metz lters. The orientation of the images in
(e) { (g) is dierent from that of the images in (a) { (d) due to the alignment
of conjugate projection images for geometric averaging. Images courtesy of
D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
946 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
FIGURE 10.35
(a) Acquired SPECT image (128 128 pixels) of the resolution phantom.
Post-reconstruction restored versions using (b) the Wiener lter (c) the PSE
lter and (d) the Kalman lter. The images (a) { (c) were enhanced by
gamma correction with
= 0:8 the image (d) was enhanced with
= 0:3
(see Section 4.4.3). See also Figure 3.68. Reproduced with permission from
D. Boulfelfel, R.M. Rangayyan, L.J. Hahn, R. Kloiber, and G.R. Kuduvalli,
\Restoration of single photon emission computed tomography images by the
Kalman lter", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 13(1): 102 { 109,
1994. c IEEE.
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 947
FIGURE 10.36
Prereconstruction restoration of the SPECT image of the resolution phantom
shown in Figure 10.35 (a) after geometric averaging of conjugate projection
images, using (a) the Wiener, (b) the PSE, and (c) the Metz lters. The
orientation of the images in this gure is dierent from that of the images in
Figure 10.35 due to the alignment of conjugate projection images for geomet-
ric averaging. Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber,
Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
SPECT images of the liver and spleen: Liver and spleen images are
di cult to restore because of their large size and irregular shape. The liver
and spleen are imaged together when radiopharmaceuticals that are trapped
by the reticulo-endothelial cell system are used. The most commonly used ra-
diopharmaceutical for this purpose is a 99m Tc-based label. In the procedure
for imaging the liver and spleen, 2 mCi of a 99m Tc-based radiopharmaceu-
tical was given to the patient. After the isotope accumulated in the liver
and spleen, 44 projections, each of size 64 64 pixels, were acquired. The
time for the acquisition of each projection was 40 s. The projections were
acquired over the full range of 360o in a circular trajectory, with the average
radius of rotation of 25 cm. Two energy peaks were used in the acquisition of
the projections in order to perform scatter correction using the dual-energy-
window subtraction technique. Transverse SPECT images were reconstructed
after averaging and correcting for attenuation using the Siemens Micro-Delta
processor. The Chang algorithm was used for attenuation correction.
Figures 10.37 and 10.38 show a sample SPECT slice of the liver and spleen
of two patients, along with its restored version using the Kalman lter. The
restored images demonstrate the full outlines of the liver and spleen with
improved clarity, and show a few cold spots within the organs with increased
contrast as compared to the original images. The clinical validity of this
observation was not conrmed.
3D restoration of SPECT images: Boulfelfel et al. 86, 750, 948, 935]
applied 3D lters for the restoration of SPECT images, including 3D exten-
sions of the Wiener, PSE, and Metz lters, as well as a combination of a 2D
Kalman lter in the SPECT plane and a 1D Metz lter in the inter-slice di-
rection. Figures 10.39 and 10.40 show a sample planar image of the liver and
948 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 10.37
(a) Acquired SPECT image of the liver and spleen of a patient. (b) Restored
image obtained by the application of the Kalman lter. Images courtesy of
D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
(a) (b)
FIGURE 10.38
(a) Acquired SPECT image of the liver and spleen of a patient. (b) Restored
image obtained by the application of the Kalman lter. Images courtesy of
D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital, Calgary 86].
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 949
spleen each of two patients, a sample SPECT image in each case, and restored
images of the SPECT slices after 3D restoration of the entire SPECT volumes
using the Wiener, PSE, and Metz lters. Figures 10.41 and 10.42 show a sam-
ple SPECT image and the corresponding restored image after 3D restoration
of the entire SPECT volume using the 2D Kalman lter in the SPECT plane
and a 1D Metz lter in the inter-slice direction. The restored images show
more cold spots within the liver, with increased contrast however, the clinical
validity of this observation was not conrmed. A sample SPECT image and
the corresponding restored version after 3D restoration of the entire SPECT
volume using the Kalman-Metz lter combination as above are shown in Fig-
ure 10.43. Compared to the result of 2D ltering shown in Figure 10.35, the
3D ltering procedure appears to have yielded a better image.
10.6 Remarks
FIGURE 10.39
Top: A sample planar projection image of a patient. (a) SPECT image show-
ing the liver and spleen. Results of post-reconstruction 3D restoration applied
to the entire SPECT volume using (b) the Wiener, (c) the PSE, and (d) Metz
lters. Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills
Hospital, Calgary 86].
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 951
FIGURE 10.40
Top: A sample planar projection image of a patient. (a) SPECT image show-
ing the liver and spleen. Results of post-reconstruction 3D restoration applied
to the entire SPECT volume using (b) the Wiener, (c) the PSE, and (d) Metz
lters. Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills
Hospital, Calgary 86].
952 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a) (b)
FIGURE 10.41
(a) Acquired SPECT image of the liver and spleen of a patient. (b) Restored
image obtained by the application of the 3D Kalman-Metz combined lter.
Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital,
Calgary 86].
(a) (b)
FIGURE 10.42
(a) Acquired SPECT image of the liver and spleen of a patient. (b) Restored
image obtained by the application of the 3D Kalman-Metz combined lter.
Images courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital,
Calgary 86].
Deconvolution, Deblurring, and Restoration 953
(a) (b)
FIGURE 10.43
(a) Acquired SPECT image of the resolution phantom. (b) Restored image
obtained by the application of the 3D Kalman-Metz combined lter. Im-
ages courtesy of D. Boulfelfel, L.J. Hahn, and R. Kloiber, Foothills Hospital,
Calgary 86].
system. State clearly any assumptions made, and explain their relevance or
signi cance.
2. Given g = hf + and ~f = Lg, where g is a degraded image, f is the
original image, is the noise process, h is the PSF of the blurring sys-
n fh is the restored io image, and L is the restoration lter, expand 2 =
tem, ~
955
956 Biomedical Image Analysis
ages with detailed attention requires specialized viewing consoles under
controlled lighting conditions.
Digital PACS require signi cant initial capital outlay, as well as routine
maintenance and upgrading of the computer, storage, and communi-
cation systems. However, these costs may be oset by the savings in
the continuing costs of lm, as well as the associated chemical process-
ing systems and disposal. The environmental concerns related to lm
processing are also removed by digital PACS.
Digital images may be compressed via image coding and data compres-
sion techniques so as to occupy less storage space.
The nal point above forms the topic of the present chapter.
Although the discussion above has been in the context of image storage or
archival, similar concerns regarding the size of image les and the desirability
of compression arise in the communication of image data. In this chapter,
we shall study the basic concepts of information theory that apply to image
coding, compression, and communication. We shall investigate several tech-
niques for encoding image data, including decorrelation procedures to modify
the statistical characteristics of the data so as to permit ecient representa-
tion, coding, and compression.
The representation of the signi cant aspects of an image in terms of a small
number of numerical features for the purpose of pattern classi cation may
also be viewed as image coding or data compression however, we shall treat
this topic separately (see Chapter 12).
q = 1 - p
0 0
Input Output
(transmit) (receive)
p
1 1
q = 1 - p
FIGURE 11.1
Transmission error probabilities in a binary symmetric channel 9].
Leading zeros have been removed in the decimal and hexadecimal (Hex) codes,
but retained in the binary, Gray, and octal codes.
Image Coding and Data Compression 963
1. Prepare a table listing the symbols (gray levels) in the source (image)
sorted in decreasing order of the probabilities of their occurrence.
2. Combine the last two probabilities. The list of probabilities now has
one less entry than before.
3. Copy the reduced list over to a new column, rearranging (as necessary)
such that the probabilities are in decreasing order.
4. Repeat the procedure above until the list of probabilities is reduced to
only two entries.
5. Assign the code digits 0 and 1 to the two entries in the nal column
of probabilities. (Note: There are two possibilities of this assignment
that will lead to two dierent codes however, their performance will be
identical.)
6. Working backwards through the columns of probabilities, assign addi-
tional bits of 0 and 1 to the two entries that resulted in the last com-
pounded entry in the column.
7. Repeat the procedure until the rst column of probabilities is reached
and all symbols have been assigned a code word.
It should be noted that a Human code is optimal for only the given source
PDF a change in the source PDF would require the design of a dierent code
in order to be optimal. A disadvantage of the Human code is the increasing
length of its code words, especially for sources with several symbols. The
method does not perform any decorrelation of the data, and is limited in
average code-word length by the zeroth-order entropy of the source.
Example: Figure 11.2 shows a 16 16 part of the image in Figure 2.1 (a),
quantized to 3 b=pixel. The gray levels in the image are in the range 0 7],
and would require 3 b=pixel with straight binary coding. The histogram of
the image is shown in Figure 11.3 it is evident that some of the pixel values
occur with low probabilities.
The procedure for accumulating the probabilities of occurrence of the source
symbols is illustrated in Figure 11.4. The Human coding process is shown in
Figure 11.5. Note that a dierent code with equivalent performance may be
generated by reversing the order of assignment of the code symbols 0 and 1
at each step. The average code-word length is 2:69 b=pixel, which is slightly
above the zeroth-order entropy of 2:65 b of the image. The advantage is
relatively small due to the fact that the source in the example uses only eight
symbols with 3 b=pixel, and has a relatively well-spread histogram (PDF).
However, simple representation of the data using ASCII coding would require
a minimum of 8 b=pixel the savings with reference to this requirement are
signi cant. Larger advantages may be gained by Human coding of sources
with more symbols and narrow PDFs.
964 Biomedical Image Analysis
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 1 2
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 5
1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 6
2 2 3 5 4 3 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 5
4 6 5 4 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 4
5 5 2 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 3 4 3 2 1 3
4 3 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 3 5
2 0 2 0 1 3 1 3 5 3 3 2 2 3 3 6
1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 6 5 6
1 1 2 4 1 0 0 1 3 4 5 5 5 4 4 6
1 1 1 4 2 1 2 3 5 5 5 4 4 3 4 6
1 1 1 4 4 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 2 3 5 6
1 1 2 5 5 4 5 5 4 3 3 2 3 4 5 6
2 1 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 1 1 1 4 6 5 6
2 2 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 4 6 6 6 7
4 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 0 1 5 6 6 6 6 7
1111111111232212011111111112234510001111111122462235431011111235
4654311221111124552123222334321343121112221222352020131353322336
1122121233344656112410013455544611142123555443461114445665432356
1125545543323456214555543111465622555432211466674444322101566667
FIGURE 11.2
Top to bottom: A 16 16 part of the image in Figure 2.1 (a) quantized to
3 b=pixel, shown as an image, a 2D array, and as a string of integers with
the gray-level values of every pixel. The line breaks in the string format have
been included only for the sake of printing within the width of the page.
Image Coding and Data Compression 965
0.35
0.3
0.25
Probability of occurrence
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Gray level
FIGURE 11.3
Gray-level histogram of the image in Figure 11.2. Zeroth-order entropy H0 =
2:65 b.
966
Symbol Count Prob. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6
0 10 0.04 0.05
7 2 0.01
FIGURE 11.4
Accumulation of probabilities (Prob.) of occurrence of gray levels in the derivation of the Human code for the image in
7 0.01 10011
FIGURE 11.5
Steps in the derivation of the Human code for the image in Figure 11.2. (Prob. = probabilities of occurrence of the gray
levels.) The binary words in bold italics are the Human code words at the various stages of their derivation. See also
Figure 11.4.
967
968 Biomedical Image Analysis
Inter-pixel correlation may be taken into account in Human coding by
considering combinations of pixels (gray levels) as symbols. If we were to
consider pairs of gray levels in the example above, with gray levels quantized to
3 b=pixel, we would have a total of 8 8 = 64 possibilities see Table 11.2. The
rst-order entropy of the image, considering pairs of gray levels, is H1 = 2:25 b
an average code-word length close to this value may be expected if Human
coding is applied to pairs of gray levels.
TABLE 11.2
Counts of Occurrence of Pairs of Pixels in the Image in Figure 11.2.
Current pixel Next pixel in the same row
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 3 6 1 0 0 0 0 0
1 4 46 17 4 5 1 0 0
2 2 12 16 12 3 2 0 0
3 0 5 8 6 6 6 1 0
4 0 1 1 10 8 6 7 0
5 0 0 1 1 9 12 6 0
6 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 2
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
For example, the pair (1 2) occurs 17 times in the image. The last pixel in
each row was not paired with any pixel. The rst-order entropy of the image,
considering the probabilities of occurrence of pairs of gray-level values as in
Equation 2.23, is H1 = 2:25 b. The zeroth-order entropy is H0 = 2:65 b.
A
k
P P
l l+1
p
l
C
k
P P
m m+1
p
m
C = C A P
k+1 k + k l
A = A p
k+1 k l
C = C A P
k+2 k+1 + k+1 m
A = A p
k+2 k+1 m
FIGURE 11.6
Arithmetic coding procedure. The range A0 is initialized to unity. Each sym-
bol is represented by its individual probability pl and cumulative probability
Pl . The string being encoded is represented by the code point Ck on the cur-
rent range Ak . The range is scaled down by the probability pl of the current
symbol, and the process is repeated. One symbol is reserved for the end of
the string 338, 963]. Figure courtesy of G.R. Kuduvalli 338].
972 Biomedical Image Analysis
Example: The symbols used to the represent the image in Figure 11.2 and
their individual as well as cumulative probabilities are listed in Table 11.3.
The intervals representing the symbols are also provided in the table. Let us
consider the rst three symbols f4 6 5g in the fth row of the image. The
procedure to derive the arithmetic code for this string of symbols is shown in
Figure 11.7.
TABLE 11.3
The Symbols Used in the Image in
Figure 11.2, Along with Their Individual
Probabilities of Occurrence pl , Cumulative
Probabilities Pl , and Intervals Used in
Arithmetic Coding.
Symbol l Count pl Pl Interval
0 10 0.04 0.00 0.00, 0.04)
1 77 0.30 0.04 0.04, 0.34)
2 48 0.19 0.34 0.34, 0.53)
3 33 0.13 0.53 0.53, 0.66)
4 34 0.13 0.66 0.66, 0.79)
5 32 0.12 0.79 0.79, 0.91)
6 20 0.08 0.91 0.91, 0.99)
7 2 0.01 0.99 0.99, 1.00)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 Symbol string: {} 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
s
k
lk lk
n-L s Ls
Buffer of length n
FIGURE 11.8
The Lempel{Ziv coding procedure. At each iteration, the buer is scanned
for strings of length lk Ls for a match in the substring of length (n ; Ls )
within the buer. The matched string location bk is encoded and transmitted.
Figure courtesy of G.R. Kuduvalli 338].
TABLE 11.4
Development of the
Lempel{Ziv{Welch (LZW)
Code Table for the Image
in Figure 11.2.
String Index1 Index2
0 0 0
1 1 1
2 2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4
5 5 5
6 6 6
7 7 7
.. .. ..
. . .
22 8 22
223 9 83
2235 10 95
.. .. ..
. . .
Image Coding and Data Compression 977
11.3.5 Contour coding
Given that a digital image includes only a nite number of gray levels, we
could expect strings of the same values to occur in some form of 2D contours or
patterns in the image 589]. The same expectation may be arrived at if we were
to consider the gray level to represent height: an image may then be viewed
as a relief map, with iso-intensity contours representing steps or plateaus (as
in elevation maps of mountains). Information related to all such contours
may then be used to encode the image. Although the idea is appealing in
principle, ne quantization could result in low probabilities of occurrence of
large contours with simple patterns.
Each iso-intensity contour would require the encoding of the coordinates of
the starting point of the contour, the associated gray level, and the sequence
of steps (movement) needed to trace the contour. A consistent rule is required
for repeatable tracing of contours. The left-most-looking rule 589] for tracing
a contour is as follows:
Select a pixel that is not already a member of a contour.
Look at the pixel to the left relative to the direction of entry to the current
pixel on the contour.
If the pixel has the same gray level as the current pixel, move to the pixel
and encode the type of movement.
If not, look at the pixel straight ahead.
If the pixel has the same gray level as the current pixel, move to the pixel
and encode the type of movement.
If not, look at the pixel to the right.
If the pixel has the same gray level as the current pixel, move to the pixel
and encode the type of movement.
If not, move to the pixel behind the current pixel.
Repeat the procedure will trace a closed loop and return to the starting
point.
Repeat the procedure until every pixel in the image belongs to a contour.
The movements allowed are only to the left, straight ahead, to the right,
and back the four possibilities may be encoded using the Freeman chain
code illustrated in Figure 6.4.
Example: The image in Figure 11.2 is shown in Figure 11.9 along with the
tracings of three iso-intensity contours. With reference to the contour with
the value \1" at the top-left corner of the image, observe that several spatially
connected pixels with the same value and lying within the contour have not
been included in the contour: these pixels require additional contours. The
contour-coding procedure needs to be applied repeatedly until every pixel in
the image belongs to a contour. The encoding of short strings or isolated
occurrences of pixel values could require several coding steps, and lead to
increased code length.
The data required to represent the contour with the gray level \1" starting
with the pixel in the rst row and rst column would be as follows:
978 Biomedical Image Analysis
Initial point: Coordinates 1, 1]. Gray level 1.
Freeman code: 0000000003030303022221212233201122122212.
Contour code requirement: four bits for each coordinate three bits for the
pixel value two bits per Freeman code. Total 4 + 4 + 3 + 40 2 = 91 b.
Direct binary code requirement for the 15 pixels on the contour at 8 b=pixel =
120 b at 3 b=pixel = 45 b.
The data required to represent the contour with the gray level \2" starting
with the pixel in the fth row and eighth column would be as follows:
Initial point: Coordinates 5, 8]. Gray level 2.
Freeman code: 0330221201.
Contour code requirement: Total 31 b. Direct binary code requirement for
the eight pixels on the contour at 8 b=pixel = 64 b at 3 b=pixel = 24 b.
The data required to represent the contour with the gray level \1" starting
with the pixel in the ninth row and rst column would be as follows:
Initial point: Coordinates 9, 1]. Gray level 1.
Freeman code: 03303233121111.
Contour code requirement: 39 b. Direct binary code requirement for the 13
pixels on the contour at 8 b=pixel = 104 b at 3 b=pixel = 39 b.
It is evident that higher advantages may be gained if a number of long
contours with simple patterns are present in the image.
FIGURE 11.9
Contour coding applied to the image in Figure 11.2. Three contours are
shown for the sake of illustration of the procedure. The pixels included in
the contours are shown in bold italics. The initial point of each contour is
underlined. Double-headed arrows represent two separate moves in the two
directions of the arrows.
980 Biomedical Image Analysis
to correct the values of the pixels at the edges of the image. Furthermore,
the local standard deviation of the intensity levels measured by the camera
with respect to a moving-average window of 10 counts was estimated to be
about 5:0 counts. The eective noise level at the edge of the imaging eld
was estimated at 8 counts. For these reasons, it was concluded that two of
the least-signi cant bits in the 12 b data would only contribute to noise and
aect the performance of data compression algorithms 968]. In addition, by
scanning a standard, calibrated, gray-scale step pattern, the eective dynamic
range of the digitizer was observed to be about 2:5 OD. In consideration of
all of the above factors, it was determined that truncating the 12 b pixel val-
ues to 10 b values would be adequate for representing the digitized image.
This procedure reduced the eective noise level by a factor of four, to about
2 counts.
Kuduvalli et al. also estimated the MTF of the digitization system from
measurements of the ESF (see Sections 2.9 and 2.12), with a view to demon-
strate the resolving capability of the system to capture sub-millimeter details
on X-ray lms, such as microcalci cations on mammograms. The normalized
value of the MTF at one-half of the sampling frequency was estimated to be
0:1, which is considered to be adequate for resolving objects and details at
the same frequency (which is the highest frequency component retained in the
digitized image) 969].
The average number of bits per pixel obtained for ten X-ray images using the
Human, arithmetic, and LZW coding techniques are listed in Table 11.5 the
zeroth-order entropy values of the images are also listed. The high values of the
zeroth-order entropy indicate limits on the performance of the Human coding
technique. The arithmetic coding method has given bit rates comparable
with those provided by the Human code, but at considerably higher level of
complexity. Figure 11.10 shows plots of the average bit rate as a function of
the buer length in LZW coding, for four of the ten images listed in Table 11.5.
The maximum length of the symbol strings scanned was xed at Ls = 256.
The LZW code provided the best compression rates among the three methods
considered, to the extent of about 50% of the initial number of bits per pixel
in the images. The average bit rate provided by LZW coding is well below the
zeroth-order entropy values of the images, indicating that ecient encoding
of strings of pixel values can exploit the redundancy and correlation present
in the data without performing explicit decorrelation.
TABLE 11.5
Average Number of Bits Per Pixel with Direct Source Coding for Data
Compression of Digitized Mammograms and Chest X-ray
Images 174, 338].
Image Type Size (pixels) Entropy Human Arith. LZW
1 Mammo. 4 096 1 990 7.26 8.20 8.09 5.34
2 Mammo. 4 096 1 800 7.61 8.59 8.50 5.76
3 Mammo. 3 596 1 632 6.68 6.96 6.88 4.98
4 Mammo. 3 580 1 696 7.21 7.80 7.71 4.68
5 Chest 3 536 3 184 8.92 9.62 9.43 6.11
6 Chest 3 904 3 648 9.43 9.83 9.81 6.27
7 Chest 3 264 3 616 6.26 7.20 7.12 4.61
8 Chest 4 096 4 096 8.65 9.39 9.35 5.83
9 Mammo. 4 096 2 304 8.83 9.71 9.57 6.13
10 Chest 4 096 3 800 8.57 9.42 9.33 5.99
The entropy listed is the zeroth-order entropy. Pixel values in the original
images were quantized at 10 b=pixel. See also Table 11.7. Note: Arith.
= Arithmetic coding LZW: Lempel{Ziv{Welch coding Mammo. = Mam-
mogram. Reproduced with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli and R.M. Ran-
gayyan, \Performance analysis of reversible image compression techniques for
high-resolution digital teleradiology", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
11(3): 430 { 445, 1992. c IEEE.
982 Biomedical Image Analysis
Average bit rate (bits/ pixel)
FIGURE 11.10
Average bit rate as a function of the buer length, using Lempel{Ziv{Welch
coding, for four of the ten images (number 1, 3, 4, and 6) listed in Table 11.5.
The abscissa indicates the value of B , with the buer length given by n = 2B .
The maximum length of the symbol strings scanned was xed at Ls = 256. Re-
produced with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli and R.M. Rangayyan, \Perfor-
mance analysis of reversible image compression techniques for high-resolution
digital teleradiology", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3): 430 {
445, 1992. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 983
Although some of the methods described, such as the Lempel{Ziv and run-
length coding methods, have the potential to exploit the redundancy present
in images, their eciency in this task is limited.
The term \decorrelation" indicates a procedure that can remove or reduce
the redundancy or correlation present between the elements of a data stream,
such as the pixels in an image. The most commonly used decorrelation tech-
niques are the following:
dierentiation, which can remove the commonality present between ad-
jacent elements
transformation to another domain where the energy of the image is con-
ned to a narrow range, such as the Fourier, Karhunen{Loeve, discrete
cosine, or Walsh-Hadamard (orthogonal) transform domains
model-based prediction, where the error of prediction would have re-
duced information content and
interpolation, where a subsampled image is transmitted, the pixels in
between the preceding data are obtained by interpolation, and the error
of interpolation, which has reduced information content, is transmitted.
Observe that the decorrelated data (transform coecients, prediction error,
etc.) need to be encoded and transmitted the techniques described in Sec-
tion 11.3 for direct source encoding may also be applied to decorrelated data.
In addition, further information regarding initial values and the procedures
for the management of the transform coecients or the model parameters will
also have to be sent to facilitate complete reconstruction of the original image.
The advantages of decorrelating image data by dierentiation are demon-
strated by the following simple example. The use of transforms for image
data compression is discussed in Section 11.6. Interpolative coding is brie!y
described in Section 11.7. Methods for prediction-based data compression are
described in Section 11.8. Techniques based upon dierent scanning strategies
to improve the performance of decorrelation by dierentiation are discussed in
Sections 11.9 and 11.11. Strategies for combining several decorrelation steps
are discussed in Section 11.12.
Example: Consider the image in Figure 11.11 (a) the histogram of the
image is shown in part (b) of the gure. The image has a good spread of
gray levels over its spatial extent, and the histogram, while not uniform, does
exhibit a good spread over the dynamic range of the image. The zeroth-order
entropy, at 7:41 b, is close to the maximum possible value of 8 b for the image
with 256 gray levels. These characteristics suggest limited potential for direct
encoding methods.
The image in Figure 11.11 (a) was subjected to a simple rst-order partial
dierentiation procedure, given by
f 0 (m n) = f (m n) ; f (m ; 1 n): (11.13)
984 Biomedical Image Analysis
The result, shown in Figure 11.12 (a), has an extremely limited range of de-
tails the histogram of the image, shown in part (b) of the gure, indicates
that, although the image has more gray levels than the original image, most of
the gray levels occur with negligible probability. The concentrated histogram
leads to a lower value of entropy, at 5:52 b. Observe that the histogram
of the dierence image is close to a Laplacian PDF (see Section 3.1.2 and
Figure 3.9). The simple operation of dierentiation has reduced the entropy
of the image by about 25%. The reduced entropy suggests that the coding
requirement may be reduced signi cantly. Observe that the additional infor-
mation required to recover the original image from its derivative as above is
just the rst row of pixels in the original image. Data compression techniques
based upon dierentiation are referred to as dierential pulse code modulation
(DPCM) techniques. DPCM techniques vary in terms of the reference value
used for subtraction (in the dierentiation process). The reference value may
be derived as a combination of a few neighboring pixels, in which case the
method approaches linear prediction in concept.
(a)
0.035
0.03
Probability of occurrence
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gray level
(b)
FIGURE 11.11
(a) A test image of size 225 250 pixels with 256 gray levels. (b) Gray-level
histogram of the test image. Dynamic range 18 255]. Zeroth-order entropy
7:41 b.
986 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
0.1
0.09
0.08
Probability of occurrence
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
−100 −50 0 50 100 150
Gray level
(b)
FIGURE 11.12
(a) Result of dierentiation of the test image in Figure 11.11 (a). (b) Gray-
level histogram of the image in (a). Dynamic range ;148 180]. Zeroth-order
entropy 5:52 b.
Image Coding and Data Compression 987
half-width 1 2 3 : : : 8 DFT coecients were computed. The result is plot-
ted in Figure 11.13 (b), which shows that 74% of the energy of the image is
present in the DC component, and 90% of the energy is contained within the
central 121 DFT components around the DC point only 7:2% of the energy
lies in the high-frequency region beyond the central 17 17 region of the
256 256 DFT array. (Regardless of the small fraction of the total energy
present at higher frequencies, it should be observed that high-frequency com-
ponents bear important information related to the edges and sharpness of the
image see Sections 2.11.1 and 3.4.1).
The DFT is the most commonly used orthogonal transform in the analysis
of systems, signals, and images. However, due to the complex nature of the
basis functions, the DFT has high computational requirements. In spite of
its symmetry, the DFT could lead to increased direct coding requirements
due to the need for large numbers of bits for quantization of the transform
coecients. Regardless, the discrete nature of most images at the outset could
be used to advantage in lossless recovery from transform coecients that have
been quantized to low levels of accuracy see Section 11.6.3.
We have already studied the DFT (Sections 2.11 and 3.5.2) and the WHT
(Section 3.5.2). The WHT has a major computational advantage due to the
fact that its basis functions are composed of only +1 and ;1, and has been ad-
vantageously applied in data compression. In the following sections, we shall
study two other transforms that are popular and relevant to data compres-
sion: the discrete cosine transform (DCT) and the Karhunen{Loeve transform
(KLT).
(a)
100
90
Cumulative percetange of image energy contained
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Region of magnitude spectrum
(b)
FIGURE 11.13
(a) Log-magnitude Fourier spectrum of the image in Figure 11.11 (a), com-
puted over a 256 256 DFT array. (b) Distribution of the total image energy.
The 10 values represent the (cumulative) percentage of the energy of the im-
age present at the (0 0) or DC position contained within square boxes of
half-width 1 2 3 : : : 8 pixels centered in the DFT array and in the entire
256 256 DFT array. The numbers of DFT coecients corresponding to the
10 regions are 1 9 25 49 81 121 169 225 289 and 65 536.
Image Coding and Data Compression 989
Section 3.5.3) whose elements can be expressed by increasing powers of a
constant < 1. The ACF matrices of most natural images can be closely
modeled by such a matrix 971]. An N N DCT may be computed from the
results of a 2N 2N DFT thus, FFT algorithms may be used for ecient
computation of the DCT.
ATm An = 10 m =n
m 6= n : (11.19)
It follows that
AT A = I or A;1 = AT : (11.20)
Then, the row vectors of A may be considered to form the set of orthonormal
basis vectors of a linear transformation. This formulation leads also to the
inverse relationship
X
P
g = AT f = ATm fm : (11.21)
m=1
In the procedure described above, each component of g contributes to the
representation of f . Given the formulation of A as a reversible linear trans-
formation, g provides a complete (lossless) representation of f if all of its
P = MN elements are made available.
Suppose that, in the interest of ecient representation of images via the
extraction of the most signi cant information contained, we wish to use only
990 Biomedical Image Analysis
Q < P components of g. The omitted components of g may be replaced
with other values bm m = Q + 1 P . Then, we have an approximate
representation of f , given as
Q
~f = X gm Am + X bm Am :
P
(11.22)
m=1 m=Q+1
The error in the approximate representation as above is
X
P
"=f ; ~f = (gm ; bm ) Am : (11.23)
m=Q+1
The MSE is given by
"2 = E "T "]
P P
= E Pm=Q+1 Pn=Q+1 (gm ; bm ) (gn ; bn ) ATm An ] (11.24)
P
= Pm=Q+1 E (gm ; bm )2 ]:
The last step above follows from the orthonormality of A.
Taking the derivative of the MSE with respect to bm and setting the result
to zero, we get
@ "2 = ;2 E (g ; b )] = 0: (11.25)
@b m m
m
The optimal (MMSE) choice for bm is, therefore, given by
bm = E gm] = gm = ATm E f ] m = Q + 1 : : : P (11.26)
that is, the omitted components are replaced by their means. The MMSE is
given by
"2 min
P
= Pm=Q+1 E (gm ; g m )2 ]
P
= Pm=Q+1 E ATm (f ; f ) (f ; f )T Am ] (11.27)
P
= Pm=Q+1 ATm f Am
where f is the covariance matrix of f .
Now, if the basis vectors Am are selected as the eigenvectors of f , that is,
f Am = m Am (11.28)
and
m = ATm f Am (11.29)
Image Coding and Data Compression 991
because ATm Am = 1, where m are the corresponding eigenvalues, then, we
have
X
P
"2 min = m : (11.30)
m=Q+1
Therefore, the MSE may be minimized by ordering the eigenvectors (the rows
of A) such that the corresponding eigenvalues are arranged in decreasing
order, that is, 1 > 2 > > P . Then, if a component gm of g is replaced
by bm = gm , the MSE increases by m . By replacing the components of g
corresponding to the eigenvalues at the lower end of the list, the MSE is kept
at its lowest-possible value for a chosen number of components Q.
From the above formulation and properties, it follows that the components
of g are mutually uncorrelated:
2 3
1
6
6 2 77
g = AT f A = 6 ... 75 = (11.31)
4
P
where is a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues m placed along its diago-
nal. Because the eigenvalues m are equal to the variances of gm , a selection
of the larger eigenvalues implies the selection of the transform components
with the higher variance or information content across the ensemble of the
images considered.
The KLT has major applications in principal-component analysis (PCA),
image coding, data compression, and feature extraction for pattern classi -
cation. Diculties could exist in the computation of the eigenvectors and
eigenvalues of the large covariance matrices of even reasonably sized images.
It should be noted that a KLT is optimal only for the images represented
by the statistical parameters used to derive the transformation. New trans-
formations will need to be derived if changes occur in the statistics of the
image-generating process being considered, or if images of dierent statistical
characteristics need to be analyzed.
Because the KLT is a data-dependent transform, the transformation vectors
(the matrix A) need to be transmitted however, if a large number of images
generated by the same underlying process are to be transmitted, the same
optimal transform is applicable, and the transformation vectors need to be
transmitted only once. Note that the error between the original image and
the image reconstituted from the KLT components needs to be transmitted
in order to facilitate lossless recovery of the image.
See Section 8.9.5 for a discussion on the application of the KLT for the
selection of the principal components in multiscale directional ltering.
992 Biomedical Image Analysis
11.6.3 Encoding of transform coecients
Regardless of the transform used (such as the DFT, DCT, or KLT), the trans-
form coecients form a set of continuous random variables, and have to be
quantized for encoding. This introduces quantization errors in the transform
coecients that are transmitted, and hence, errors arise in the image recon-
structed from the transform-coded image. In the following paragraphs, a rela-
tionship is derived between the quantization error in the transform domain and
the error in the reconstructed image. Kuduvalli and Rangayyan 174, 338, 972]
used such a relationship to develop a method for error-free transform coding
of images.
Consider the general 2D linear transformation, with the forward and inverse
transform kernels consisting of orthogonal basis functions a(m n k l) and
b(m n k l), respectively, such that the forward and inverse transforms are
given by
;1 NX
NX ;1
F (k l) = f (m n) a(m n k l) (11.32)
m=0 n=0
k l = 0 1 : : : N ; 1, and
;1 NX
NX ;1
f (m n) = F (k l) b(m n k l) (11.33)
k=0 l=0
m n = 0 1 : : : N ; 1: (See Section 3.5.2.) Now, let the transform coecient
F (k l) be quantized to F~ (k l), with a quantization error qF (k l) such that
F (k l) = F~ (k l) + qF (k l): (11.34)
The reconstructed image from the quantized transform coecients is given by
;1 NX
NX ;1
f~(m n) = F~ (k l) b(m n k l): (11.35)
k=0 l=0
The error in the reconstructed image is
qf (m n) = f (m n) ; f~(m n)
;1 NX
NX ;1
= F (k l) ; F~ (k l)] b(m n k l)
k=0 l=0
NX ;1
;1 NX
= qF (k l) b(m n k l):
k=0 l=0
(11.36)
The sum of the squared errors in the reconstructed image is
;1 NX
NX ;1
Qf = jqf (m n)j2
m=0 n=0
Image Coding and Data Compression 993
NX ;1 (NX
;1 NX ;1 NX
;1 )
= qF (k l) b(m n k l)
m=0 n=0
(Nk=0
;
l=0
;1 )
X X
1 N
qF (k0 l0 ) b(m n k0 l0 )
k =0 l =0
0 0
NX;1 NX
;1 NX;1 NX ;1 ;1 NX
NX ;1
= qF (k l) qF (k0 l0 ) b (m n k l) b(m n k0 l0 )
k=0 l=0 k =0 l =0
0 0 m=0 n=0
NX;1 NX;1
= jqF (k l)j2 = QF (11.37)
k=0 l=0
where the last line follows from the orthogonality of the basis functions b(m n
k l), and QF is the sum of the squared quantization errors in the transform
domain. This result is related to Parseval's theorem in 2D see Equation 2.55.
Applying the expectation operator to the rst and the last expressions above,
we get
;1 NX
NX ;1 ;1 NX
NX ;1
E jqf (m n)j2] = E jqF (k l)j2 ] (11.38)
m=0 n=0 k=0 l=0
or ;1 NX
NX ;1 ;1 NX
NX ;1
qf2 (m n) = qF2 (k l) = Q2 (11.39)
m=0 n=0 k=0 l=0
where the symbol indicates the expected (average) values of the correspond-
ing variables, and Q2 is the expected total squared error of quantization (in
either the image domain or the transform domain).
It is possible to derive a condition for the minimum average number of bits
required for encoding the transform coecients for a given total distortion in
the image domain. Let us assume that the transform coecients are normally
distributed. If the variance of the transform coecient F (k l) is F2 (k l), the
average number of bits required to encode the coecient F (k l) with the MSE
qF2 (k l) is given by its rate-distortion function 973]
2
" #
R(k l) = 12 log2 2F (k l) : (11.40)
qF (k l)
The overall average number of bits required to encode the transform coe-
cients with a total squared error Q2 is
;1 NX
NX ;1
Rav = N12 R(k l)
k=0 l=0
;1 NX;1 " #
= 2 N21 NX
log2 2F
2 (k l)
: (11.41)
k=0 l=0 qF (k l)
994 Biomedical Image Analysis
We now need to minimize Rav subject to the condition given by Equa-
tion 11.39. Using the method of Lagrange's multiplier, the minimum occurs
when n 1 PN ;1 PN ;1 h 2 (kl) i
@ log F
@ qF2 (kl) 2 N 2 k=0 l=0 2 qF2 (kl)
h io (11.42)
P N ; 1 P N ;1
; Q ; k=0 l=0 qF (k l) = 0
2 2
1.4
1.2
0.8
p(x)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
x
FIGURE 11.14
Schematic PDFs of the transform-coecient quantization error (uniform PDF,
solid line) and the image reconstruction error (Gaussian PDF, dashed line).
The gure represents the case with the quantization step size S = 1.
996 Biomedical Image Analysis
where erfc(x) is the error function integral, de ned as 974]
Z1 1 x2
erfc(x) = p exp ; 2 dx: (11.47)
x 2
Thus, only a negligible number of pixels in the reconstructed image will
be in error by more than the quantization step size S . Conversely, if the
maximum error is desired to be S , a quantization step size of S could be
used to encode the transform coecients, with only a negligibly small number
of the reconstructed pixels exceeding the error limit. The pixels in error by
more than the speci ed maximum could be encoded separately with a small
overhead. When the maximum allowed error is 0:5, error-free reconstruction
of the image is possible by simply rounding o the reconstructed values to
integers.
Variable-length encoding and bit allocation: The lower bound on
the average number of bits required for encoding normally distributed trans-
form coecients F (k l) with the MSE qF2 (k l) is given by Equation 11.40.
Goodness-of- t studies of PDFs of transform coecients 975] have shown
that transform coecients tend to follow the Laplacian PDF. The PDF of a
transform coecient F (k l) may be modeled as
p(F (k l)) = (k2 l) exp(; (k l) jF (k l)j) (11.48)
p
where (k l) = 2=F (k l) is the constant parameter of the Laplacian PDF.
A shift encoder could be used to encode the transform coecients such that
the maximum quantization error is S . The shift-encoding procedure is
shown in Figure 11.15. In a shift encoder, 2 (k l) levels are nominally allo-
cated to encode a transform coecient F (k l), covering the range ;f (k l) ;
1g S f (k l) ; 1g S ] with the codes 0 1 2 : : : 2 (k l) ; 2. The code 2 (k l) ; 1
indicates that the coecient is out of the range ;f (k l) ; 1g S f (k l) ;
1g S ]. For the out-of-range coecients, an additional 2 (k l) levels are allo-
cated to cover the ranges ;f2 (k l);1g S ; (k l) S ], and (k l) S f2 (k l);
1g S ]. The process is repeated with the allocation of additional levels until
the actual value of the transform coecient to be encoded is reached. If the
code value is represented by a simple binary code at each level, the average
number of bits required to encode the transform coecient F (k l) is given
by 338]
1 + log2 (k l)
R(k l) = 1 ; exp (11.49)
; (k l) (k l) S ]
and the nominal number of bits allocated to encode the transform coecient
is
b(k l) = dlog2 (k l)]e: (11.50)
It is now required to nd the b(k l) that minimizes the average number of
bits R(k l) required to encode F (k l). This can be done by using a nonlinear
Image Coding and Data Compression 997
optimization technique such as the Newton-Raphson method. However, be-
cause only integral values of b(k l) need to be searched, it is computationally
less expensive to search the space of b(k l) 2 1 31] for the corresponding
minimum value of R(k l), which is the range of the nominal number of bits
allocated to encode the transform coecient F (k l).
1.5
1
p ( F(k, l) )
0.5
0
−2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
F(k, l)
FIGURE 11.15
Schematic representation of shift coding of transform coecients with a Lapla-
cian PDF. With reference to the discussion in the text, the gure represents
(k l) S = 0:5 and (k l) = 3:0.
FIGURE 11.16
Average bit rate as a function of the maximum allowed error, using four trans-
forms (KLT, DCT, DFT, and WHT) with the rst image listed in Table 11.5.
A block size of 256 256 pixels was used for each transform. The compression
is lossless if the maximum allowed error is 0:5 otherwise, it is irreversible or
lossy. See also Table 11.7. Reproduced with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli
and R.M. Rangayyan, \Performance analysis of reversible image compression
techniques for high-resolution digital teleradiology", IEEE Transactions on
Medical Imaging, 11(3): 430 { 445, 1992. c IEEE.
1000 Biomedical Image Analysis
Average bit rate (bits/ pixel)
FIGURE 11.17
Average bit rate as a function of the maximum allowed error, using the DCT,
for the rst four images listed in Table 11.5. A block size of 256 256 pixels
was used. The compression is lossless if the maximum allowed error is
0:5 otherwise, it is irreversible or lossy. See also Table 11.7. Reproduced
with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli and R.M. Rangayyan, \Performance
analysis of reversible image compression techniques for high-resolution digital
teleradiology", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3): 430 { 445,
1992. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1001
1 5 3 5 1 5 3 5 1
5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5
3 5 2 5 3 5 2 5 3
5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5
1 5 3 5 1 5 3 5 1
5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5
3 5 2 5 3 5 2 5 3
5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5
1 5 3 5 1 5 3 5 1
FIGURE 11.18
Stages of interpolative coding. The pixels marked \1" are coded and trans-
mitted rst. Next, the pixels marked \2" are estimated from those marked
\1", and the dierences are transmitted. The procedure continues iteratively
with the pixels marked \3", \4", and \5". Reproduced with permission from
G.R. Kuduvalli and R.M. Rangayyan, \Performance analysis of reversible im-
age compression techniques for high-resolution digital teleradiology", IEEE
Transactions on Medical Imaging, 11(3): 430 { 445, 1992. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1003
Average bit rate (bits/ pixel)
FIGURE 11.19
Results of compression of eight of the images listed in Table 11.5 by inter-
polative and Human coding. Order zero corresponds to 1 1 2D DPCM
coding. Reproduced with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli and R.M. Ran-
gayyan, \Performance analysis of reversible image compression techniques for
high-resolution digital teleradiology", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
11(3): 430 { 445, 1992. c IEEE.
1004 Biomedical Image Analysis
FIGURE 11.20
Results of compression of six of the images listed in Table 11.5 by 2D LP
(autocorrelation method) and Human coding. The method was applied on
a block-by-block basis, using blocks of size 128 128 pixels. In the case of
modeling using the NSHP ROS, a model order of 1:5 indicates a 1 1 1
ROS (see Figure 10.19), 2:5 indicates a 2 2 2 ROS, etc. The orders of
models using the QP ROS are indicated by integers: 2 indicates a 2 2 ROS, 3
indicates a 3 3 ROS, etc. Reproduced with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli
and R.M. Rangayyan, \Performance analysis of reversible image compression
techniques for high-resolution digital teleradiology", IEEE Transactions on
Medical Imaging, 11(3): 430 { 445, 1992. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1011
0 m f (m - P ) f (m) N-1
1
q
ROS
P +1
p 2
P
2
P P P
1 1 1
region of forward prediction
FIGURE 11.21
Multichannel linear prediction. Each row of the image is viewed as a channel
or component of a multichannel signal or vector. The column index of the
image may be considered to be equivalent to a temporal index 174, 337,
338]. The indices shown correspond to Equations 11.74 and 11.88. See also
Figure 11.22.
P P
1 1
(0, 0) f (m) m (0, N-1)
.
.
.
FIGURE 11.22
Multichannel LP applied to a 2D image 337, 338]. See also Figure 11.21.
Reproduced with permission from G.R. Kuduvalli and R.M. Rangayyan, \An
algorithm for direct computation of 2-D linear prediction coecients", IEEE
Transactions on Signal Processing, 41(2): 996{1000, 1993. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1013
P1
X P1 X
X P1
+ c (q ) aT (q ) + a(p) c (q ; p) aT (q) (11.78)
q=1 p=1 q=1
where c is the ACF of the image computed over the set of rows or channels
being used in the multichannel prediction model, given by
2 3
00 (r) 0P2 (r)
6
c (r) = 4 ... . . . .. 75 (11.79)
.
P20 (r) P2 P2 (r)
and
pq (r) = E fp (m) fq (m ; r)]: (11.80)
In order to minimize the trace of the error covariance matrix e , we could
dierentiate both the sides of Equation 11.78 with respect to the prediction
coecient matrices a(r), r = 1 2 : : : P1 , and equate the result to the null
matrix of size (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1), which leads to
0 = @@a(re) r = 1 2 : : : P1
P1
X
= 2 c (;r) + 2 Tc (r ; p) aT (p)
p=1
P1
X
= c (;r) + c (p ; r) aT (p) r = 1 2 : : : P1 : (11.81)
p=1
Note: Tc (r ; p) = c (p ; r).]
Now, Equation 11.78 may be rewritten as
P1
X
e = c (0) + a(p) c (p)
p=1
P1 " P1 #
X X
+ c (; q ) + a(p) c (q ; p) aT (q)
q=1 p=1
P1
X
= c (0) + a(p) Tc (p)
p=1
XP1
= c (0) + c (p) aT (p): (11.82)
p=1
The relationships derived above may be summarized as
c A = (11.83)
1014 Biomedical Image Analysis
where the matrices are given in expanded form as
2
c (0) c (1) c (P 1 ) 3 2 I 3 2 3
e
66 c (;1) c (0) c (P1 ; 1) 77 66 aT (1) 77 66 0 77
64 .. .. . . . .. 75 64 .. 75 = 64 .. 75 : (11.84)
. . . . .
c (;P1 ) c (;P1 + 1) c (0) aT (P1) 0
In the equation above, the submatrices c are as de ned in Equation 11.79
I is the identity matrix of size (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) and 0 is the null matrix
of size (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1). This system of equations may be referred to as
the multichannel version of the Yule{Walker equations. The solution to this
set of equations may be used to obtain the 2D LP coecients by making the
following associations:
pq (r) = f (r p ; q) (11.85)
(compare Equations 11.80 and 11.64)
= e a0 (11.86)
and
ar = aT (r) a0 (11.87)
where ar = a(r 0) a(r 1) a(r P2)]T is composed by the elements of the
rth row of the matrix of prediction coecients a given in Equation 11.73
(written as a column matrix).
The Levinson-Wiggins-Robinson algorithm: The multichannel pre-
diction coecient matrix may be obtained by the application of the algorithms
due to Levinson 987] and Wiggins and Robinson 988]. In the multichannel
version of this algorithm 337, 338], the prediction coecients for order (P1 +1)
are recursively related to those for order P1 . The prediction model given by
Equation 11.74 is known as the forward predictor. Going in the opposite di-
rection, the backward predictor is de ned to predict the vector f (m) in terms
of the vectors f (m + p), p = 1 2 : : : P1 , as
P1
~f (m) = ; X b(p) f (m + p) (11.88)
p=1
where b(p), p = 1 2 : : : P1 , are the multichannel backward prediction coe-
cient matrices, each of size (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) see Figure 11.21.
In order to derive the multichannel version of Levinson's algorithm, let us
rewrite the multichannel ACF matrix in Equations 11.83 and 11.84 as follows:
2
(0) (1) (P1 ) 3
6 (;1) (0) (P1 ; 1) 77
P1+1 = 664 .. .. . . . .. 75 (11.89)
. . .
(;P1 ) (;P1 + 1) (0)
Image Coding and Data Compression 1015
where the subscript (P1 + 1) is used to indicate the order of the model, and
the subscript c has been dropped from the submatrices for compact notation.
The matrix P1 +1 may be partitioned as
2 3 2 3
(0) TP1 P 1 #
P1
P1+1 = 4 5=4 5 (11.90)
P1 P1 #T
P1 (0)
where
P1= (1) (2) (P1 )]T (11.91)
# T
P1 = (;P1 ) (;P1 + 1) (;1)] (11.92)
and the property that (r) = T (;r) has been used. It follows that
2 3
P1 ;1
P1 = 4 5 (11.93)
(;P1 )
and 2 (P ) 3
1
# P1 = 4 5: (11.94)
#
P1 ;1
Let us also de ne partitions of the forward and backward prediction coecient
matrices as follows:
AP1 = IA~ P (11.95)
1
and ~
BP1 = B I
P1 (11.96)
where AP1 is the same as A in Equations 11.83 and 11.84, and BP1 is formed
in a similar manner for the backward predictor.
Using the partitions as de ned above, we may rewrite the multichannel
Yule{Walker equations, given by Equation 11.84, in two forms for forward
and backward prediction, as follows:
2 32 3 2 f 3
(0) TP1 I
4 5 4 5 = 4 P1 5 (11.97)
TP1 P1 A~ P1 0P 1
and 2 32~ 3 2 3
P1 #
P1 BP 0P 1
4 5 4 15=4 5 (11.98)
# T
P1 (0) I bP 1
where 0P 1 is the null matrix of size (P1 P2 + 1) (P2 + 1). The matrix fP 1
is the covariance matrix of the error of forward prediction (the same as e
1016 Biomedical Image Analysis
given by Equation 11.82), with the matrix bP 1 being the counterpart for the
backward predictor. It follows that
A~ P1 = ;;P11 P1 (11.99)
B~ P1 = ;;P11 #P1 (11.100)
fP 1 = (0) + TP1 A
~ P1 (11.101)
and
bP1 = (0) + # T ~ :
P1 B P1 (11.102)
Applying the inversion theorem for partitioned matrices 979], and making
use of the preceding six relationships, we get
2
0 0TP 1 3
;P11+1 = 4 5 + AP1 fP 1 ];1 ATP1 (11.103)
0P 1 ;P11
2 ;1 3
0P 1
P1
=4 5 + BP1 bP 1 ];1 BTP1 : (11.104)
0TP 1 0
Multiplying both sides of Equation 11.104 by P1 +1 , making use of the par-
titioned form in Equation 11.93, and using Equation 11.99, we get
~
A~ P1+1 = A P1 b ;1 T
0 ; BP1 P 1 ] BP1 P1+1 : (11.105)
Extracting the lower (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) matrix from both sides of Equa-
tion 11.105 in its partitioned form, we have
aTP1+1 (P1 + 1) = ;bP 1 ];1 BTP1 P1+1 (11.106)
which upon transposition yields
aP1+1 (P1 + 1) = ;TP1 +1 BP1 bP 1 ];1
= ;bP1 +1 ]T bP 1 ];1 (11.107)
where
bP1+1 = BTP1 P1+1
P1
X
= (;P1 ; 1) + bP1 (p) (;P1 ; 1 + p): (11.108)
p=1
Using Equation 11.107 in Equation 11.105, we get
~AP1 +1 = A~ P1 + BP1 aTP1 +1 (P1 + 1) (11.109)
0
Image Coding and Data Compression 1017
which upon transposition and expansion of the matrix notation yields
aP1+1 (p) = aP1 (p)+aP1+1 (P1 +1) bP1 (P1 +1;p) p = 1 2 : : : P1 : (11.110)
Similarly, multiplying both sides of Equation 11.103 by #P1 +1 and using Equa-
tion 11.100, we get
bP1 +1 (P1 + 1) = ;fP1+1 ]T fP 1 ];1 (11.111)
where
P1
X
fP1 +1 = (P1 + 1) + aP1 (p) (P1 + 1 ; p) (11.112)
p=1
and
bP1+1 (p) = bP1 (p)+bP1+1 (P1 +1) aP1 (P1 +1;p) p = 1 2 : : : P1 : (11.113)
Substituting Equation 11.109 in Equation 11.101 and using the partitioned
form of P1 +1 in Equation 11.93, we get
fP 1+1 = (0) + TP1 A~ P1 + TP1 +1 BP1 aTP1 +1 (P1 + 1)
= fP 1 + bP1 +1 ]T aTP1 +1 (P1 + 1)
= fP 1 ; aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) bP 1 aTP1 +1 (P1 + 1) (11.114)
where Equation 11.107 has been used in the last step. Similarly, we can obtain
an expression for the covariance matrix of the backward prediction error as
bP 1+1 = bP 1 ; bP1 +1 (P1 + 1) fP 1 bTP1 +1 (P1 + 1): (11.115)
Now, consider the matrix product
T
(0) TP1+1 AP1
0B P1 +2
A P1
= 0 B T
P1 0 P1 P1 +1 0
P1+1
P1
= BTP1 P1 +1 BTP1 P1 +1 A 0
2 3
I
= bP1 +1 0 bP 1 4 A~ P1 5
0
b
= P1 +1 : (11.116)
Taking the transpose of the expression above, and noting that P1 +2 is sym-
metric, we get
bP1 +1 ]T = ATP1 0 P1 +2 0B = fP1 +1 : (11.117)
P1
1018 Biomedical Image Analysis
Equations 11.105, 11.107, 11.109 { 11.112, 11.114, 11.115, and 11.117 consti-
tute the Levinson-Wiggins-Robinson algorithm, with the initialization
f0 = b0 = c (0): (11.118)
With the autocorrelation matrices (p) de ned by the association given in
Equation 11.85, the matrix P1 +1 is a Toeplitz-block-Toeplitz matrix: the
block elements (submatrices) (p) along the diagonals of P1 +1 are mutually
identical, and furthermore, the elements along the diagonals of each subma-
trix (p) are mutually identical. Thus, P1 +1 and (p) are symmetrical
about their cross diagonals (that is, they are per-symmetric). A property of
Toeplitz-block-Toeplitz matrices that is of interest here is de ned in terms of
the exchange matrices 2 3
0 0 0 1
60 0 1 07
J = 664 .. .. .. .. .. 775 (11.119)
.. . ..
1 0 0 0
of size (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1), and
2
0 0 0 J3
60 0 J 07
JP1 = 664 .. .. .. .. .. 775 (11.120)
. . . . .
J 0 0 0
of size (P1 +1)(P2 +1) (P1 +1)(P2 +1), such that J J = I and JP1 +1 JP1 +1 =
IP1 +1 . With these de nitions, we have
J (p) J = T (p) (11.121)
and
JP1 +1 P1+1 JP1+1 = P1+1 : (11.122)
Now, premultiplying both sides of Equation 11.84 by JP1 +1 and post-multiplying
both sides by J, we get
2
(0) (;1) (;P1 ) 3 2 J aTP1 (P1) J 3 2 0 3
66 (1) (0) (;P1 + 1) 77 66 ... 77 66 .. 77
64 .. .. . . . .. 7 6 7 = 6 . 75 :
. . . 5 4 J aTP1 (1) J 5 4 0
(P1 ) (P1 ; 1) (0) I J fP1 J
(11.123)
Equation 11.123 is identical to the modi ed Yule{Walker equations for com-
puting the matrices bP1 (p) and bP1 in Equation 11.98. Comparing the terms
in the two equations, we get
bP1 (p) = J aTP1 (p) J p = 1 2 : : : P1 (11.124)
Image Coding and Data Compression 1019
and
= J fP1 J = P1 :
bP1 (11.125)
With these simpli cations, the recursive procedures in the multichannel
Levinson algorithm may be modi ed for the computation of 2D LP coecients
as follows:
P1
X
P1 +1 = f (P1 + 1) + aP1 (p) f (P1 + 1 ; p) (11.126)
p=1
aP1+1 (P1 + 1) = ;P1 +1 J ;P11 J (11.127)
aP1+1 (p) = aP1 (p) + aP1+1 (P1 + 1) J aP1 (P1 + 1 ; p) J p = 1 2 : : : P1
(11.128)
and
P 1+1 = P 1 ; aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) J P 1 J aTP1 +1 (P1 + 1) (11.129)
with the initialization
0 = f (0) (11.130)
where 2 3
f (p 0) f (p ;P2)
6
f (p) = 4 ... . . . .. 75 : (11.131)
.
f (p P2) f (p 0)
Equations 11.126 { 11.131 constitute the 2D Levinson algorithm for solving the
2D Yule{Walker equations for the case of a QP ROS. The Levinson algorithm
provides results that are identical to those obtained by direct inversion of f .
Computation of the 2D LP coecients directly from the image
data: The multichannel version of the Levinson algorithm may be used to
derive the multichannel version of the Burg algorithm 986, 337, 338], as fol-
lows. Equation 11.109 may be augmented using the partition shown in Equa-
tion 11.95 as
AP1+1 = A P1 0 T
0 + BP1 aP1+1 (P1 + 1): (11.132)
From Equation 11.75, the forward prediction error vector for order (P1 + 1) is
PX
1 +1
efP1+1 (m) = f (m) + aP1+1 (p) f (m ; p)
p=1
= ATP1 +1 FP1 +1 (m) (11.133)
where FP1 +1 (m) is the multichannel data matrix of order (P1 + 1) at (m),
which may be partitioned as
FP1 +1 (m) = fF(Pm()m ; 1) = Ff (Pm1 (;m)P1 ; 1) : (11.134)
1
1020 Biomedical Image Analysis
Similarly, the backward prediction error vector may be expressed as
PX
1 +1
ebP1+1 (m) = f (m ; P1 ; 1) + bP1+1 (p) f (m ; P1 + p)
p=1
= BTP1 +1 FP1 +1 (m): (11.135)
Transposing both sides of Equation 11.132 and multiplying by FP1 +1 (m),
using the partitioned forms shown on the right-hand side of Equation 11.134,
as well as using Equations 11.133 and 11.135, we get
efP1+1 (m) = efP1 (m) + aP1+1 (P1 + 1) ebP1 (m ; 1): (11.136)
Similarly, the backward prediction error vector is given by
ebP1+1 (m) = ebP1 (m ; 1) + bP1+1 (P1 + 1) efP1 (m): (11.137)
The matrices aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) and bP1 +1 (P1 + 1) | known as the re!ection
coecient matrices 510] | that minimize the the sum of the squared forward
and backward prediction errors over the entire multichannel set of data points
N given by
" N ;1 n o#
X
2 c = Tr efP1+1 (m) efP1+1 (m)]T + ebP1+1 (m) ebP1+1 (m)]T
m=P1 +1
(11.138)
are obtained by solving 986]
bP1 ];1 bP1 ];1 EbP1 aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) + aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) fP1 ];1 EfP1 fP1 ];1 =
;bP1 ];1 bP1 ];1 Efb b ;1 fb f ;1
P1 ; P1 ] EP1 P1 ] (11.139)
where ;1
NX
EfP1 = efP1 (m) efP1 (m)]T (11.140)
m=P1
;1
NX
EbP1 = ebP1 (m) ebP1 (m)]T (11.141)
m=P1
and ;1
NX
Efb
P1 = efP1 (m) ebP1 (m)]T : (11.142)
m=P1
Equations 11.136, 11.137, and 11.139 { 11.142 may be used to compute the
multichannel re!ection coecients directly from the image data without com-
puting the ACF.
In order to adapt the multichannel version of the Burg algorithm to the
2D image case, we could force the structure obtained by relating the 2D
Image Coding and Data Compression 1021
and multichannel ACFs in Equation 11.85 on to the expressions in Equations
11.137 and 11.139, and rede ne the error covariance matrices EfP1 , EbP1 , and
Efb
P1 to span the entire M N image. Then, the 2D counterpart of the
re!ection coecient matrix aP1 +1 (P1 +1) is obtained by solving the following
equation 338, 337]:
;1 ;1
P1 P1 EbP1 aP1+1 (P1 + 1) + aP1+1 (P1 + 1) ;P11 EfP1 ;P11 =
;;P11 ;P11 Efb ;1 fb ;1
P1 ; P1 EP1 P1 : (11.143)
In order to compute the error covariance matrices EfP1 , EbP1 , and Efb
P1 , a strip
of width (P2 + 1) is de ned so as to span the top (P2 + 1) rows of the image,
as shown in Figure 11.22, and the strip is moved down one row at a time. The
region over which the summations are performed includes only those parts of
the strip for which the forward and backward prediction operators do not run
out of data. At the beginning of the recursive procedure, the error values are
initialized to the actual values of the corresponding pixels. Furthermore, the
forward and backward prediction error vectors are computed by forcing the
relationship in Equation 11.124 on to Equation 11.137, resulting in
ebP1+1 (m) = ebP1 (m ; 1) + J aP1+1 (P1 + 1) J efP1 (m): (11.144)
The 2D Burg algorithm for computing the 2D LP coecients directly from
the image data may be summarized as follows:
1. The prediction error covariance matrix 0 is initialized to f (0).
2. The prediction error vectors are computed using Equations 11.136 and
11.144.
3. The prediction error covariance matrices EfP1 , EbP1 , and Efb
P1 are com-
puted from the prediction error vectors using Equations 11.140 { 11.142
and summing over strips of width (P2 + 1) rows of the image.
4. The re!ection coecient matrix aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) is obtained from the
prediction error covariance matrices by solving Equation 11.143, which
is of the form AX + XB = C and can be solved by using Kronecker
products 986, 989].
5. The remaining prediction coecient matrices aP1 +1 (p) are computed by
using Equation 11.128, and the expected value of the prediction error
covariance matrix P1 +1 is updated using Equation 11.129.
6. When the recursive procedure reaches the desired order P1 , the 2D LP
coecients are computed by solving Equations 11.86 and 11.87.
1022 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 11.6
Variables in the 2D LP, Burg, and Levinson Algorithms for LP 338].
Variable Size Description
f (m n) M N 2D image array
f (m) (P2 + 1) 1 Multichannel vector at column m
spanning P2 + 1 rows
(r) (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Autocorrelation submatrix related
to f (m)
(P1 + 1)(P2 + 1) Extended 2D autocorrelation matrix
(P1 + 1)(P2 + 1)
a (P1 + 1)(P2 + 1) 1 2D LP coecient matrix
aP1 (p) (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Multichannel-equivalent prediction
coecient matrix
aP1 (P1 ) (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Multichannel-equivalent re!ection
coecient matrix
P1 (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Multichannel prediction error
covariance matrix
ef (m n) M N Forward prediction error array
eb (m n) M N Backward prediction error array
ef (m) (P2 + 1) 1 Multichannel forward prediction
error vector
eb (m) (P2 + 1) 1 Multichannel backward prediction
error vector
e(m)(n) scalar nth element of the vector e(m)
EfP1 (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Forward prediction
error covariance matrix
EbP1 (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Backward prediction
error covariance matrix
Efb
P1 (P2 + 1) (P2 + 1) Forward-backward prediction
error covariance matrix
p = 0 1 2 : : : P2 q = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1 m = 0 1 2 : : : P M+ 1 ; 1:
2
Equation 11.86 is in the form of the normal equations for 1D LP 510]. This
suggests that the 1D Burg algorithm for LP 990] may be applied to the
multichannel-equivalent 2D prediction error image to obtain the nal predic-
tion error image, in a recursive manner, as follows 338]:
1. Compute the sum of the squared forward and backward prediction errors
as
;1 MX
NX ;1
2f = jeP2 (m n)j2 (11.150)
m=P2 n=0
;1 MX
NX ;1
2
b= jcP2 (m n)j2 (11.151)
m=P2 n=0
and
;1 MX
NX ;1
2fb = eP2 (m n) cP2 (m n) (11.152)
m=P2 n=0
where cP2 (m n) is the M N backward prediction error array, initialized
as
c0 (m n) = e0 (m n) m = 0 1 2 : : : M ; 1 n = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1:
(11.153)
2. Compute the coecient a(0 P2 + 1), known as the re!ection coecient,
as
2
a(0 P2 + 1) = ; 2 +fb 2 : (11.154)
f b
Image Coding and Data Compression 1025
3. Obtain the prediction errors at higher orders as
eP2 +1 (m n) = eP2 (m n) + a(0 P2 + 1) cP2 +1 (m n ; 1) (11.155)
and
cP2+1 (m n) = a(0 P2 + 1) eP2+1 (m n) + eP2 (m n): (11.156)
When the desired order P2 is reached, the prediction errors eP2 (m n) are
encoded using a method such as the Human code. The re!ection coecient
matrices aP1 +1 (P1 + 1) and the 1D re!ection coecients a(0 P2 ) are also
encoded and transmitted as overhead information.
Error-free reconstruction of the image from the forward and back-
ward prediction errors: In order to reconstruct the original image at
the decoder without any error, the prediction coecients need to be re-
computed from the re!ection coecients. The prediction coecients a(0 p),
p = 0 1 2 : : : P2 , may be computed recursively using the Burg algorithm as
a(0 p) ( a(0 p) + a(0 q + 1) a(0 q + 1 ; p) p = 1 2 : : : q q = 1 2 : : : P2:
(11.157)
The multichannel-equivalent 2D prediction error image is given by
P2
X
e0 (m n) = a(0 p) e0 (m ; p n) + eP2 +1 (m n) (11.158)
p=1
n = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1 m = P2 + 1 P2 + 2 : : : M ; 1:
The multichannel prediction error vectors are related to the error data de ned
above as
efP1 (mN + q)(p) = e0 m(P2 + 1) + p q] (11.159)
p = 0 1 2 : : : P2 q = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1 m = 0 1 2 : : : P M+ 1 ; 1 :
2
The multichannel signal vectors may be reconstructed from the error vectors
via multichannel prediction as
P1
~f (m) = ; X a(p) f (m;p)+efP1 (m) m = P1 +1 P1 +2 : : : N ;1: (11.160)
p=1
Finally, the original image is recovered from the multichannel signal vectors
as
f m(P2 + 1) + p q] = f (mN + q)(p) (11.161)
p = 0 1 2 : : : P2 q = 0 1 2 : : : N ; 1 m = 0 1 2 : : : P M+ 1 ; 1
2
1026 Biomedical Image Analysis
with rounding of the results to integers. In a practical implementation, for
values of eP2 +1 (m n) exceeding a preset limit, the true image pixel values
would be transmitted and made available directly at the decoder.
Results of application to medical images: Kuduvalli and Rangayyan
174, 337, 338] applied the 2D Levinson and Burg algorithms described above
to the 10 high-resolution digitized medical images listed in Table 11.5. The
average bit rate with lossless compression of the 10 test images using the 2D
block-wise LP method described in Section 11.8.1, the 2D Levinson algorithm,
and the 2D Burg algorithm were, respectively, 3:15 3:02 and 2:81 b=pixel,
with the original images having 10 b=pixel (see also Table 11.7). The multi-
channel LP algorithms, in particular, the 2D Burg algorithm, provided better
compression than the other methods described in the preceding sections in
this chapter. The LP models described in this section are related to AR mod-
eling for spectral estimation Kuduvalli and Rangayyan 337] found the 2D
Burg algorithm to provide good 2D spectral estimates that were comparable
to those provided by other AR models.
n
(0, 0) (0, N-1)
P+1
m
f(m,n)
Q+1
FIGURE 11.23
ROSs in adaptive LP by the 2D RLS method 338]. While the image is scanned
from the position (m n ; 1) to (m n), a column of m pixels becomes available
as new information that may be used to update the forward and backward
predictors. Observe that a part of the column of new information is hidden
by the ROS for both forward and backward prediction in the gure.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1029
coecients and the image data spanning the current ROS as vectors:
a(m n) = aT0 (m n) aT1 (m n) aTP (m n) T (11.164)
where
ap (m n) = a(m n)(p 0) a(m n)(p 1) a(m n)(p Q)]T (11.165)
with a(m n)(0 0) = 1, and
FP +1 (m n) = fmT (n) fmT ;1 (n) fmT ;P (n) T (11.166)
with
fm;p (n) = f (m ; p n) f (m ; p n ; 1) f (m ; p n ; Q)]T : (11.167)
Here, the subscripts P and P + 1 represent the order (size) of the matrices
and vectors, and the indices (m n) indicate that the values of the parameters
corresponding to the pixel location (m n). Observe that a(m n) is a P
Q matrix, with a(m n)(p q) representing its element at (p q). With this
notation, the prediction error may be written as
e(m n) = aT (m n) FP +1 (m n): (11.168)
The 2D RLS normal equations: The coecients that minimize the
weighted sum of the squared prediction errors 2 (m n) given in Equation
11.163 are obtained as the solution to the 2D RLS normal equations, which
are obtained as follows 338]. Let us perform partitioning of the matrices
a(m n) and FP +1 (m n) as
1
a(m n) = a~(m n) (11.169)
and
#
f ( m n ) F (m n )
FP +1 (m n) = F~ P +1 (m n) = f (m ; P n ; Q) :
P +1 (11.170)
Observe that the coecient matrix a~(m n) and the data matrix F~ P +1 (m n)
consist of all of the 2D RLS coecients a(m n)(p q) and all of the image
pixels f (m ; p n ; q) such that (p q) 2 QP ROS for a forward predictor.
With partitioning as above, the prediction error in Equation 11.168 may be
written as
e(m n) = f (m n) + a~T (m n) F~ P +1 (m n): (11.171)
The sum of the squared prediction errors in Equation 11.163 may now be
expressed as
X
m X
n
2 (m n) = (m;p+n;q) e(p q)]2
p=0 q=0
1030 Biomedical Image Analysis
X
m X
n h i
= (m;p+n;q) f (p q) + a~T (m n) F~ P +1 (p q)
p=0 q=0
h iT
f (p q) + a~T (m n) F~ P +1 (p q)
Xm X n h
= (m;p+n;q) f 2 (p q) + 2 a~T (m n) F~ P +1 (p q) f (p q)
p=0 q=0
i
+ a~T (m n) F~ P +1 (p q) F~ TP +1 (p q) a~(m n) : (11.172)
In order to determine the coecients a(m n)(p q) that minimize 2 (m n),
we could dierentiate the expression above for 2 (m n) with respect to the
coecient matrix a~(m n) and equate the result to the null matrix of size
(P + 1)(Q + 1) ; 1] 1, which yields
2
0 = @@ a~((mm nn))
X
m X
n h
= (m;p+n;q) F~ P +1 (p q) f (p q)
p=0 q=0
i
+ F~ P +1 (p q) F~ TP +1 (p q) a~(m n) : (11.173)
Equation 11.173 may be expressed in matrix notation as
X
m X
n h i 1
(m;p+n;q) F~ ~ TP +1 (p q)
P +1 (p q ) f (p q ) F a~(m n) = 0:
p=0 q=0
(11.174)
In addition to the above, using Equation 11.173 in Equation 11.172, we have
X
m X
n h i
2 (m n) = (m;p+n;q) f 2 (p q) + f (p q) F~ TP +1 (p q) a~(m n)
p=0 q=0
(11.175)
which may be written in matrix form as
X
m X
n h i1
2 (m n) = (m;p+n;q) f (p ~ T
q) f (p q) FP +1 (p q) a~(m n) :
p=0 q=0
(11.176)
Combining Equations 11.174 and 11.176, we get
X
m X
n h i
(m;p+n;q) f (p q) f ( p q ) F~ T (p q )
p=0 q=0 F~ P +1 (p q) P +1
2
1 = (m n) (11.177)
a~(m n) 0
Image Coding and Data Compression 1031
or
X
m X
n
(m;p+n;q) F 2 (m n)
P +1 (p q ) FTP +1 (p q ) a(m n) = 0
p=0 q=0
(11.178)
which may be expressed as
P +1 (m n) a(m n) = (m n) (11.179)
where
(m n) = 2 (m n) 0 0 0 T (11.180)
and P +1 (m n) is the deterministic autocorrelation matrix of the weighted
image given by
X
m X
n
P +1 (m n) = (m;p+n;q) FP +1 (p q) FTP +1 (p q): (11.181)
p=0 q=0
Equation 11.179 represents the 2D RLS normal equations, solving which we
can obtain the prediction coecients a(m n)(p q) that adapt to the statistics
of the image at the location (m n).
Solving the 2D RLS normal equations: Direct inversion of the auto-
correlation matrix in Equation 11.179 gives the desired matrix of prediction
coecients as
a(m n) = ;P +1
1 (m n) (m n): (11.182)
The matrix P +1 (m n) is of size (P +1)(Q +1) (P +1)(Q +1) the inversion
of such a matrix at every pixel (m n) of the image could be computationally
intensive. Kuduvalli 338] developed the following procedure to reduce the size
of the matrix to be inverted to (Q +1) (Q +1). The procedure starts with a
recursive relationship expressing the solution for the normal equations at the
pixel location (m n) in terms of that at (m ; 1 n). Consider the expression
X
m X
n
P +1 (m n) = (m;p+n;q) FP +1 (p q) FTP +1 (p q)
2p=0 q=0 3
00 (m n) T01 (m n) T0P (m n)
6 01 (m n) 11 (m n) T1P (m n) 77
= 664 .. .. . . . .. 75 (11.183)
. . .
0P (m n) 1P (m n) PP (m n)
where
X
m X
n
rs (m n) = (m;p+n;q) fp;r (q) fpT;s (q): (11.184)
p=0 q=0
1032 Biomedical Image Analysis
Observe that
rs (m n) = 0(s;r)(m ; r s) (11.185)
which follows from the assumption that the image data have been windowed
such that f (m n) = 0 for m < 0 or n < 0.
The normal equations may now be expressed as
2 32 3 2 3
00 (m n) T01 (m n) T0P (m n) a0 (m n) (m n)
66 01 (m n) 11 (m n) T1P (m n) 77 66 a1 (m n) 77 66 0Q+1 77
64 .. .. . . . .. 75 64 .. 75 = 64 .. 75
. . . . .
0P (m n) 1P (m n) PP (m n) aP (m n) 0Q+1
(11.186)
where 0Q+1 is the null matrix of size (Q + 1) 1.
Equation 11.186 may be solved in two steps: First, solve
2 32
00 (m n) T01 (m n) T0P (m n) IQ+1 3 2 FQ+1 (m n) 3
66 01 (m n) 11 (m n) T1P (m n) 77 66 A1 (m n) 77 66 0Q+1 77
64 .. .. ... . . 7 6 .
5 4 .. 7 = 6
5 4 .. . 75
. . .
0P (m n) 1P (m n) PP (m n) AP (m n) 0Q+1
(11.187)
for the (Q + 1) (Q + 1) matrices Ap (m n), p = 1 2 : : : P , and FQ+1 (m n).
Here, IQ+1 is the identity matrix of size (Q +1) (Q +1), and 0Q+1 is the null
matrix of size (Q +1) (Q +1). Then, obtain the solution to Equation 11.186
by solving
FQ+1 (m n) a0 (m n) = (m n) (11.188)
and using the relationship
Ap (m n) a0 (m n) = ap (m n) p = 1 2 : : : P: (11.189)
This approach is similar to the approach taken to solve the 2D Yule{Walker
equations by the 2D Levinson method, described in Section 11.8.2, and leads
to a recursive algorithm that is computationally ecient the details of the
algorithm are given by Kuduvalli 338].
Results of application to medical images: Kuduvalli 338] conducted
preliminary studies on the application of the 2D RLS algorithm to predictive
coding and compression of medical images. In the application to coding, the
value of the pixel at the current location (m n) is not available at the decoder
before the prediction coecient matrix a(m n) is computed. However, the
prediction coecient matrix a(m ; 1 n) is available. Thus, for error-free de-
coding, the a priori prediction error computed using the prediction coecient
matrix a(m ; 1 n) is encoded. These error values, which have a PDF that
is close to a Laplacian PDF, may be eciently encoded using methods such
as the Human code. Using a QP ROS of size 4 4 and a forgetting factor
of = 0:95, Kuduvalli 338] obtained an average bit rate of 2:71 b=pixel for
two of the images listed in Table 11.5 this rate, however, is only marginally
Image Coding and Data Compression 1033
lower than the bit rate of 2:77 b=pixel for the same two images obtained by
using the 2D Burg algorithm described in Section 11.8.2. Although the 2D
RLS algorithm has the elegance of being a truly 2D algorithm that adapts
to the changing statistics of the image on a pixel-by-pixel basis, the method
did not yield appreciable advantages in image data compression. Regardless,
the method has applications in other areas, such as spectrum estimation and
ltering.
Kuduvalli and Rangayyan 174] performed a comparative analysis of several
image compression techniques, including direct source coding, transform cod-
ing, interpolative coding, and predictive coding, applied to the high-resolution
digitized medical images listed in Table 11.5. The average bit rates obtained
using several coding and compression techniques are listed in Table 11.7. It
should be observed that decorrelation can provide signi cant advantages over
direct source encoding of the original pixel data. The adaptive predictive
coding techniques have performed better than the transform and interpola-
tive coding techniques tested.
In a study of the eect of sampling resolution on image data compression,
Kuduvalli and Rangayyan 174] prepared low-resolution versions of the images
listed in Table 11.5 by smoothing and downsampling. The results of the
application of the 2D Levinson predictive coding algorithm yielded average
bit rates of 3:5 ; 5 b=pixel for 512 512 images, and 2:5 ; 3 b=pixel for
4 096 4 096 images (with the original images at 10 b=pixel). This result
indicates that high-resolution images possess more redundancy, and hence
may be compressed by larger extents than their low-resolution counterparts.
Therefore, increasing the resolution of medical images does not increase the
amount of the related compressed data in direct proportion to the increase
in matrix size, but by a lower factor. This result could be a motivating
factor supporting the use of high resolution in medical imaging, without undue
concerns related to signi cant increases in data-handling requirements.
See Aiazzi et al. 996] for a description of other methods for adaptive pre-
diction and a comparative analysis of several methods for lossless image data
compression.
TABLE 11.7
Average Bit Rates Obtained in
the Lossless Compression of
the Medical Images Listed in
Table 11.5 Using Several Image
Coding Techniques
174, 337, 338].
Coding method Bits/ pixel
Original 10.00
Entropy H0 7.94
Human 8.67
Arithmetic 8.58
LZW 5.57
DCT 5.26
Interpolative 3.45
2D LP 3.15
2D Levinson 3.02
2D Burg 2.81
2D RLS* 2.71
The Human code was used to encode the results of the transform, interpola-
tive, and predictive coding methods. *Only two images were compressed with
the 2D RLS method.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1035
Hilbert 998], and the modi ed curve came to be known as the \Peano-Hilbert"
curve.
Moore 1005] studied the geometric and analytical interpretation of contin-
uous space- lling curves. Space- lling curves have aided in the development of
fractals 462] (see Section 7.5 for a discussion on fractals). The Peano-Hilbert
curve has been applied to display continuous-tone images 1006] in order to
eliminate de ciencies of the ordered dithered technique, such as Moir$e fringes.
Lempel and Ziv 1003] used the Peano-Hilbert curve to scan images and de ne
the lowest bound of compressibility. Zhang et al. 1001, 1002] explored the
statistical characteristics of medical images using Peano scanning.
Provine and Rangayyan 1000, 999] studied the application of Peano scan-
ning for image data compression, with an additional step of decorrelation
using dierentiation, orthogonal transforms, or LP the following paragraphs
describe the basics of the methods involved and the results obtained in their
work.
Raster-scanned
image
Peano-scan Decorrelation Encoder
operation transform
Compressed
data
FIGURE 11.24
Image compression using Peano scanning.
s(4)
2
s(3)
2
s(16) s(13) s(12) s(11)
1 1 1 1
i=3
s(17)
1
s(5)
2
s(2)
3
s(3)
3
i=4
FIGURE 11.25
Division of a 16 16 image into subimages during Peano scanning. Repro-
duced with permission from J.A. Provine and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless
compression of Peanoscanned images", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(2):
176 { 181, 1994.
c SPIE and IS&T.
1038 Biomedical Image Analysis
R L D U
p1 p2 p3 p4 p1 p4 p3 p2
p4 p3 p2 p1 p2 p3 p4 p1
FIGURE 11.26
Basic de nitions of the Peano-scanning operation. The points marked p1 ; p4
represent the four pixels in a 2 2 subimage. Each scan pattern shown visits
four pixels in the order indicated by the arrows. R: right. L: left. D: down.
U: up. Reproduced with permission from J.A. Provine and R.M. Rangayyan,
\Lossless compression of Peanoscanned images", Journal of Electronic Imag-
ing, 3(2): 176 { 181, 1994. c SPIE and IS&T.
R L D U
i-1 i i-1 i i-1 i i-1 i
D R L D R L U U
i-1 i-1 i-1 i-1
U R L U D D R L
i i i i
FIGURE 11.27
Recursive de nitions of the Peano-scanning operation. Reproduced with per-
mission from J.A. Provine and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless compression of
Peanoscanned images", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(2): 176 { 181, 1994.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1039
The index k can take any value in the range 1 2 : : : Ti for i = 1 2 : : : n.
From the recursive de nitions, it is evident that k cannot continuously increase
horizontally or vertically, due to the nature of the scan. Furthermore, because
the scan path takes its course recursively, except for i = n, the recursive
de nitions \L" and \U" (see Figure 11.27) are also possible for lower values of
i. All the subimages are divided and de ned recursively until all the subimages
s1 are de ned. The basic de nitions of the Peano scan are then followed for
each of the s1 subimages. The Peano-scan pattern for a 16 16 image is
illustrated in Figure 11.28, where the heavy dots indicate the positions of
the rst 16 pixels scanned. Understanding the scan pattern is facilitated by
viewing Figure 11.28 along with Figure 11.25.
i=1
i=2
i=3
i=4
FIGURE 11.28
Peano-scan pattern for a 16 16 image. The positions of the pixels on the scan
pattern are shown by heavy dots in the rst 4 4 subimage. Reproduced with
permission from J.A. Provine and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless compression of
Peanoscanned images", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 3(2): 176 { 181, 1994.
c SPIE and IS&T.
1040 Biomedical Image Analysis
Implementation of Peano scanning in software could use the recursive nature
of the scan path eciently to obtain the pixel stream. Recursive functions
may call themselves within their body as the image is divided progressively
into subimages until the s1 subimages are formed, and the pixels are obtained
recursively as the function builds back from the s1 subimages to the full image
sn . Thus, the 2D image is unwrapped into a 1D data stream by following a
continuous scan path.
The inverse Peano-scanning operation accomplishes the task of lling up the
2D array with the 1D data stream. This operation corresponds to the original
works of Peano 997] and Hilbert 998], where the continuous mapping of a
straight line into a 2D plane was described. Because the Peano-scanning
operation is reversible, no loss of information is incurred.
1 2 15 16 17 20 21 22
4 3 14 13 18 19 24 23
31 30 25 26
5 8 9 12
6 7 10 11 32 29 28 27
A B
6 7 10 11 32 29 28 27
5 8 9 12
31 30 25 26
4 3 14 13 18 19 24 23
1 2 15 16 17 20 21 22
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 11.29
Symmetrical patterns exhibited by the Peano-Hilbert curve for (a) an 8 8
subimage and (b) a 16 16 subimage. The line AB indicates the axis of
symmetry in each case. The 64 pixels in the image in (a) are labeled in the
order of being scanned the pixels 1 ; 32 in the upper half, followed by the
pixels 32 ; 1 in the lower half of the subimage in (a)]. Figure courtesy of J.A.
Provine 999].
Image Coding and Data Compression 1043
R L D U
p1 p2 p2 p1 p1 p4 p2 p3
p4 p3 p3 p4 p2 p3 p1 p4
FIGURE 11.30
Symmetrical patterns in the basic de nitions of the Peano scan. Figure cour-
tesy of J.A. Provine 999].
Figure 11.31 shows the ACFs obtained for the Lenna test image and a mam-
mogram for raster-scanned and Peano-scanned pixel streams. As expected,
Peano scanning has maintained higher inter-pixel correlation than raster scan-
ning. Similar observations have been made by Zhang et al. 1001, 1002] in their
study on the stochastic properties of medical images and data compression
with Peano scanning.
The simplest method for decorrelating pixel data is to produce a data se-
quence containing the dierences between successive pixels. As shown earlier
in Section 11.5 and Figure 11.12, the dierentiated data may be expected to
have a Laplacian PDF, which is useful in compressing the data. Provine and
Rangayyan 999, 1000] applied a simple rst-dierence operation to decorre-
late Peano-scanned image data, and encoded the resulting values using the
Human, arithmetic, and LZW coding schemes. In addition, they applied the
1D DCT and LP modeling procedures to raster-scanned and Peano-scanned
data streams, as well as the 2D DCT and LP modeling procedures to the
original image data. Some of the results obtained by Provine and Rangayyan
are summarized in Tables 11.8, 11.9, and 11.10. The application of either
the Human or the arithmetic code to the dierentiated Peano-scanned data
stream resulted in the lowest average bit rate in the study.
1 +-
- - - : raster-scanned pixels
+ +++ : Peano-scanned pixels
-+
+
0.95 +
+
+
- +
++
+++
+++
++++
- ++++
0.9 +++
+++
++++
+++++
Autocorrelation
- +++++++++
++++++
+++++
++
-
0.85 -
-
-
-
-
0.8 -
- -
- - - - - - - - - -
- -
- -
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -
- -
0.75 - - - - - - -
0.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Distance in pixels
(a)
1 +- +- +
-
++
++ - - - : raster-scanned pixels
++ +++ : Peano-scanned pixels
+++
- ++++
0.995 +++
++++
- ++++
++++
- +++++
++++++++
++++++
0.99 - ++++++
+++++
-
-
-
0.985 -
-
Autocorrelation
-
-
-
0.98 -
-
-
-
-
0.975 -
-
-
-
0.97 -
-
-
-
-
0.965 -
-
- -
- -
- -
- - - - - - - - - - - -
0.96 - - - - - - - - - - - -
0.955
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Distance in pixels
(b)
FIGURE 11.31
ACF of raster-scanned and Peano-scanned pixels plotted as a function of the
distance (lag) between the scanned pixels: (a) for the Lenna image and (b) for
a mammogram. Figure courtesy of J.A. Provine 999].
Image Coding and Data Compression 1045
TABLE 11.8
Average Bit Rate with the Application of the Human, Arithmetic, and
LZW Coding Schemes to Raster-scanned and Peano-scanned Data
Obtained from Eight Test Images 999].
Entropy Average number of bits/pixel
Image Size H0 LZW
(8 b=pixel) (pixels) (bits) Human Arith. Raster Peano
Airplane 512 512 6.49 6.84 6.65 7.47 9.06
Baboon 512 512 7.14 9.40 7.30 9.64 9.63
Cameraman 256 256 7.04 7.39 7.40 8.99 8.09
Lenna-256 256 256 7.57 8.12 7.95 9.10 8.97
Lenna-512 512 512 7.45 10.38 7.61 9.00 8.85
Peppers 512 512 7.37 10.89 7.54 7.94 8.06
Sailboat 512 512 7.27 9.35 7.43 8.69 9.56
Tiany 512 512 6.38 7.74 6.54 7.51 9.51
See also Tables 11.9 and 11.10. Note: Arith. = arithmetic coding.
Airplane 4.52 5.49 4.60 4.48 5.50 4.58 5.13 5.33 5.09
Baboon 6.46 7.14 7.34 6.46 7.29 7.39 7.67 7.48 7.66
Cameraman 5.38 5.82 5.57 5.41 5.81 5.56 5.88 5.97 5.94
Lenna-256 5.66 6.35 5.74 5.64 6.40 5.71 6.24 6.60 6.02
Lenna-512 5.05 5.93 5.37 5.00 5.82 5.29 5.80 6.43 5.82
Peppers 5.06 5.82 6.20 4.97 5.73 6.09 5.63 5.72 5.88
Sailboat 5.55 6.34 6.61 5.54 6.39 6.59 6.50 6.51 6.65
Tiany 4.63 5.59 5.02 4.60 5.52 4.91 5.26 5.83 5.52
Mean 5.29 6.06 5.81 5.26 6.06 5.77 6.01 6.23 6.07
SD 0.62 0.54 0.89 0.64 0.61 0.91 0.81 0.67 0.78
See also Tables 11.8 and 11.9. Note: arith. = arithmetic coding PD =
Dierentiated Peano-scanned data.
FIGURE 11.32
The single-layer JBIG encoder. Reproduced with permission from L. Shen
and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless compression of continuus-tone images by com-
bined inter-bit-plane decorrelation and JBIG coding", Journal of Electronic
Imaging, 6(2): 198 { 207, 1997. c SPIE and IS&T.
X X X
X X X X A X X X X X A
X X ? X X X X ?
seed seed
#1 REGION 2
REGION 1 #2
seed
#0 #3
#4
REGION 3
(initial stage)
FIGURE 11.34
Demonstration of a seed pixel (#0) and its 4-connected neighbors (#1 to
#4) in region growing. Reproduced with permission from L. Shen and R.M.
Rangayyan, \A segmentation-based lossless image coding method for high-
resolution medical image compression", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imag-
ing, 16(3): 301 { 306, 1997.
c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1053
The region-growing conditions used in SLIC are the following:
1. The neighboring pixel is not a member of any of the regions already
grown.
2. The absolute dierence between the neighboring pixel and the corre-
sponding center pixel is less than the limit error-level (to be de ned
later).
Figure 11.35 demonstrates the relationship between a neighboring pixel
and its center pixel: at the speci c stage illustrated in the gure, pixel A
has become a member of the region (3) being grown, and its four neighbors,
namely B , C , D, and E , are being checked for inclusion (E is already a
member of the region). Under this circumstance, pixel A is the center pixel
of the neighboring pixels B , C , D, and E . When a new neighboring pixel
is included in the region being grown, its error-level-shift-up dierence with
respect to its center pixel is stored as the pixel's \error" value. If only the
rst of the two region-growing conditions is met, the discontinuity index of the
pixel is incremented. By this process, after region growing, a \discontinuity-
index image data part" and an \error-image data part" will be obtained. The
maximum value of the discontinuity index is 4. Most of the segmentation-
based coding algorithms reported in the literature include contour coding and
region coding instead of these steps, the SLIC method uses a discontinuity-
index map and an error-image data part.
The error-level in SLIC is determined by a preselected parameter error-
bits as
error-level = 2 (error-bits ; 1) : (11.190)
For instance, if the error image is allowed to take up to 5 b=pixel (error-bits
= 5), the corresponding error-level is 16 the allowed dierence range is then
;16 15]. The error value of the seed pixel of each region is de ned as the
value of its lower error-bits bits the value of the higher (N ; error-bits) bits
of the pixel is stored in a \high-bits seed-data part", where N is the number
of bits per pixel in the original image data.
The three data parts described above are used to fully recover the original
image during the decoding process. The region-growing conditions during
decoding are that the neighboring pixel under consideration for inclusion be
not in any of the previously grown regions, and that its discontinuity index
equal 0. When the conditions are met for a pixel, its value is restored as the
sum of its error-level-shift-down error value and its center pixel value (except
for the seed pixels of every region). If only the rst of the two conditions is
satis ed, the discontinuity index of that pixel is decremented. Thus, the
discontinuity index generated during segmentation is used to guide region
growing during decoding. The \high-bits seed-data part" is combined with
the \error-image data part" to recover the seed pixel value of each region.
Figure 11.36 provides a simple example for illustration of the region-growing
procedure and its result. The 8 8 image in the example, shown in Figure
1054 Biomedical Image Analysis
seed seed
REGION 2
REGION 1 seed
B
REGION 3 C A D
(being grown) E
FIGURE 11.35
Demonstration of a neighboring pixel (B , C , D, or E ) being checked for inclu-
sion against the current center pixel (A) during region growing. Reproduced
with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \A segmentation-based
lossless image coding method for high-resolution medical image compression",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 16(3): 301 { 306, 1997. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1055
11.36 (a), is a section of an eye of the 512 512 Lenna image shown in Figure
11.37 (a)]. The value of error-bits was set to 5 for this example. Figure
11.36 (b) shows the result of region growing. The corresponding three data
parts, namely the discontinuity-index image data, error-image data, and high-
bits seed data, are shown in Figure 11.36 (c), (d), and (e), respectively. The
full 512 512 Lenna image and the corresponding discontinuity-index image
data (scaled) and error-image data (scaled) are shown in Figure 11.37.
84 84 91 83 72 57 66 126 84 84 91 83 72 57 66 126
(seed) (seed)
101 102 116 137 163 186 197 198 101 102 116 137 163 186 197 198
(seed) (seed) (seed)
132 138 146 157 182 187 193 197 132 138 146 157 182 187 193 197
149 156 156 158 168 173 176 187 149 156 156 158 168 173 176 187
133 142 151 154 151 158 169 167 133 142 151 154 151 158 169 167
(a) (b)
91-84+16
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 20 16 23 8 5 1 25 30
0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 18 22 5 9 6 24 17 13
1 1 1 0 0 2 2 2 10 19 9 4 29 11 0 6
0 0 1 1 2 4 1 0 25 21 26 29 31 30 2 20
2 2 2 3 4 0 0 0 5 17 30 9 3 5 25 12
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 10 8 5 15 11 17 12 15
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 9 16 14 6 2 2 5 6
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 2 11 12 9 1 9 14
2 3 3 5 3 5 6 3 4 3 4 5
(e)
FIGURE 11.36
A simple example of the region-growing procedure and its result with error-
bits set to be 5. (a) Original image with the size of 8 rows by 8 columns (a
section of the 512 512 Lenna image shown in Figure 11.37). (b) The result
of region growing. The seed pixel of every region grown is identi ed a few
regions include only the corresponding seed pixels. (c) The discontinuity-index
image data part. (d) The error-image data part. (e) The high-bits seed-data
part (from left to right). Reproduced with permission from L. Shen and
R.M. Rangayyan, \A segmentation-based lossless image coding method for
high-resolution medical image compression", IEEE Transactions on Medical
Imaging, 16(3): 301 { 306, 1997. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1057
(a)
(b) (c)
FIGURE 11.37
The 512 512 Lenna image and the results with SLIC (with error-bits = 5):
(a) Original image. (b) The discontinuity-index image data part (scaled).
(c) The error-image data part (scaled). See also Figure 11.36. Reproduced
with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \A segmentation-based
lossless image coding method for high-resolution medical image compression",
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 16(3): 301 { 306, 1997. c IEEE.
1058 Biomedical Image Analysis
Transmission / Storage
High-bits seed data
Original
image
SLIC decoder Error
data
Gray
JBIG
to
decoder
Discon- binary
Region-growing tinuity-
procedure index
data
FIGURE 11.38
Illustration of the segmentation-based lossless image coding (SLIC) proce-
dure. Reproduced with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \A
segmentation-based lossless image coding method for high-resolution medical
image compression", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 16(3): 301 {
306, 1997. c IEEE.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1059
Human error coding (2D-Burg-Human) was utilized instead of the JPEG
package. (The 2D-Burg-Human program was designed speci cally for 10 b
images the JPEG program permits only 8 b images.)
The SLIC method has a tunable parameter, which is error-bits. The data
compression achieved was found to be almost the same for most of the 8 b
medical images by using the value 4 or 5 for error-bits. Subsequently, error-
bits = 5 was used in the remaining experiments with the 8 b versions of the
medical images. The performance of the SLIC method is summarized in Ta-
ble 11.11, along with the results of ALZ, JBIG, JPEG, and HINT compression.
It is seen that SLIC has outperformed all of the other methods studied with
the test-image set used, except in the case of one mammogram and one chest
radiograph for which JBIG gave negligibly better results. On the average,
SLIC improved the bit rate by about 9%, 29%, and 13%, as compared with
JBIG, JPEG, and HINT, respectively.
TABLE 11.11
Average Bits Per Pixel with SLIC (error-bits = 5), ALZ, JBIG, JPEG
(Best Mode), and HINT Using Five 8 b Mammograms (m1 to m4 and
m9) and Five 8 b Chest Radiographs (c5 to c8 and c10) by Bits/Pixel.
Image Entropy
(8 b=pixel) H0 ALZ JBIG JPEG HINT SLIC
m1 (4,096 1,990) 6.13 2.95 1.82 2.14 1.87 1.73
m2 (4,096 1,800) 6.09 2.89 1.84 2.18 1.92 1.78
m3 (3,596 1,632) 5.92 3.02 2.40 2.37 2.12 2.12
m4 (3,580 1,696) 5.90 2.45 1.96 1.89 1.61 1.44
c5 (3,536 3,184) 7.05 3.03 1.60 1.92 1.75 1.42
c6 (3,904 3,648) 7.46 3.32 1.88 2.15 2.00 1.76
c7 (3,120 3,632) 5.30 1.73 0.95 1.60 1.40 0.99
c8 (3,744 3,328) 7.45 3.13 1.50 1.89 1.64 1.35
m9 (4,096 2,304) 6.04 2.60 1.67 2.12 1.84 1.67
c10 (3,664 3,680) 7.17 2.95 1.63 1.97 1.73 1.50
Average 6.45 2.81 1.72 2.02 1.79 1.58
The lowest bit rate in each case is highlighted. Reproduced with permission
from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \A segmentation-based lossless image
coding method for high-resolution medical image compression", IEEE Trans-
actions on Medical Imaging, 16(3): 301 { 306, 1997. c IEEE.
1060 Biomedical Image Analysis
Whereas the SLIC procedure performed well with high-resolution medical
images, its performance with low-resolution general images was comparable
to the performance of JBIG and JPEG, as shown in Table 11.12. When
SLIC used an optimized JBIG algorithm with the maximum number of lines,
that is, NLPS0 = row, the number of rows of the image (the last column of
Table 11.12) in the inherent model instead of only three lines (NLPS0=3 in
Table 11.12), its performance was better than that of JBIG and comparable
to that of JPEG.
TABLE 11.12
Average Bits Per Pixel with SLIC (error-bits = 8), ALZ, JBIG, and
JPEG (Best Mode) Using Eight Commonly Used 8 b Images.
SLIC
Image Entropy NLPS0
(8 b=pixel) (order=0) ALZ JBIG JPEG 3 row
Airplane (512 512) 6.49 5.71 4.24 4.20 4.22 4.11
Baboon (512 512) 7.14 7.84 6.37 6.18 6.55 6.44
Cameraman (256 256) 7.01 6.68 4.92 4.95 5.14 4.91
Lenna (256 256) 7.57 7.91 5.37 5.07 5.26 5.04
Lenna (512 512) 7.45 7.05 4.80 4.69 4.74 4.63
Peppers (512 512) 7.37 6.86 4.82 4.76 4.90 4.80
Sailboat (512 512) 7.27 7.07 5.34 5.26 5.46 5.36
Tiany (512 512) 6.38 5.88 4.38 4.35 4.43 4.32
Average 7.19 6.87 5.03 4.93 5.09 4.95
In the studies of Shen and Rangayyan 321, 320], setting error-bits = 6 was
observed to be a good choice for the compression of the 10 b versions of the
medical images. Table 11.13 lists the results of compression with the ALZ,
JBIG, 2D-Burg-Human, HINT, and SLIC methods. The SLIC technique
has provided lower bit rates than the other methods. The average bit rate
Image Coding and Data Compression 1061
is 2:92 b=pixel with SLIC, whereas HINT, JBIG, and 2D-Burg-Human have
average bit rates of 3:03, 3:17, and 3:14 b=pixel, respectively.
TABLE 11.13
Average Bits Per Pixel with SLIC (error-bits = 6), ALZ, JBIG,
2D-Burg-Human (2DBH), and HINT Using Five 10 b Mammograms
(m1 to m4 and m9) and Five 10 b Chest Radiographs (c5 to c8 and c10).
Image Entropy
(10 b=pixel) (order=0) ALZ JBIG 2DBH HINT SLIC
m1 (4,096 1,990) 7.27 5.45 2.89 2.92 2.75 2.73
m2 (4,096 1,800) 7.61 6.02 3.19 3.19 3.15 3.08
m3 (3,596 1,632) 6.68 4.73 3.13 2.97 2.81 2.81
m4 (3,580 1,696) 7.21 5.14 3.20 2.76 2.58 2.57
c5 (3,536 3,184) 8.92 7.21 3.33 3.31 3.28 2.99
c6 (3,904 3,648) 9.43 7.84 3.87 3.81 3.89 3.59
c7 (3,120 3,632) 7.07 4.67 2.30 2.58 2.34 2.27
c8 (3,744 3,328) 9.29 7.40 3.25 3.16 3.02 2.89
m9 (4,096 2,304) 7.81 5.93 3.18 3.41 3.29 3.17
c10 (3,664 3,680) 9.05 7.51 3.35 3.27 3.18 3.07
Average 8.03 6.19 3.17 3.14 3.03 2.92
The lowest bit rate in each case is highlighted. Reproduced with permission
from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \A segmentation-based lossless image
coding method for high-resolution medical image compression", IEEE Trans-
actions on Medical Imaging, 16(3): 301 { 306, 1997. c IEEE.
7.5
6.5
Bit rates (bits/ pixel)
5.5
direct JBIG coding
5
best of all
4.5
3.5
PSV=1 PSV=2 PSV=3 PSV=4 PSV=5 PSV=6 PSV=7
FIGURE 11.39
Comparison of image compression eciency with the enhanced JBIG scheme.
The ve bars in each case represent the zeroth-order entropy of the prediction
error image and actual bit rates with lossless JPEG, and PSV-incorporated
JBIG with the Gray, F1 , and F2 transformation, respectively (from left to
right). Reproduced with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan,
\Lossless compression of continuus-tone images by combined inter-bit-plane
decorrelation and JBIG coding", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 6(2): 198 {
207, 1997. c SPIE and IS&T.
Shen and Rangayyan 1028] applied the best mode of the PSV-incorporated
JBIG bit-plane coding scheme (the PSV=7 predictor followed by JBIG bit-
plane coding of F1 -transformed prediction error, denoted as PSV7-F1-JBIG)
to the JPEG standard set of continuous-tone test images the results are
shown in Table 11.14. The table also shows the zeroth-order entropies of the
prediction error images, the results of the best mode of lossless JPEG coding
1066 Biomedical Image Analysis
(for 8 b component images only), the results of direct Gray-transformed JBIG
coding, and the results of the best mode of the CREW technique (Compression
with Reversible Embedded Wavelets, one of the methods proposed to the
Committee of Next Generation Lossless Compression of Continuous-tone Still
Pictures) 1032, 1033].
The results in Table 11.14 demonstrate that the enhanced JBIG bit-plane
coding scheme for continuous-tone images performs the best among the four
algorithms tested. In terms of the average bit rate, the scheme outperforms
direct JBIG coding and the best mode of CREW by 0:13 and 0:12 b=pixel,
respectively, and achieves much lower bit rates than the zeroth-order entropies
of the prediction error images by an average of 0:46 b=pixel for the entire test
set of images. If only the 8 b component images are considered, the enhanced
JBIG technique provides better compression performance by 0:56 0:08 0:52
and 0:18 b=pixel, in terms of average bit rates when compared with lossless
JPEG coding, direct Gray-transform JBIG coding, the zeroth-order entropy of
the prediction error image, and the best mode of lossless CREW, respectively.
For comparison with SLIC in the context of radiographic images, the en-
hanced JBIG (PSV7-F1-JBIG) procedure was applied for compression of the
ve mammograms and ve chest radiographs listed in Tables 11.11 and 11.13.
The bit rates achieved for the 8 b and 10 b versions of the images are listed in
Tables 11.15 and 11.16, respectively. The results indicate that the enhanced
JBIG procedure provides an additional 5% improvement over SLIC on the 8 b
image set, and that the method lowers the average bit rates to 2:75 b=pixel
from the 2:92 b=pixel rate of SLIC for the 10 b images.
Note: He0 = zeroth-order entropy of the PSV prediction error comp. = num-
ber of components cols = number of columns. Reproduced with permission
from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless compression of continuus-tone
images by combined inter-bit-plane decorrelation and JBIG coding", Journal
of Electronic Imaging, 6(2): 198 { 207, 1997.
c SPIE and IS&T.
1068 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 11.15
Comparison of Enhanced JBIG (PSV7-F1-JBIG or EJBIG) with
JBIG, JPEG (Best Lossless Mode), HINT, and SLIC
(error-bits = 5) Using Five 8 b Mammograms (m1 to m4 and m9)
and Five 8 b Chest Radiographs (c5 to c8 and c10) by
Bits/Pixel 320].
Image (8 b=pixel) H0 JBIG JPEG HINT SLIC EJBIG
m1 (4,096 1,990) 6.13 1.82 2.14 1.87 1.73 1.62
m2 (4,096 1,800) 6.09 1.84 2.18 1.92 1.78 1.66
m3 (3,596 1,632) 5.92 2.40 2.37 2.12 2.12 1.93
m4 (3,580 1,696) 5.90 1.96 1.89 1.61 1.44 1.34
c5 (3,536 3,184) 7.05 1.60 1.92 1.75 1.42 1.41
c6 (3,904 3,648) 7.46 1.88 2.15 2.00 1.76 1.70
c7 (3,120 3,632) 5.30 0.95 1.60 1.40 1.00 0.95
c8 (3,744 3,328) 7.45 1.50 1.89 1.64 1.35 1.40
m9 (4,096 2,304) 6.04 1.67 2.12 1.84 1.67 1.54
c10 (3,664 3,680) 7.17 1.63 1.97 1.73 1.50 1.44
Average 6.45 1.72 2.02 1.79 1.58 1.50
The lowest bit rate is highlighted in each case. See also Table 11.11. Note:
H0 = zeroth-order entropy.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1069
TABLE 11.16
Comparison of Enhanced JBIG (PSV7-F1-JBIG or EJBIG) with
JBIG, 2D-Burg-Human (2DBH), HINT, and SLIC (error-bits = 6)
Using Five 10 b Mammograms (m1 to m4 and m9) and Five 10 b
Chest Radiographs (c5 to c8 and c10) by Bits/Pixel 320].
Image (10 b=pixel) H0 JBIG 2DBH HINT SLIC EJBIG
m1 (4,096 1,990) 7.27 2.89 2.92 2.75 2.73 2.59
m2 (4,096 1,800) 7.61 3.19 3.19 3.15 3.08 2.88
m3 (3,596 1,632) 6.68 3.13 2.97 2.81 2.81 2.57
m4 (3,580 1,696) 7.21 3.20 2.76 2.58 2.57 2.39
c5 (3,536 3,184) 8.92 3.33 3.31 3.28 3.00 2.88
c6 (3,904 3,648) 9.43 3.87 3.81 3.89 3.59 3.38
c7 (3,120 3,632) 7.07 2.30 2.58 2.34 2.27 2.14
c8 (3,744 3,328) 9.29 3.25 3.16 3.02 2.89 2.81
m9 (4,096 2,304) 7.81 3.18 3.41 3.29 3.17 2.93
c10 (3,664 3,680) 9.05 3.35 3.27 3.18 3.07 2.90
Average 8.03 3.17 3.14 3.03 2.92 2.75
The lowest bit rate is highlighted in each case. See also Table 11.13. Note:
H0 = zeroth-order entropy.
1070 Biomedical Image Analysis
tested in Section 11.11 however, it is seen in Section 11.12 that the enhanced
JBIG scheme performs better than SLIC.
Even if it were to be not practical to achieve the lowest possible bit rate
in the lossless compression of a given image, it is of interest to estimate an
achievable lower-bound bit rate for an image. Information theory indicates
that the lossless compression eciency is bounded by high-order entropy val-
ues. However, the accuracy of estimating high-order statistics is limited by
the length of the data (the number of samples available), the number of in-
tensity levels, and the order. The highest possible order of entropy that can
be estimated with high accuracy is limited due to the nite length of the
data available. In spite of this limitation, high-order entropy values can pro-
vide a better estimate of the lower-bound bit rate than the commonly used
zeroth-order entropy. Shen and Rangayyan 1028, 320] proposed methods for
the estimation of high-order entropy and the lower-bound bit rate, which are
described in the following paragraphs.
7
Markov entropy (bits/ pixel)
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Order
FIGURE 11.40
Markov entropy values up to the maximum order possible with error limit =
0:05 for four forms of splitting, for the 512 512, 8 b=pixel Airplane image see
also Table 11.17. Note: Order=0 indicates memoryless entropy. Reproduced
with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless compression
of continuus-tone images by combined inter-bit-plane decorrelation and JBIG
coding", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 6(2): 198 { 207, 1997. c SPIE and
IS&T.
1074 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 11.17
Estimated Values of the Highest Possible Order of Markov Entropy
(b=pixel) for the Airplane Image.
Data Code/ One part Two parts Four parts Eight parts
transform 8b 4 b/part 2 b/part 1 b/part
Original Binary 4.06 4.21 4.52 5.10
Airplane Gray 4.06 4.00 4.02 4.21
image F1 4.06 4.26 4.43 4.93
F2 4.06 4.21 4.50 4.97
PSV=7 Binary 3.75 4.21 5.04 6.95
prediction Gray 3.75 3.63 3.58 3.68
error of F1 3.75 3.61 3.46 3.60
Airplane F2 3.75 3.63 3.54 3.61
Values are shown with and without prediction, combined with four dierent
code representation (transformation) schemes, and with error limit = 0:05.
Reproduced with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless
compression of continuus-tone images by combined inter-bit-plane decorrela-
tion and JBIG coding", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 6(2): 198 { 207, 1997.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1075
7
Markov entropy (bits/ pixel)
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Order
Figure 11.41 (a)
8
7
Markov entropy (bits/ pixel)
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Order
Figure 11.41 (b)
1076 Biomedical Image Analysis
8
7
Markov entropy (bits/ pixel)
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Order
Figure 11.41 (c)
vide lower estimates of the bit-rate limit than the zeroth-order entropies. The
average entropy value decreases to 4:52 from 4:88 b=pixel with higher-order
entropy estimation while using binary representation by using the F1 trans-
form instead of binary representation of the error data, the average Markov
entropy value further reduces to 4:15 b=pixel.
7
Markov entropy (bits/ pixel)
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Order
(d)
FIGURE 11.41
Plots of the Markov entropy values up to the maximum order possible with
error limit = 0:05, with four forms of splitting, for PSV=7 prediction error
of the 512 512, 8 b=pixel Airplane image, with (a) Binary representation
(b) Gray representation (c) F1 transformation and (d) F2 transformation.
Note: Order=0 indicates memoryless entropy. Reproduced with permission
from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan, \Lossless compression of continuus-tone
images by combined inter-bit-plane decorrelation and JBIG coding", Journal
of Electronic Imaging, 6(2): 198 { 207, 1997. c SPIE and IS&T.
1078 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 11.18
Lowest Estimated Markov Entropy Values with PSV=7 Prediction
for Eight 8 b Test Images.
JPEG with PSV = 7
8 b image Bit rate Lowest entropy
(columns rows) He0 (EJBIG) F1 Binary
Airplane (512 512) 4.18 3.83 3.46 3.75
Baboon (512 512) 6.06 6.04 5.39 5.77
Cameraman (256 256) 4.90 4.67 3.79 4.28
Lenna-256 (256 256) 5.15 4.94 4.16 4.54
Lenna-512 (512 512) 4.65 4.45 4.09 4.41
Peppers (512 512) 4.66 4.54 4.10 4.43
Sailboat (512 512) 5.14 5.05 4.51 4.91
Tiany (512 512) 4.27 4.11 3.74 4.05
Average 4.88 4.70 4.15 4.52
Also shown are bit rates via enhanced JBIG bit-plane coding of F1 -
transformed PSV=7 prediction error (PSV7-F1-JBIG or EJBIG) and the
zeroth-order entropies (He0 ) of the PSV=7 prediction error images (in
b=pixel). Reproduced with permission from L. Shen and R.M. Rangayyan,
\Lossless compression of continuus-tone images by combined inter-bit-plane
decorrelation and JBIG coding", Journal of Electronic Imaging, 6(2): 198 {
207, 1997. c SPIE and IS&T.
Image Coding and Data Compression 1079
Several systems are now available for digital teleradiology, including high-
resolution laser digitizers that can provide images of the order of 4 000
5 000 12 b pixels with a spatial resolution of 50 m or better high-luminance
monitors that can display up to 2 560 2 048 pixels at 12 b=pixel and non-
interlaced refresh rates of 70 ; 80 fps and laser- lm recorders with a spatial
resolution of 50 m that can print images of size 4 000 5 000 12 b pixels.
Satellite, cable, or ber-optic transmission equipment and channels may be
leased with transmission rates of several Mbps. However, the large amount
of data related to high-resolution images can create huge demands in data
transmission and archival capacity. Lossless data compression techniques can
bring down the amount of data, and have a signi cant impact on the practical
implementation of teleradiology and related technologies.
11.15 Remarks
Lossless data compression is desirable in medical image archival and transmis-
sion. In this chapter, we studied several lossless data compression techniques.
A lossless compression scheme generally consists of two steps: decorrelation
and encoding. The success of a lossless compression method is mainly based
upon the eciency of the decorrelation procedure used. In practice, a decor-
relation procedure could include several cascaded decorrelation blocks, each of
which could accomplish a dierent type of decorrelation and facilitate further
decorrelation by the subsequent blocks. Some of the methods described in
this chapter illustrate creative ways of combining multiple decorrelators with
dierent characteristics for achieving better compression eciency.
Several information-theoretic concepts and criteria as applicable to data
compression were also discussed in this chapter. A practical method for the
estimation of high-order entropy was presented, which could aid in the lower-
limit analysis of lossless data compression. High-order entropy estimation
could aid in the design, analysis, and evaluation of cascaded decorrelators.
A historical review of selected works in the development of PACS and telera-
diology systems was presented in the concluding section, in order to demon-
strate the need for image compression and data transmission in a practical
medical application. PACS, teleradiology, and telemedicine are now well es-
tablished areas that are providing advanced technology for improved health
care 1039, 1040, 1081, 1082, 1083].
1089
1090 Biomedical Image Analysis
A generic problem statement for pattern classi cation may be expressed as
follows: A number of measures and features have been derived from a biomed-
ical image. Develop methods to classify the image into one of a few speci-
ed categories. Investigate the relevance of the features and the classication
methods in arriving at a diagnostic decision about the patient.
Observe that the features mentioned above may have been derived manually
or by computer methods. Recognize the distinction between classifying the
given image and arriving at a diagnosis regarding the patient: the connection
between the two tasks or steps may not always be direct. In other words, a
pattern classi cation method may facilitate the labeling of a given image as
being a member of a particular class arriving at a diagnosis of the condition of
the patient will most likely require the analysis of several other items of clinical
information. Although it is common to work with a prespeci ed number of
pattern classes, many problems do exist where the number of classes is not
known a priori. A special case is screening, where the aim is to simply decide
on the presence or absence of a certain type of abnormality or disease. The
initial decision in screening may be further focused on whether the subject
appears to be free of the speci c abnormality of concern or requires further
investigation.
The problem statement and description above are rather generic. Several
considerations arise in the practical application of the concepts mentioned
above to medical images and diagnosis. Using the detection of breast can-
cer as an example, the following questions illustrate some of the problems
encountered in practice.
Is a mass or tumor present? (Yes/No)
If a mass or tumor is present
{ Give or mark its location.
{ Compare the density of the mass to that of the surrounding tissues:
hypodense, isodense, hyperdense.
{ Describe the shape of its boundary: round, ovoid, irregular, ma-
crolobulated, microlobulated, spiculated.
{ Describe its texture: homogeneous, heterogeneous, fatty.
{ Describe its edge: sharp (well-circumscribed), ill-de ned (fuzzy).
{ Decide if it is a benign mass, a cyst (solid or uid- lled), or a
malignant tumor.
Are calci cations present? (Yes/No)
If calci cations are present:
{ Estimate their number per cm2 .
{ Describe their shape: round, ovoid, elongated, branching, rough,
punctate, irregular, amorphous.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1091
{ Describe their spatial distribution or cluster.
{ Describe their density: homogeneous, heterogeneous.
Are there signs of architectural distortion? (Yes/No)
Are there signs of bilateral asymmetry? (Yes/No)
Are there major changes compared to the previous mammogram of the
patient?
Is the case normal? (Yes/No)
If the case is abnormal:
{ Is the disease benign or malignant (cancer)?
The items listed above give a selection of the many features of mammo-
grams that a radiologist would investigate see Ackerman et al. 1084] and the
BI-RADSTM manual 403] for more details. Figure 12.1 shows a graphical user
interface developed by Alto et al. 528, 1085] for the categorization of breast
masses related to some of the questions listed above. Figure 12.2 illustrates
four segments of mammograms demonstrating masses and tumors of dier-
ent characteristics, progressing from a well-circumscribed and homogeneous
benign mass to a highly spiculated and heterogeneous tumor.
The subject matter of this book | image analysis and pattern classi ca-
tion | can provide assistance in responding to only some of the questions
listed above. Even an entire set of mammograms may not lead to a nal
decision: other modes of diagnostic imaging and means of investigation may
be necessary to arrive at a de nite diagnosis.
In the following sections, a number of methods for pattern classi cation,
decision making, and evaluation of the results of classi cation are reviewed
and illustrated.
(Note: Parts of this chapter are reproduced, with permission, from R.M.
Rangayyan, Biomedical Signal Analysis: A Case-Study Approach, IEEE Press
and Wiley, New York, NY. 2002, c IEEE.)
FIGURE 12.1
Graphical user interface for the categorization of breast masses. Reproduced
with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, R.B. Paranjape, J.E.L.
Desautels, and H. Bryant, \An indexed atlas of digital mammograms for
computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer", Annales des Telecommunications,
58(5): 820 { 835, 2003. c GET { Lavoisier. Figure courtesy of C. LeGuil-
lou, E cole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications de Bretagne, Brest,
France.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1093
x x x
2 x x
z class C
x
2 x 1
x x x
x
decision function
o oo d( x)= w x + w x + w = 0
o o o 1 1 2 2 3
z
o 1o o
o oo
o class C
2
x
1
FIGURE 12.3
Two-dimensional feature vectors of two classes, C1 and C2 . The prototypes
of the two classes are indicated by the vectors z1 and z2 . The linear decision
function d(x) shown (solid line) is the perpendicular bisector of the straight
line joining the two prototypes (dashed line). Reproduced with permission
from R.M. Rangayyan, Biomedical Signal Analysis: A Case-Study Approach,
IEEE Press and Wiley, New York, NY. 2002, c IEEE.
For e!cient pattern classi cation, measurements that could lead to dis-
joint sets or clusters of feature vectors are desired. This point underlines the
importance of the appropriate design of the preprocessing and feature extrac-
tion procedures. Features or characterizing attributes that are common to all
patterns belonging to a particular class are known as intraset or intraclass
features. Discriminant features that represent the dierences between pattern
classes are called interset or interclass features.
b155ro95 0.080 m23lc97 0.079 b155rc95 0.078 m23lo97 0.074 m63ro97 0.073 b62lx97 0.072
b145lc95 0.071 b166lc94 0.069 b146rc96 0.068 b62rc97e 0.065 b62rc97d 0.064 m63rc97 0.064
b62rc97a 0.063 b62rc97b 0.063 b164rx94 0.063 b62ro97e 0.063 b145lo95 0.062 b62ro97a 0.059
b110rc95 0.059 b148ro97 0.058 b157lc96 0.057 b62ro97d 0.057 b157lo96 0.056 b110ro95 0.055
b62ro97c 0.054 b62rc97c 0.053 b64rc97 0.052 b161lc95 0.051 m22lo97 0.051 m62lx97 0.051
b62rc97f 0.051 b148rc97 0.050 b166lo94 0.050 m59lc97 0.049 b158lc95 0.047 m22lc97 0.046
b62ro97b 0.045 m58rm97 0.044 b161lo95 0.043 m59lo97 0.041 m61lc97 0.040 b158lo95 0.039
b62ro97f 0.036 m51ro97 0.033 m64lc97 0.029 m62lo97 0.029 m55lc97 0.027 m61lo97 0.024
FIGURE 12.4
ROIs of 57 breast masses, including 37 benign masses and 20 malignant tumors. The
ROIs are arranged in the order of decreasing acutance A. Note that the masses are
of widely diering size, but have been scaled to the same size in the illustration. For
details regarding the case identiers, see Figure 12.2. Reproduced with permission
from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and
analysis of mammographic masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005.
c SPIE and IS&T.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1099
b145lc95 0 b146rc96 0 b148rc97 0 b148ro97 0 b161lc95 0 b62rc97e 0
b62lo97 0.017 b164rx94 0.028 b62rc97a 0.03 b62rc97b 0.033 b110rc95 0.035 b62ro97e 0.041
b161lo95 0.05 b62lx97 0.052 b62rc97d 0.061 b158lo95 0.063 b164rc94 0.064 b145lo95 0.074
b62ro97b 0.091 b110ro95 0.094 b155rc95 0.098 b62ro97f 0.099 b157lo96 0.13 b62rc97c 0.15
b166lo94 0.15 b166lc94 0.17 b62ro97d 0.17 b157lc96 0.2 b62lc97 0.2 b155ro95 0.2
b62rc97f 0.2 b62ro97a 0.22 b146ro96 0.22 b62ro97c 0.24 b164ro94 0.24 b158lc95 0.26
m63ro97 0.29 m62lx97 0.29 b64rc97 0.31 m51rc97 0.37 m23lc97 0.39 m55lc97 0.41
m59lo97 0.42 m23lo97 0.42 m59lc97 0.43 m63rc97 0.44 m51ro97 0.44 m58rc97 0.45
m58ro97 0.46 m61lo97 0.47 m22lc97 0.47 m55lo97 0.48 m58rm97 0.5 m61lc97 0.5
FIGURE 12.5
Contours of 57 breast masses, including 37 benign masses and 20 malignant tumors.
The contours are arranged in the order of increasing fcc . Note that the masses and
their contours are of widely diering size, but have been scaled to the same size
in the illustration. For details regarding the case identiers, see Figure 12.2. See
also Figure 12.30. Reproduced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and
J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and analysis of mammographic masses",
Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
1100 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.8
Sum Entropy
0.6
0.4
0.2
1
0.8
0
1 0.6
0.8 ity
0.4 av
0.6 nc
o
0.4 0.2 lC
na
Acuta 0.2 tio
nce ac
0 0 Fr
FIGURE 12.6
Plot of the 3D feature-vector space (fcc A F8 ) for the set of 57 masses in
Figure 12.4. `o': benign masses (37). `': malignant tumors (20). Repro-
duced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels,
\Content-based retrieval and analysis of mammographic masses", Journal of
c SPIE and IS&T.
Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1101
0.8
0.7
0.6
Spiculation Index
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.4 0.5
0.2 0.4 0.3
0.6 0.1 0.2
0.8 0
Compactness l Concavity
Fractiona
FIGURE 12.7
Plot of the 3D feature-vector space (fcc cf SI ) for the set of 57 contours in
Figure 12.5. `o': benign masses (37). `': malignant tumors (20). Figure
courtesy of H. Alto.
The Euclidean distance between an arbitrary pattern vector x and the ith
prototype is given as
q
Di = kx ; zi k = (x ; zi )T (x ; zi ): (12.10)
A simple rule to classify the pattern vector x would be to choose that class
for which the vector has the smallest distance:
if Di < Dj 8 j 6= i then x 2 Ci : (12.11)
(See Section 12.12 for the description of an application of the Euclidean dis-
tance to the analysis of breast masses and tumors.)
A simple relationship may be established between discriminant functions
and distance functions as follows 1086]:
Di2 = kx ; zi k2 = (x ; zi )T (x ; zi ) (12.12)
= xT x ; 2xT zi + zTi zi = xT x ; 2 xT zi ; 21 zTi zi :
0.9
0.8 x
x x x
x
0.7
Spiculation index SI
0.6 Mx
x
0.5 x
x
0.4
0.3
x
0.2
o
o o
0.1 o o
o
o o B o o o
o o
o o
oo
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.8
Plot of the 2D feature-vector space (fcc SI ) for the training set of 18 be-
nign masses (`o') and 10 malignant tumors (`x') selected from the dataset in
Figure 12.5. The prototypes of the two classes are indicated by the vectors
marked `B' and `M'. The solid line shown is a linear decision function, obtained
as the perpendicular bisector of the straight line joining the two prototypes
(dashed line).
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1103
0.9
x x
0.8
x
x
0.7
x
Spiculation index SI
0.6 x
0.5
x
0.4
0.3
0.2
o
o x
o x
0.1 o o o o o
o o x
o o
o oo oo o
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.9
Plot of the 2D feature-vector space (fcc SI ) for the test set of 19 benign masses
(`o') and 10 malignant tumors (`x') selected from the dataset in Figure 12.5.
The solid line shown is a linear decision function designed as illustrated in
Figure 12.8. Three malignant cases are misclassi ed by the decision function
shown.
1104 Biomedical Image Analysis
that choosing the minimum of Di2 is equivalent to choosing the maximum of
(xT zi ; 12 zTi zi ). Therefore, we may de ne the decision function
di (x) = xT zi ; 12 zTi zi i = 1 2 : : : M: (12.13)
A decision rule may then be stated as
if di (x) > dj (x) 8 j 6= i then x 2 Ci : (12.14)
This is a linear discriminant function, which becomes obvious from the fol-
lowing representation: If zij j = 1 2 : : : n are the components of zi , let
wij = zij j = 1 2 : : : n wi n+1 = ; 12 zTi zi and x = x1 x2 : : : xn 1]T :
Then, di (x) = wiT x i = 1 2 : : : M , where wi = wi1 wi2 : : : wi n+1 ]T :
Therefore, distance functions may be formulated as linear discriminant or
decision functions.
0.9
0.8
0.7
Spiculation index/2 SI/2
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.10
Initial state of the K -means algorithm. The symbols in the cluster plot repre-
sent the 2D feature vectors (fcc SI ) for 37 benign ( ) and 20 malignant (+)
breast masses. (See Figure 12.5 for the contours of the masses.) The cluster
centers (class means) are indicated by the solid diamond and the * symbols.
The straight line indicates the decision boundary between the two classes.
Figure courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
1112 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.9
0.8
0.7
Spiculation index/2 SI/2
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.11
Second iteration of the K -means algorithm. Details as in Figure 12.10. Figure
courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1113
0.9
0.8
0.7
Spiculation index/2 SI/2
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.12
Third iteration of the K -means algorithm. Details as in Figure 12.10. Figure
courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
1114 Biomedical Image Analysis
0.9
0.8
0.7
Spiculation index/2 SI/2
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.13
Fourth iteration of the K -means algorithm. Details as in Figure 12.10. Figure
courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1115
0.9
0.8
0.7
Spiculation index/2 SI/2
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.14
Final state of the K -means algorithm after the fth iteration. Details as in
Figure 12.10. Figure courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
1116 Biomedical Image Analysis
A classi er could compute Rj (x) j = 1 2 : : : M , for each sample x, and
then assign x to the class with the smallest conditional loss. Such a classi er
will minimize the total expected loss over all decisions, and is called the Bayes
classier. From a statistical point of view, the Bayes classi er represents the
optimal classi er.
According to Bayes rule, we have 721, 1086]
P (Cijx) = P (Cip)(px()xjCi) (12.28)
where p(xjCi ) is called the likelihood function of class Ci or the state-condi-
tional PDF of x, and p(x) is the PDF of x regardless of class membership
(unconditional). Note: P (y) is used to represent the probability of occur-
rence of an event y p(y) is used to represent the PDF of a random variable y.
Probabilities and PDFs involving a multidimensional feature vectors are mul-
tivariate functions with dimension equal to that of the feature vector.] Bayes
rule shows how observing the sample x changes the a priori probability P (Ci )
to the a posteriori probability P (Ci jx): In other words, Bayes rule provides a
mechanism to update the a priori probability P (Ci ) to the a posteriori prob-
ability P (Ci jx) due to the observation of the sample x. Then, we can express
the expected loss as 1086]
1 XM
Rj (x) = p(x) Lij p(xjCi) P (Ci): (12.29)
i=1
Because p(1x) is common for all j , we could modify Rj (x) to
X
M
rj (x) = Lij p(xjCi) P (Ci ): (12.30)
i=1
In a two-class case with M = 2, we obtain the following expressions 1086]:
r1 (x) = L11 p(xjC1 ) P (C1 ) + L21 p(xjC2) P (C2): (12.31)
r2 (x) = L12 p(xjC1 ) P (C1 ) + L22 p(xjC2) P (C2): (12.32)
x 2 C1 if r1 (x) < r2 (x) (12.33)
that is,
x 2 C1 if L11 p(xjC1) P (C1 ) + L21 p(xjC2) P (C2)] (12.34)
< L12 p(xjC1) P (C1) + L22 p(xjC2) P (C2)]
or equivalently,
x 2 C1 if (L21 ; L22 ) p(xjC2) P (C2)] < (L12 ; L11 ) p(xjC1) P (C1)]:
(12.35)
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1117
This expression may be rewritten as
x 2 C1 if pp((xxjjCC1)) > PP ((CC2 )) ((LL21 ;; LL22 )) : (12.36)
2 1 12 11
The left-hand side of the inequality above, which is a ratio of two likelihood
functions, is often referred to as the likelihood ratio :
l12 (x) = pp((xxjjCC1 )) : (12.37)
2
and
X
M
rj (x) = (1 ; ij ) p(xjCi ) P (Ci ) (12.40)
i=1
= p(x) ; p(xjCj ) P (Cj )
because
X
M
p(xjCi) P (Ci) = p(x): (12.41)
i=1
The Bayes classi er will assign a pattern x to class Ci if
p(x) ; p(xjCi)P (Ci) < p(x) ; p(xjCj )P (Cj ) j = 1 2 : : : M j 6= i (12.42)
1118 Biomedical Image Analysis
that is,
x 2 Ci if p(xjCi)P (Ci) > p(xjCj )P (Cj ) j = 1 2 : : : M j 6= i: (12.43)
This is nothing more than using the decision functions
di (x) = p(xjCi) P (Ci) i = 1 2 : : : M (12.44)
where a pattern x is assigned to class Ci if di (x) > dj (x) 8 j 6= i for that
pattern. Using Bayes rule, we get
di (x) = P (Cijx) p(x) i = 1 2 : : : M: (12.45)
Because p(x) does not depend upon the class index i, this can be reduced to
di (x) = P (Cijx) i = 1 2 : : : M: (12.46)
The dierent decision functions given above provide alternative yet equivalent
approaches, depending upon whether p(xjCi ) or P (Ci jx) is used (or available).
The estimation of p(xjCi ) would require a training set for each class Ci . It
is common to assume a Gaussian distribution and estimate its mean and
variance using the training set.
1 3.5
0.8
2.5
p(fcc | Ci )
P(Ci | fcc)
0.6
2
1.5
0.4
0.2
0.5
0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.15
Plots of Gaussian state-conditional PDF models for the shape factor fcc for
benign (dashed line) and malignant (dotted line) breast masses. (See Fig-
ure 12.5 for the contours of the masses.) The fcc values of the samples are
indicated on the horizontal axis for 37 benign masses with and for 20 malig-
nant tumors as . The posterior probability functions for the benign (solid
line) and malignant (dash-dot line) classes are also shown. Equal prior prob-
abilities of 0:5 were used for the two classes. See also Figure 12.16. Figure
courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
1122 Biomedical Image Analysis
1 3.5
0.8
2.5
p(fcc | Ci )
P(Ci | fcc)
0.6
2
1.5
0.4
0.2
0.5
0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.16
Same as in Figure 12.15, but with the prior probability of the benign class
equal to 0:9. Figure courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1123
0.9
0.8
0.7
Spiculation index/2 SI/2
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Fractional concavity fcc
FIGURE 12.17
Plots of 2D Gaussian state-conditional PDF models for the shape factors
fcc and SI for benign masses (dash-dot line) and malignant tumors (dashed
line). See Figure 12.5 for the contours of the masses. Feature values for
37 benign masses are indicated with , and for 20 malignant tumors as .
The benign class prototype (mean) is indicated by the solid diamond that
for the malignant class is indicated by the * symbol. The dashed and dash-
dot contours indicate two constant-Mahalanobis-distance contours (level sets)
each for the two Gaussian PDF models (see Equation 12.18) for the malignant
and benign classes, respectively. The solid contour indicates the decision
boundary, as given by Equation 12.53 to Equation 12.56, with the decision
function being equal for the two classes. The prior probabilities for the two
classes were assumed to be equal to 0:5. Figure courtesy of F.J. Ayres.
1124 Biomedical Image Analysis
linear. The typical response function is shaped as a forward or backward tilted
\S", and is known as a sigmoidal function. The function has asymptotes at 0
and 1.
In logistic pattern classi cation, an event is de ned as the membership of
a pattern vector in one of the two classes of concern. The method computes
a variable that depends upon the given parameters and is constrained to the
range 0 1] so that it may be interpreted as a probability. The probability
of the pattern vector belonging to the second class is simply the dierence
between unity and the estimated value.
For the case of a single feature or parameter, the logistic regression model
is given as
P (event) = 1 +exp( b0 + b1 x) (12.58)
exp(b0 + b1 x)
or equivalently,
P (event) = 1 + exp;1(b + b x)] (12.59)
0 1
where b0 and b1 are coe!cients estimated from the data, and x is the inde-
pendent (feature) variable. The relationship between the independent vari-
able and the estimated probability is nonlinear, and follows an S-shaped curve
that closely resembles the integral of a Gaussian function. In the case of an
n-dimensional feature vector x, the model can be written as
1
P (event) = 1 + exp( (12.60)
;z )
(x(2)
k ;m~ 1 )T (x(2)
k ;m~ 1 ) ; (x(2)
k ;m~ 2k )T (x(2)
k ;m~ 2k )
N 2
~ 1 )T (x(2)
= (xk ; m
(2)
k ;m~ 1) ; T (2)
N2 ; 1 (xk ; m~ 2 ) (xk ; m~ 2 )
2 (2)
< : (12.67)
The leave-one-out method provides the least-biased (practically unbiased)
estimate of the classi cation accuracy of a given classi cation method for a
given training set, and is useful when the number of samples available with
known classi cation is small.
1 1
2
2 2
I K
J #
wij wjk
#
xi xj yk
INPUT HIDDEN OUTPUT
LAYER LAYER LAYER
FIGURE 12.18
A two-layer perceptron. Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Ran-
gayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Detection and classi cation of mammographic
calci cations", International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial In-
c World Scienti c Publishing Company.
telligence, 7(6):1403{1416, 1993.
Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. De-
sautels, \Detection and classi cation of mammographic calci cations", Inter-
national Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial Intelligence, 7(6):1403{
1416, 1993. c World Scienti c Publishing Company.
TABLE 12.2
Results of the Training and ANN Parameter Determination Algorithm
with
= 2:0 and = 0:7.
Number of Number of Number of erroneous
hidden nodes (J ) iterations (mean) classi cations out of 143 samples
5 1,448 3
10 1,391 3
12 1,380 4
15 1,387 3
20 1,401 4
Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. De-
sautels, \Detection and classi cation of mammographic calci cations", Inter-
national Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial Intelligence, 7(6):1403{
1416, 1993. c World Scienti c Publishing Company.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1131
TABLE 12.3
Results of the Training and ANN Parameter Determination
Algorithm with J = 10 and = 0:7.
Gain Number of Number of erroneous
iterations (mean) classi cations out of 143 samples
0.3 4,088 4
0.7 2,145 4
1.0 1,697 3
1.5 1,431 4
2.0 1,391 3
2.3 1,430 3
3.0 2,691 5
Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. De-
sautels, \Detection and classi cation of mammographic calci cations", Inter-
national Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial Intelligence, 7(6):1403{
1416, 1993. c World Scienti c Publishing Company.
TABLE 12.4
Results of the Training and ANN Parameter Determination
Algorithm with J = 10 and
= 2:0.
Momentum Number of Number of erroneous
iterations (mean) classi cations out of 143 samples
0.5 2,426 4
0.7 1,391 3
0.9 4,152 7
Reproduced with permission from L. Shen, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. De-
sautels, \Detection and classi cation of mammographic calci cations", Inter-
national Journal of Pattern Recognition and Articial Intelligence, 7(6):1403{
1416, 1993. c World Scienti c Publishing Company.
1132 Biomedical Image Analysis
was 94%, whereas the correct classi cation rate for the correctly detected
malignant calci cations was 87%.
Classi cation errors for benign calci cations arose mainly from overlap-
ping calci cations. One possible solution to this problem is two-view analy-
sis 1098]. A likely reason for erroneous classi cation of malignant calci ca-
tions is that not all calci cations within a malignant calci cation cluster may
possess rough contours a cluster analysis procedure may assist in overcoming
this situation.
TABLE 12.5
Schematic Representation of a
Classi cation Matrix.
Predicted group
TABLE 12.6
Schematic Representation of the
Cost Matrix of a Diagnostic Method.
Predicted group
Normal CN CFP
Abnormal CFN CA
Decision
0.5 threshold
p(z|N)
0.4
0.3
p(z|A)
PDF
0.1
FNF FPF
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Decision variable z
FIGURE 12.19
State-conditional PDFs of a diagnostic decision variable z for normal and
abnormal cases. The vertical line represents the decision threshold. Repro-
duced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, Biomedical Signal Analysis: A
Case-Study Approach, IEEE Press and Wiley, New York, NY. 2002, c IEEE.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1137
An ROC curve is a graph that plots (FPF TPF ) points obtained for a
range of decision threshold or cut points of the decision method (see Fig-
ure 12.20). The cut point could correspond to the threshold of the probability
of prediction. By varying the decision threshold, we get dierent decision frac-
tions, within the range 0 1]. An ROC curve describes the inherent detection
(diagnostic or discriminant) characteristics of a test or method: a receiver
(user) may choose to operate at any point along the curve. The ROC curve
is independent of the prevalence of the disease or disorder being investigated
because it is based upon normalized decision fractions. Because all cases may
be simply labeled as negative or all may be labeled as positive, an ROC curve
has to pass through the points (0 0) and (1 1).
Ideal
0.9
ROC3
0.8 ROC2
0.7
ROC1
0.6
TPF
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
FPF
FIGURE 12.20
Examples of ROC curves. Reproduced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan,
Biomedical Signal Analysis: A Case-Study Approach, IEEE Press and Wiley,
New York, NY. 2002, c IEEE.
TABLE 12.7
Schematic Representation of a Contingency Table for
McNemar's Test of Asymmetry.
Method B
1 or 2 3 4 or 5
Level with Original Methodology
1 or 2
D U U
L D U
3
4 or 5
L L D
FIGURE 12.21
Illustration of the contingency table for McNemar's test. Figure courtesy of
L. Shen 320].
The validity of McNemar's test depends on the assumption that the cell
counts are at least moderately large. In order to avoid the limitations due to
this factor, and also to avoid the problem of excessive multiple comparisons,
the data across the individual radiologists were combined in two dierent
ways before applying McNemar's test. The rst method (referred to as \aver-
aged") averaged the radiologists' diagnostic ratings before forming the 3 3
tables. In the second method (referred to as \combined"), the 3 3 tables for
each of the radiologists were formed rst and then combined by summing the
corresponding cells.
Because this analysis involves multiple p-values, the Bonferroni correction
was used to adjust the p-values 1111]. When multiple p-values are produced,
the probability of making a Type I error increases. (Rejection of the null hy-
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1149
pothesis when it is true is called a Type I error.) The Bonferroni method for
adjusting multiple p-values requires that when k hypothesis tests are per-
formed, each p-value be multiplied by k, so that the adjusted p-value is
p = kp. In order to reduce the number of p-values, symmetry was tested
for each situation (malignant/benign and averaged/combined) for the two
tables original-to-digitized and digitized-to-enhanced, but not the original-to-
enhanced (which follows from the other two).
ROC analysis of dicult cases: Because the population involved in this
study was such that the original mammograms were su!ciently abnormal to
cause the initial attending radiologist to call for biopsy, the aim was to test
whether speci city could be improved with the ANCE method.
The composite ROC curves representing breast cancer diagnosis by the
six radiologists in this study are compared in Figure 12.22, which illustrates
several points: First, the process of digitization (and down-sampling to an
eective pixel size of 0:124 mm 0:124 mm) degraded the quality of the
images and thereby made the radiologists' performance worse, especially in
the low-FPF range. However, better performance of the radiologists is seen
with the digitized images at high FPFs (better sensitivity with worse speci-
city). Second, the ANCE method improved the radiologists' performance in
all ranges of FPF (more signi cantly in the low-FPF range) as compared with
the unprocessed digitized images, although it is still lower than that with the
original lms in the low range of FPF. The Az values for the original, digi-
tized, and enhanced mammograms were computed to be 0:67, 0:63, and 0:67,
respectively. (Kallergi et al. 267] also observed a drop in the area under the
ROC curve when digitized images were interpreted from monitor display as
compared with the original lms their wavelet-based enhancement method
provided an improvement over the digitized version, although the enhanced
images did not provide any statistically signi cant bene t over the original
lms.) The Az values are lower than those normally encountered in most
studies (in the range 0:85 ; 0:95) due to the fact that the cases selected were
di!cult enough to call for biopsy. The labeling of all mammograms taken
prior to the detection of cancer as abnormal will also have had a bearing on
this result. Regardless, the numerical results indicate that the ANCE tech-
nique improved the radiologists' overall performance, especially over unpro-
cessed digitized mammograms, and allowed the radiologists to discriminate
between the two populations slightly better while interpreting the enhanced
mammograms as compared with the original lms.
McNemar's tests on dicult cases: Table 12.8 and Table 12.9 contain
details of the variation of the radiologists' diagnostic performance for ma-
lignant cases and benign cases, respectively, with the di!cult-cases dataset.
(Note: In the tables, B refers to benign, U to undecided or indeterminate, and
M to malignant ratings.) For almost every table for individual readers, the
numbers were too small to perform the McNemar chi-square test (including
the average). In other cases, the numbers would be too small to detect a
1150 Biomedical Image Analysis
1
True-Positive Fraction
0.8 Enhanced
0.6 Original
0.4
0.2 Digitized
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
False-Positive Fraction
FIGURE 12.22
Comparison of composite ROC curves for the detection of abnormalities by
interpreting the original, unprocessed digitized, and enhanced images of 21
di!cult cases. Reproduced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, L. Shen,
Y. Shen, J.E.L. Desautels, H. Bryant, T.J. Terry, N. Horeczko, and M.S.
Rose, \Improvement of sensitivity of breast cancer diagnosis with adaptive
neighborhood contrast enhancement of mammograms", IEEE Transactions
on Information Technology in Biomedicine, 1(3):161{170, 1997. c IEEE.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1151
TABLE 12.8
Variation of Radiologists' Diagnostic Performance with Original,
Unprocessed Digitized, and ANCE-processed Digitized Mammograms
for the Seven Malignant Cases in the Di!cult-cases Dataset.
Change in diagnostic con dence level
B : level 1 or 2 U : level 3 M : level 4 or 5
B!U U!M B!M B! U! M!
Rad. Images (U ! B) (M ! U) (M ! B) B U M
O ! D 1 (1) 0 (2) 0 (0) 1 0 2
#1 D ! E 1 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) 1 2 2
O ! E 0 (0) 0 (2) 1 (0) 1 1 2
O ! D 0 (0) 0 (1) 0 (0) 1 1 4
#2 D ! E 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 2 4
O ! E 0 (0) 0 (1) 0 (0) 1 1 4
O ! D 1 (0) 1 (2) 0 (0) 0 2 1
#3 D ! E 0 (1) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 4 2
O ! E 1 (1) 1 (2) 0 (0) 0 1 1
O ! D 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (1) 1 0 3
#4 D ! E 1 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) 2 0 3
O ! E 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (1) 1 1 4
O ! D 0 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) 1 2 3
#5 D ! E 1 (0) 1 (1) 0 (0) 0 1 3
O ! E 1 (0) 2 (1) 0 (0) 0 1 2
O ! D 0 (1) 0 (0) 0 (2) 1 0 3
#6 D ! E 0 (0) 0 (1) 2 (0) 2 0 2
O ! E 0 (0) 1 (1) 0 (1) 1 0 3
O ! D 0 (0) 0 (2) 0 (0) 1 1 3
Av. D ! E 0 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) 1 2 3
O ! E 0 (0) 1 (2) 0 (0) 1 0 3
0.8
True-Positive Fraction
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
False-Positive Fraction
FIGURE 12.23
Variation of conventional ROC curves among three radiologists interpreting
the same set of unprocessed digitized mammograms from the interval-cancer
cases dataset. Reproduced with permission from R.M. Rangayyan, L. Shen,
Y. Shen, J.E.L. Desautels, H. Bryant, T.J. Terry, N. Horeczko, and M.S.
Rose, \Improvement of sensitivity of breast cancer diagnosis with adaptive
neighborhood contrast enhancement of mammograms", IEEE Transactions
on Information Technology in Biomedicine, 1(3):161{170, 1997. c IEEE.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1155
TABLE 12.10
Variation of Radiologists' Diagnostic Performance with Original,
Unprocessed Digitized, and ANCE-processed Digitized Mammograms
for the 47 Malignant Cases in the Interval-cancer Dataset.
Change in diagnostic con dence level
B : level 1 or 2 U : level 3 M : level 4 or 5
B!U U!M B!M B! U! M!
Rad. Images (U ! B) (M ! U) (M ! B) B U M
O!D 8 (0) 4 (0) 15 (1) 2 1 16
#1 D ! E 0 (0) 9 (0) 2 (0) 0 1 35
O!E 1 (0) 5 (1) 24 (0) 0 0 16
O!D 8 (0) 7 (0) 5 (0) 4 7 16
#2 D ! E 1 (1) 12 (2) 3 (0) 0 3 25
O!E 4 (1) 13 (1) 13 (0) 0 0 15
O!D 7 (1) 0 (1) 4 (3) 9 6 16
#3 D ! E 5 (2) 8 (3) 2 (1) 6 4 16
O!E 6 (0) 4 (3) 8 (3) 6 3 14
O!D 9 (0) 2 (4) 10 (0) 4 4 14
Av. D ! E 1 (0) 14 (2) 3 (0) 0 3 24
O!E 2 (0) 5 (3) 21 (0) 0 1 15
TABLE 12.11
Variation of Radiologists' Diagnostic Performance with Original,
Unprocessed Digitized, and ANCE-processed Digitized Mammograms
for the Eight Benign Cases in the Interval-cancer Dataset.
Change in diagnostic con dence level
B : level 1 or 2 U : level 3 M : level 4 or 5
U!B M!U M!B B! U! M!
Rad. Images (B ! U) (U ! M) (B ! M) B U M
O ! D 0 (0) 1 (4) 0 (0) 1 0 2
#1 D ! E 0 (1) 1 (0) 0 (0) 0 1 5
O ! E 0 (1) 1 (3) 0 (0) 0 1 2
O ! D 0 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) 1 2 4
#2 D ! E 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 (0) 0 2 4
O ! E 0 (1) 1 (1) 0 (0) 0 1 4
O ! D 0 (0) 1 (0) 0 (1) 2 1 1
#3 D ! E 0 (0) 0 (1) 0 (1) 1 1 1
O ! E 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (2) 1 1 2
O ! D 0 (0) 1 (2) 0 (0) 1 1 3
Av. D ! E 0 (1) 1 (1) 0 (0) 0 1 4
O ! E 0 (1) 1 (2) 0 (0) 0 1 3
0.8 Enhanced
True-Positive Fraction
0.6
Digitized
0.4
Original
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
False-Positive Fraction
FIGURE 12.24
Comparison of composite ROC curves for the detection of abnormalities by
interpreting the original, unprocessed digitized, and enhanced images from
the interval-cancer dataset. Reproduced with permission from R.M. Ran-
gayyan, L. Shen, Y. Shen, J.E.L. Desautels, H. Bryant, T.J. Terry, N.
Horeczko, and M.S. Rose, \Improvement of sensitivity of breast cancer diag-
nosis with adaptive neighborhood contrast enhancement of mammograms",
IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine, 1(3):161{170,
1997. c IEEE.
The Az values for the original, digitized, and enhanced mammograms were
computed to be 0:39, 0:47, and 0:54, respectively. These numbers are much
lower than the commonly encountered area values due to the fact that the
cases selected are di!cult cases, and more importantly, due to the fact that
signs of earlier stages of the interval cancers were either not present on the
previous lms or were not visible. The radiologists interpreting the mammo-
grams taken prior to the diagnosis of the cancer had declared that the there
was no evidence of cancer on the lms hence, the improvement indicated by
the ROC curve is signi cant in terms of the diagnostic outcome. This also
explains why Az is less than 0:5 for the original and digitized mammograms.
1158 Biomedical Image Analysis
250
Lighten2 LUT
200
Output Level
150
50
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Input Level
FIGURE 12.25
The two LUTs used for printing mammograms. Reproduced with permission
from R.M. Rangayyan, L. Shen, Y. Shen, J.E.L. Desautels, H. Bryant, T.J.
Terry, N. Horeczko, and M.S. Rose, \Improvement of sensitivity of breast
cancer diagnosis with adaptive neighborhood contrast enhancement of mam-
mograms", IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine,
1(3):161{170, 1997. c IEEE.
The results indicate that the ANCE technique can improve sensitivity and
assist radiologists in detecting breast cancer at earlier stages.
McNemar's tests on interval-cancer cases: For the benign cases (av-
eraged), and for the original-to-enhanced, the numbers were too small to pro-
vide a valid chi-square statistic for McNemar's test. Therefore, for the benign
cases, two tables (digitized-to-enhanced and original-to-enhanced) combined
over the three radiologists were tested. No signi cant dierence in diagnostic
accuracy was found for the benign cases, for either the digitized-to-enhanced
table with p = 0:097 (Bonferroni adjusted p-value p = 0:58) or for the original-
to-enhanced table with p = 0:083 (p = 0:50).
For each of the four tables for the malignant cases, a signi cant improvement
was observed in the diagnostic accuracy, with the following p-values: original-
to-digitized (combined) p < 0:001, p < 0:001 digitized-to-enhanced (com-
bined) p = 0:0001, p = 0:0006 original-to-digitized (averaged) p = 0:002,
p = 0:012 digitized-to-enhanced (averaged) p = 0:0046, p = 0:028.
In summary, no signi cant changes were seen in the diagnostic accuracy for
the benign control cases. For the malignant cases, a signi cant improvement
was seen in the diagnostic accuracy in all four tables tested, even after using
a Bonferroni adjustment for the multiple p-values (k = 6).
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1159
12.10.3 Discussion
The results of the interval-cancer study indicate that the ANCE method had
a positive impact on the interpretation of mammograms in terms of early de-
tection of breast cancer (improved sensitivity). The ANCE-processed mam-
mograms increased the detectability of signs of malignancy at earlier stages
(of the interval-cancer cases) as compared with the original and unprocessed
digitized mammograms. In terms of the average diagnostic con dence levels
of three experts, 19 of 28 interval-cancer patients were not diagnosed during
their earlier mammography tests with the original lms only. However, had
the ANCE procedure been used, all of these cases would have been diagnosed
as malignant at the corresponding earlier times. Only one of six patients ini-
tially labeled as having benign disease with the original mammogram lms
was interpreted as malignant after enhancement. Although the resultant high
sensitivity (TPF) comes with increased FPF of over 0:3, such an improvement
in the detection of breast cancer at early stages is important.
The results obtained with the set of di!cult cases are not as conclusive
as the results with the interval-cancer cases. Three reasons for this could be
(i) lack of familiarity of ve of the six radiologists with digitized and enhanced
mammographic images (ii) interpreting the images on a monitor and (iii) use
of down-sampled images at a lower resolution of 124 m. Better results may be
achieved if mammograms are digitized and processed with the desired spatial
resolution of 50 m and dynamic range of 0 ; 3:5 OD, and printed at the
same resolution on lm. (No monitor is as yet available to display images of
the order of 4 096 4 096 pixels at 12 bits/pixel.)
The results of statistical analysis using McNemar's tests show (more con-
clusively than ROC analysis) that the ANCE procedure resulted in a sta-
tistically signi cant improvement in the diagnosis of interval-cancer cases,
with no signi cant eect on the benign control cases. Statistical tests such
as McNemar's test complement ROC analysis in certain circumstances, such
as those in the study being discussed with small numbers of di!cult cases.
Both methodologies are useful as they analyze the results from dierent per-
spectives: ROC analysis provides a measure of the accuracy of the procedure
in terms of sensitivity and speci city, whereas McNemar's test analyzes the
statistical signi cance and consistency of the change (improvement) in perfor-
mance. ROC analysis could include a chi-square test of statistical signi cance,
if large numbers of cases are available.
In the study with the di!cult-cases dataset, both the ROC and statisti-
cal analysis using McNemar's tests have shown that the digital versions led
to some improvements in distinguishing benign cases from malignant cases
(speci city). However, the improvement in the unprocessed digitized mam-
mograms may have come from the availability of a zooming utility.
Although the ANCE algorithm includes procedures to control noise en-
hancement, increased noise was observed in the processed images. Improve-
ments in noise control could lead to better speci city while increasing the
1160 Biomedical Image Analysis
sensitivity of breast cancer detection. The results could also be improved by
interpreting a combination of the original or digitized mammograms with their
enhanced versions increased familiarity with the enhanced mammograms may
assist the radiologists in the detection of abnormalities. New laser printers
(such as the Kodak 8610) can print images of the order of 4 096 4 096 pix-
els with 12-bit gray scale on lm this could lead to improved quality in the
reproduction of the enhanced images and consequent improved interpretation
by radiologists.
Digital image enhancement has the potential to improve the accuracy of
breast cancer diagnosis and lead to earlier detection of breast cancer. Parallel
computing strategies may assist in the practical application of the ANCE
technique in a screening program 246, 1112, 1113, 1114].
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Sensitivity
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
SI
0.1 SI+fcc
SI+fcc+C
fcc
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1−Specificity
FIGURE 12.26
ROC plots for SI , fcc , (SI fcc ), and (SI fcc cf ). SI: spiculation index.
fcc: fractional concavity. C: modi ed compactness cf . The set of contours
used is illustrated in Figure 6.27. Reproduced with permission from R.M.
Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Boundary modeling and
shape analysis methods for classi cation of mammographic masses", Medical
and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38:487{496, 2000. c IFMBE.
1164 Biomedical Image Analysis
TABLE 12.12
Numbers of Masses and Tumors Correctly Classi ed as Benign or
Malignant by the Three Shape Factors cf , fcc , and SI .
Benign Malignant % Accuracy
Features Circ. Spic. Circ. Spic. Ben. Mal. Total Az
SI 16/16 5/12 3/7 19/19 75.0 84.6 79.6 0.82
fcc 15/16 2/12 6/7 17/19 60.7 88.5 74.1 0.75
cf 15/16 1/12 4/7 19/19 57.1 88.5 72.2 0.76
cf , SI 16/16 5/12 3/7 19/19 75.0 84.6 79.6 0.80
fcc , SI 16/16 4/12 3/7 19/19 71.4 84.6 77.8 0.80
cf , fcc 15/16 1/12 5/7 19/19 57.1 92.3 74.1 0.72
cf , fcc , SI 16/16 4/12 5/7 19/19 71.4 92.3 81.5 0.79
Circ.: circumscribed Spic.: spiculated. Ben.: benign Mal.: malignant. See
Figure 6.27 for an illustration of the contours. Reproduced with permission
from R.M. Rangayyan, N.R. Mudigonda, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Boundary
modeling and shape analysis methods for classi cation of mammographic
masses", Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38:487{496,
2000. c IFMBE.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1165
spiculated in nature, a major portion of its boundary does not possess sharp
and narrow spicules. Hence, the parameter SI , which is sensitive to narrow
spicules, correctly classi ed this mass as a benign mass.
FIGURE 12.27
Shape factors for the boundary of a spiculated benign mass: cf = 0:8, fcc =
0:53, and SI = 0:3. Only SI correctly classi ed the mass as benign 166].
FIGURE 12.28
(a) ROI of the benign mass b164ro94 (see Figure 12.4.) (b) ROI overlaid with
the contour demonstrating concave parts in black and convex parts in white.
(c) Ribbon of pixels for the purpose of computing texture measures, derived by
dilating and eroding the contour in (b). (d) Normals to the contour, shown at
every tenth point on the contour, used for the computation of edge-sharpness
measures. See also Figures 7.24 and 7.25. Reproduced with permission from
H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and
analysis of mammographic masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press,
2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1169
tors and pooled covariance matrices were computed using the feature vectors
of the remaining benign and malignant samples. The Mahalanobis distance
was computed from the sample on hand to the mean vectors of the benign
and malignant classes the sample was assigned to the class with the smaller
distance.
The sensitivity and speci city values for the ROC plots were obtained with
the BMDP 7M stepwise discriminant analysis program 674] by varying the
cut points for benign and malignant prior probabilities between 0 and 1 in
steps of 0:1. The program realizes a jack-knife validation procedure using
the leave-one-out algorithm. Figure 12.29 shows the ROC curves for fcc A
and F8 individually and combined. The area Az under each ROC curve was
computed using the trapezoidal rule. The results of all of the experiments
mentioned aboved are listed in Table 12.13. The sensitivity and speci city
values obtained at a prior probability value of 0:5 for both the benign and
malignant groups are also shown in Table 12.13 for the sake of illustration.
The shape factor fcc has demonstrated consistently high classi cation accu-
racy regardless of the pattern classi cation method. The classi cation perfor-
mance of the texture features is poor. The measure of acutance has provided
slightly better accuracy than the texture measures. The addition of texture
and edge-sharpness measures did not signi cantly alter the performance of fcc .
(See Sections 12.3.1 and 12.4.2 for examples of application of other pattern
classi cation methods to the same dataset.)
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Sensitivity
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
Fcc
0.1 A
F8
Fcc+A+F8
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1−Specificity
FIGURE 12.29
ROC plots for fcc A F8 ] individually and combined. The ROC curves for
fcc and fcc A F8] overlap completely. Reproduced with permission from H.
Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and
analysis of mammographic masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press,
2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision
TABLE 12.13
Accuracy of Classi cation of Masses as Benign or Malignant Using Combinations of the Shape Factor fcc , Acutance
A, and the Texture Measure Sum Entropy F8 with Pattern Classi cation Methods and CBIR (Precision) 529].
Logistic regression Mahalanobis distance Linear discriminant analysis k-NN Precision
Features Sens Spec Avg Sens Spec Avg Sens Spec Avg Az k=5 k=7 k=5 k=7
fcc 90 97.3 94.7 90 97.3 94.7 100.0 97.3 98.2 0.99 94.7 94.7 95.1 95.2
A 50 94.6 78.9 75 67.6 70.0 75.0 73.0 73.7 0.74 68.4 73.7 65.3 67.4
F8 30 86.5 66.7 65 56.8 59.6 75.0 54.1 61.4 0.68 63.2 54.4 58.2 60.9
fcc A 90 97.3 94.7 90 97.3 94.7 95.0 97.3 96.5 0.98 96.5 94.7 93.0 91.2
fcc F8 90 97.3 94.7 90 97.3 94.7 100.0 97.3 98.2 0.99 94.7 94.7 95.1 93.7
A F8 55 86.5 75.4 60 70.3 66.7 75.0 73.0 73.7 0.76 75.4 75.4 68.4 68.4
fcc F8 A 90 97.3 94.7 95 97.3 96.5 100.0 97.3 98.2 0.99 96.5 96.5 90.9 91.2
14 texture * * * 70 50.0 64.9 65.0 64.9 64.9 0.67 # # # #
*: Logistic regression identi ed the texture feature F8 as the only signi cant feature results were computed for F8 only.
#: Experiments not conducted for this feature set. Sens = sensitivity Spec = speci city Avg = average accuracy as
percentages. See Figures 12.4 and 12.5 for illustrations of the masses and their contours.
1171
1172 Biomedical Image Analysis
A review of CBIR systems by Gudivada and Raghavan 1123] outlines pre-
vious approaches to content-based retrieval, and expresses the need to utilize
features from a variety of approaches based on attributes, feature extrac-
tion, or object recognition, for information representation. Gudivada and
Raghavan 1123] and Yoshitaka and Ichikawa 1122] indicate that conventional
database systems are not well suited to handle multimedia data containing
images, video, and text. Hence, it is necessary to explore more exible query
and retrieval methods.
Representation of breast mass images for CBIR: The rst step in
the development of a CBIR system is to represent the data or information in a
meaningful way in the database so that retrieval is facilitated for a given appli-
cation 529, 1085, 1121]. The representation of breast masses and tumors in a
database requires the design of a reasonable number of descriptors to represent
the image features of interest (or diagnostic value) with minimal loss of infor-
mation. It is well established that most benign masses have contours that are
well-circumscribed, smooth, and are round or oval, and have a relatively ho-
mogeneous internal texture. On the other hand, malignant tumors typically
exhibit ill-dierentiated and rough or spiculated contours, with a heteroge-
neous internal texture 54, 55]. For these reasons, shape factors and texture
measures have been proposed for dierentiating between benign masses and
malignant tumors 163, 165, 275, 345, 354, 428, 451].
Various researchers have chosen to represent the contours of objects in a
variety of ways, some of which include: coding the object's contour as an
ordered sequence of points or high-curvature points 1124, 1125, 1126] using
chain-code histograms 1125, 1126, 1127, 1128] and using shape descriptors
such as compactness 163, 274, 345, 428, 1118, 1132], concavity/convexity
345, 354, 1132], moments 163, 274, 1128, 1132], Fourier descriptors 274,
428, 1124, 1126], spiculation index 345], and the wavelet transform modulus-
maxima 1118]. Loncaric 406] gives an overview of shape analysis techniques
from chain codes to fractal geometry. (See Chapter 6 for details on shape
analysis.)
Automatically extracted shapes and parameters are considered to be prim-
itive features, whereas logical features are abstract representations of images
at various levels of detail and may be synthesized from primitive features.
Logical features require more human intervention and domain expertise, and
therefore, there is a higher cost associated with preprocessing the data for
the database. CBIR approaches dier with respect to the image features
that are extracted, the level of abstraction of the features, and the degree of
desired domain independence 1123]. Depending upon the application, object-
based descriptors such as tumor shape may be preferred to attribute-based
descriptors such as color or texture keywords may also be used where ap-
propriate 1129, 1130]. In the work of Alto et al. 529], the features used
are related to radiologically established attributes of breast masses. When
the images in a database are indexed with objective measures of diagnostic
features, the database may be referred to as an indexed atlas 1085, 1133].
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1173
The query process: Once the mammographic masses have an appropriate
representation in a database, the next step in the development of a CBIR
system is to design the query techniques to t the needs of the end-user. In a
CAD application, the end-user could be a radiologist, a radiology intern, or a
physician. In standard text-based databases, queries are generally comprised
of keywords, natural language queries, or browsing procedures (that is, query
by subject). For image or multimedia databases, the same methods may
apply only if there are searchable keywords or textual descriptors associated
with the images. In a \query by example", the user speci es a condition by
giving examples of the desired image or object, either by cutting and pasting
an image or by sketching the example object's contour 1122]. One of the
best-known commercial CBIR systems is Query by Image Content (QBIC)
developed at IBM 1129]. QBIC uses visual content such as color percentages,
color layout, and texture extracted from images of art collections. A CBIR
system developed by Srihari 1130], known as Piction, contains images of
newspaper photos annotated with their associated captions. Queries based
on text and image features extracted from the photos may then be used to
identify human faces found in the newspaper photographs.
A comprehensive list of query classes is given by Gudivada and Ragha-
van 1123] as: color, texture, sketch, shape, volume, spatial constraints, brows-
ing, objective attributes, subjective attributes, motion, text, and domain con-
cepts. Fewer classes may be used when the database is highly domain-speci c,
and more are needed when the database is of general scope.
When a query is made in a CBIR system, the retrieved results are typically
presented as a set or series of images that are rank-ordered by their degree
of similarity (or a distance measure, such as the Euclidean, Manhattan, or
Mahalanobis distance, as an indicator of dissimilarity) with respect to the
query image. This is dierent from retrieval in text-based database systems,
which generally provide results with an exact match (that is, a single word,
set of words, or a phrase). The CBIR work of Alto et al. was focused on
retrieving similar masses, of established diagnosis, to assist the radiologist by
suggesting a probable diagnosis for the query case on hand. The concept of
similarity is especially pertinent in such an application because no two breast
masses may be expected to be identical, and a perfect or exact match to a
query would be improbable in practice.
Some of the shape-matching procedures suggested by Trimeche et al. 1125]
require a comparison of the vertices of polygonal models of the query contour
and the database contours. Each vertex is represented by a set of values (such
as scale, angle, ratio of consecutive segments, and the ratio to the overall
length). The feature vectors could be excessively lengthy if the contour has
many vertices, such as a spiculated mass. A matrix containing all possible
matches between the vertices of the query shape and each of the candidate
contours may then be created. The polygonal model method produced good
results with sh contours. The use of shape factors to represent the contours
1174 Biomedical Image Analysis
of masses, as in the work of Alto et al., simpli es the process of comparative
analysis.
Visualization of the query results is accomplished by rank-ordering the re-
trieved results from the minimum to the maximum distance and presenting
the top k objects to the user, where k could be 3 5 7 N . One suggested
method of visualization of the retrieved results that may enhance the user's
perception of the overall information presented was de ned by Moghaddam
et al. 1134] as a Splat: the retrieved images were displayed in rank order of
their visual similarities, with their placement on the page with respect to the
query being dictated by their mutual similarities.
Evaluation of retrieval: An important step in developing a CBIR system
is to evaluate its e!ciency with respect to the retrieval of relevant informa-
tion. Measures of precision and recall have been proposed to assess the per-
formance of general information retrieval systems, based upon the following
de nitions 1131]:
Correct detections
Xk
Ak = Vn (12.93)
n=1
where k is the number of retrieved objects, and Vn 2 f0 1g with Vn =
1 if the retrieved object is relevant to the query and Vn = 0 if it is
irrelevant. In the present application, a relevant object is a retrieved
benign mass for a benign query sample a retrieved malignant tumor
would be considered irrelevant. In the case of a malignant query sample,
a retrieved benign mass would be irrelevant and a malignant tumor
would be relevant.
False alarms
Xk
Bk = (1 ; Vn ): (12.94)
n=1
Misses X
N !
Mk = Vn ; Ak (12.95)
n=1
where N is the total number of objects in the database.
Correct dismissals
X
N !
Dk = (1 ; Vn ) ; Bk : (12.96)
n=1
Recall, de ned as the ratio of the number of relevant retrieved objects
to all relevant objects in the database, and computed as
Rk = A A+kM : (12.97)
k k
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1175
Precision, de ned as the ratio of the number of relevant retrieved objects
to all retrieved objects, and computed as
Pk = A A+k B : (12.98)
k k
Fallout, de ned as the ratio of the number of retrieved irrelevant objects
to all irrelevant objects in the database, and computed as
Fk = B B+kD : (12.99)
k k
The following plots may be used to evaluate the eectiveness of CBIR sys-
tems:
Retrieval eectiveness: precision versus recall.
ROC: correct detections versus false alarms.
Relative operating characteristics: correct detections versus fallout.
Response ratio: BAkk versus Ak .
In general, an eective CBIR system will demonstrate high precision for all
values of recall 1131].
Results of CBIR with breast masses: Alto et al. 529] applied a
content-based retrieval algorithm to the 57 masses and their contours shown
in Figures 12.4 and 12.5. The retrieval algorithm uses the Euclidean distance
between a query sample's feature vector and the feature vector of each of the
remaining masses in the database, and rank-orders the masses corresponding
to the vectors that are most similar to the query vector (that is, the short-
est Euclidean distance). The rank-ordered masses are presented to the user,
annotated with the biopsy-proven diagnosis for each retrieved mass. The 57
masses were each used, in turn, as the query sample.
Figure 12.30 shows the contours of the 57 masses rank-ordered by the Eu-
clidean distance from the origin in the three-feature space of fcc cf SI ]. This
is equivalent to sorting the contours by the magnitudes of the feature vectors
fcc cf SI ]. Observe that the use of three shape factors has led to a more
comprehensive characterization of shape roughness than only one (fcc ) as in
Figure 12.5, resulting in a dierent order of sorting.
Figures 12.31 through 12.34 show the retrieval results for the four masses
illustrated in Figure 12.2 using various feature vectors including fcc , A, and
F8 . (In each case, the rst mass at the left is the query sample. The retrieved
samples are arranged in the increasing order of distance from the query sam-
ple from left to right. The contour of the mass in each ROI is provided above
the ROI.) The results indicate that the masses retrieved and their sequence
1176 Biomedical Image Analysis
b161lc95 0.12 b145lc95 0.12 b62rc97e 0.13 b158lo95 0.14 b164rx94 0.14 b145lo95 0.15
b62lx97 0.15 b148rc97 0.15 b62rc97a 0.15 b62ro97e 0.16 b62lo97 0.16 b148ro97 0.16
b62rc97d 0.17 b110rc95 0.18 b62rc97b 0.18 b62ro97b 0.19 b62ro97f 0.2 b164rc94 0.2
b161lo95 0.21 b157lo96 0.21 b110ro95 0.22 b166lo94 0.22 b155rc95 0.22 b62ro97a 0.27
b62ro97d 0.28 b62lc97 0.28 b62rc97f 0.28 b166lc94 0.29 b146ro96 0.29 b146rc96 0.31
b157lc96 0.31 b62rc97c 0.32 b158lc95 0.34 b62ro97c 0.37 m62lx97 0.38 b164ro94 0.4
m63ro97 0.42 b64rc97 0.45 m23lc97 0.56 b155ro95 0.57 m63rc97 0.64 m51rc97 0.82
m58rm97 0.9 m23lo97 0.94 m61lc97 1 m62lo97 1.1 m22lc97 1.2 m61lo97 1.2
m55lc97 1.2 m51ro97 1.2 m59lo97 1.2 m22lo97 1.2 m55lo97 1.3 m58ro97 1.3
FIGURE 12.30
Contours of 57 breast masses, including 37 benign masses and 20 malignant tumors.
The contours are arranged in the order of increasing magnitude of the feature vector
fcc cf SI ], which is given next to each sample. Note that the masses and their
contours are of widely diering size, but have been scaled to the same size in the
illustration. For details regarding the case identiers, see Figure 12.2. See also
Figure 12.5. Figure courtesy of H. Alto 528].
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1177
depend upon the features used to characterize and index the masses. Regard-
less, all of the results illustrated clearly lead to decisions that agree with the
known diagnoses of the query samples, except for the case in Figure 12.33 (b).
Although the texture and edge-sharpness measures resulted in poor clas-
si cation accuracies on their own, the results of retrieval using both of the
features with the shape factor fcc indicate the need to include these measures
so as to provide a broader scope of representation of radiographic features
than shape complexity alone.
The results of content-based retrieval, as illustrated in Figures 12.31 { 12.34,
lend easily to pattern classi cation with the k-NN method. The k-NN method
may be applied by simple visual inspection of the rst k cases in the results of
retrieval the classi cation of the query sample is made based upon the known
classi cation of the majority of the rst k objects. Alto et al. applied the k-
NN method to the retrieval results with k = 5 7 9 and 11. Correct detections
in these cases refer to the retrieval of at least 3 4 5 or 6, respectively, correct
cases by virtue of their diagnosis corresponding to the known diagnosis of the
query (test) sample. The results of k-NN analysis and retrieval precision are
presented in Table 12.13 for k = 5 and 7. The high levels of classi cation
accuracy and retrieval precision with the use of shape factors indicate the
importance of shape in the analysis of breast masses and tumors. A study by
Sahiner et al. 428] has also indicated the importance of shape parameters in
the classi cation of breast masses and tumors.
See Zheng et al. 1135] for the application of CBIR to image analysis in
pathology (histology).
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 12.31
Content-based retrieval with the circumscribed benign query sample b145lc95
(a) using the shape factor fcc only, (b) using acutance A only, and (c) us-
ing the three features fcc A F8 ]. For details of case identi cation, see Fig-
ure 12.2. Reproduced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and
J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and analysis of mammographic
masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1179
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 12.32
Content-based retrieval with the macrolobulated benign query sample
b164ro94 (a) using the shape factor fcc only, (b) using acutance A only, and
(c) using the three features fcc A F8 ]. For details of case identi cation,
see Figure 12.2. Reproduced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and analysis of mammographic
masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
1180 Biomedical Image Analysis
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 12.33
Content-based retrieval with the microlobulated malignant query sample
m51rc97 (a) using the shape factor fcc only, (b) using acutance A only, and
(c) using the three features fcc A F8 ]. For details of case identi cation,
see Figure 12.2. Reproduced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan,
and J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and analysis of mammographic
masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1181
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 12.34
Content-based retrieval with the spiculated malignant query sample m55lo97
(a) using the shape factor fcc only, (b) using acutance A only, and (c) us-
ing the three features fcc A F8 ]. For details of case identi cation, see Fig-
ure 12.2. Reproduced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan, and
J.E.L. Desautels, \Content-based retrieval and analysis of mammographic
masses", Journal of Electronic Imaging, in press, 2005. c SPIE and IS&T.
1182 Biomedical Image Analysis
send messages back and forth between clients residing at various network
nodes (communication agent).
Figure 12.35 shows a schematic representation of the combined use of an
indexed atlas, CBIR, and mobile agents in the context of mammography and
CAD of breast cancer.
The major strength of mobile agents is that they permit program execution
near or at a distributed data source by moving to each site in order to per-
form a computational task. In addition, mobile-agent systems typically have
the characteristics of low network tra!c, load balancing, fault tolerance, and
asynchronous interaction. Agents can function independently of one another,
as well as cooperate to solve problems. The use of mobile agents with a CBIR
system brings speci c bene ts and di!culties. For example, mobile agents
can move to sites with better or more data, and faster computers. They can
replicate themselves and use the inherent power of parallelism to improve
productivity. The basic strengths of mobile-agent systems include the inher-
ent parallelism of multiple agents conducting simultaneous searches, parallel
searching with intelligent prepreprocessing, and agent-to-agent communica-
tion. Speci c di!culties with the mobile-agent paradigm include issues of
security, complexity, and control. Security is important when dealing with
patient information. Data encryption and restricting the agents to operations
within secure networks could address security concerns.
12.13 Remarks
We have studied how biomedical images may be processed and analyzed to
extract quantitative features that may be used to classify the images as well as
lead toward diagnostic decisions. The practical development and application
of such techniques is usually hampered by a number of limitations related
to the extent of discriminant information present in the images selected for
analysis, as well as the limitations of the features designed and computed.
Artifacts inherent in the images or caused by the image acquisition systems
impose further limitations.
The subject of pattern classi cation is a vast area by itself 402, 1086, 401,
1087]. The topics presented in this chapter provide a brief introduction to the
subject.
A pattern classi cation system that is designed with limited data and infor-
mation about the chosen images and features will provide results that should
be interpreted with due care. Above all, it should be borne in mind that
the nal diagnostic decision requires far more information than that provided
by images and image analysis: this aspect is best left to the physician or
health-care specialist in the spirit of computer-aided diagnosis.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision
FIGURE 12.35
Use of an indexed atlas, CBIR, and mobile agents in the context of mammography and CAD of breast cancer. Note: \U
of C" = University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Reproduced with permission from H. Alto, R.M. Rangayyan,
R.B. Paranjape, J.E.L. Desautels, and H. Bryant, \An indexed atlas of digital mammograms for computer-aided diagnosis
1183
c GET { Lavoisier.
of breast cancer", Annales des Telecommunications, 58(5): 820 { 835, 2003.
1184 Biomedical Image Analysis
www.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/Ranga/enel697
1. The prototype vectors of two classes of images are specied as Class 1 :
1 0:5]T , and Class 2 : 3 3]T . A new sample vector is given as 2 1]T . Give
the equations for two measures of similarity or dissimilarity, compute the mea-
sures for the sample vector, and classify the sample into Class 1 or Class 2
using each measure.
2. In a three-class pattern classication problem, the three decision boundaries
are d1 (x) = ;x1 + x2 , d2 (x) = x1 + x2 ; 5, and d3 (x) = ;x2 + 1.
Draw the decision boundaries on a sheet of graph paper.
Classify the sample pattern vector x = 6 5]T using the decision functions.
3. Two pattern class prototype vectors are given to you as z1 = 3 4]T and
z2 = 10 2]T . Classify the sample pattern vector x = 4 5]T using (a) the
normalized dot product, and (b) the Euclidean distance.
4. A researcher makes two measurements per sample on a set of 10 normal and
10 abnormal samples.
The set of feature vectors for the normal samples is
f2 6]TT 22 20]T T 10 T14]T 10T 10]T 24T 24]T
8 10] 8 8] 6 10] 8 12] 6 12] g:
The set of feature vectors for the abnormal samples is
f4 10]TT 24 16]TT 16 18]TT 18 20]TT 14 20]TT
20 22] 18 16] 20 20] 18 18] 20 18] g:
Plot the scatter diagram of the samples in both classes in the feature-vector
space (on a sheet of graph paper). Design a linear decision function to classify
the samples with the lowest possible error of misclassication. Write the
decision function as a mathematical rule and draw the same on the scatter
diagram.
How many (if any) samples are misclassied by your decision function? Mark
the misclassied samples on the plot.
Two new observation sample vectors are provided to you as x1 = 12 15]T
and x2 = 14 15]T . Classify the samples using your decision rule.
Now, classify the samples x1 and x2 using the k-nearest-neighbor method,
with k = 7. Measure distances graphically on your graph paper plot and
mark the neighbors used in this decision process for each sample.
Comment upon the results | whether the two methods resulted in the same
classication result or not | and provide reasons.
Pattern Classi cation and Diagnostic Decision 1185
1187
1188 Biomedical Image Analysis
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Index
1262
Index 1263
pattern classication, 429, 434, transform, 984
1090, 1097, 1109, 1120, 1162, coherence, 726, 729, 734
1166, 1167 collagen bers, 10, 14, 105, 110, 390,
screening, 27, 1143 442, 679
breast masses, see also tumors, 1092, collimator, 39
1093, 1098, 1099 color
content-based retrieval, 1166, 1171 pseudo-, 827
detection of, 699 comb lter, 890
pattern classication, 1171 compactness, 578, 1160, 1162
shape analysis, 578, 1097, 1162, complexity, 543, 551, 555, 558, 560,
1166 575, 578, 601, 608, 610
texture analysis, 627, 1166 compression, 955
breast, imaging of, 3, 25 lossy versus lossless, 957
Burg algorithm, 1019, 1021 segmentation based, 1051
Butterworth lter, 197, 325, 648, 807, Compton scattering, 920
811 computed radiography, 17, 287
computed tomography, 29
CAD, 53, 55 display of images, 825
calcications with diracting sources, 825
detection of, 410, 414 computer-aided diagnosis, see CAD
enhancement of, 344 concavity, 537, 569, 578, 691, 1096,
shape analysis, 575 1160, 1162
caliper method, 608 confocal microscopy, 270
Canny's method, 390 constrained least-squares restoration,
causality, 92 872
central limit theorem, 160 content-based image retrieval, 1169
centroid, 530, 563, 641 contingency table, 1138
centroidal angle, 642 contour coding, 977
cepstrum, 623, 885 contrast, 75, 129, 600, 734
chain coding, 530 for X-ray imaging, 286, 839
channel capacity, 959 contrast enhancement, 344
chest, imaging of, 17 adaptive-neighborhood, 338
chord-length statistics, 560 clinical evaluation, 1145
circle function, 105, 197 of mammograms, 350
circles contrast histogram, 346
detection of, 440, 450 contrast-to-noise ratio, 137
circulant matrix, 215 convolution, 91, 117, 220, 224, 315
block-, 221 backprojection, 811
diagonalization, 218 circular, 213
city-block distance, 1105 illustration, 215
cluster seeking, 1105 linear, 213, 215
K-means, 1108 periodic, 213
maximin-distance, 1108 convolution mask, 176, 314
coding, 955, 960 correlation, 118, 601
Human, 961 correlation coe"cient, 119, 168
interpolative, 1001 covariance, 168, 205, 1007
predictive, 1004 covariance matrix, 1106
run-length, 969 CREW coding, 1066
source, 961 cross-correlation, 169
1264 Biomedical Image Analysis
CT, see computed tomography directional ltering, 644
cyclo-stationary signal, 167 directional pattern analysis, 639
cyst, imaging of, 3, 6, 43, 46 discrete cosine transform, 987
discriminant analysis, 1095
deblurring, see also restoration of breast masses, 1162
blind, 877 distance, 1105
motion, 875 between probability density func-
decision function, 1095, 1101, 1118, tions, 1141
1119 city-block, 1105
decision making, 1091 Euclidean, 643, 1101, 1105, 1175
deconvolution, see also restoration Hamming, 959
homomorphic, 623, 885, 886 Jeries{Matusita, 1142
decorrelation, 980 Mahalanobis, 1105
delta function, 78, 90, 95, 798 Manhattan, 643, 1105
sifting property, 90 distance function, 1097
density slicing, 292, 710, 827 distortion measure, 959
detection, see also segmentation divergence, 1141
of architectural distortion, 775 dominant angle, 641
of asymmetry, 742 dot product, 1124
of breast boundary, 451, 720 normalized, 1106
of breast masses, 699 DPCM, 984, 998, 1005, 1046, 1049
of calcications, 410 dual-energy imaging, 287
of circles, 440, 450 dynamic range, 73
of edges, 604 dynamic system, 165, 167
of isolated lines, 365
of isolated points, 365 eccentricity, 551
of lines, 780 ECG signal, 280
of pectoral muscle, 481 echo removal, 623, 886
of ripples, 604 echocardiography, 44
of spots, 604 edge detection, 367, 493, 604
of straight lines, 437 edge enhancement, 315, 322
of the broglandular disc, 743 edge function, 96
of the spinal canal, 449 edge linking, 392, 493, 495
of tumors, 417, 500 edge spread function, 93, 131, 139
of waves, 604 edge-!ow propagation, 493
diagnostic accuracy, 1132 eight-connected neighborhood, 176
diagnostic decision, 56, 1089, 1090, electron microscopy, 10
1182 energy-subtraction imaging, 287
diagonalization of a circulant matrix, enhancement
218 in breast cancer screening, 1143
dierence of Gaussians, 376 ensemble averages, 155, 167, 172
dierentiation, 119, 367{369, 983 entropy, 84, 601, 643, 681, 687, 697,
in matrix representation, 224 734, 957, 983, 1070
di"culties in image acquisition, 61 conditional, 89
digital radiography higher-order, 89
MTF, 127 joint, 88
digital subtraction angiography, 286 Markov, 1071
directional distribution mutual information, 90
measures of, 641 ergodic process, 167, 176
Index 1265
error measures, 138 L, 181
Euclidean distance, 643, 1101, 1105, LMMSE, 225
1175 local LMMSE, 228
expectation maximization, 745, 754, local-statistics, 174
842 lowpass, 194
max, 181
F1 transform, 1063 mean, 176
F2 transform, 1064 median, 177
false negative, 1133 Metz, 874, 940
false positive, 1133 min, 181
fan lter, 646, 647, 651 min/max, 181
feature selection, 1141 motion deblurring, 875
feature vector, 1091 moving average, 121
fetal imaging, 46 multiresolution, 660
broblasts, image of, 7 noise-updating repeated Wiener,
broglandular disc, 743 234
delity criteria, 959 nonstationary, 231, 235
lm-grain noise, 170, 254 notch, 199, 890
lter optimal, 224, 865, 872, 898
adaptive, 228 order-statistic, 177, 181
adaptive 2D LMS, 235 power spectrum equalization, 860,
adaptive rectangular window, 237 867, 877, 935
adaptive-neighborhood, 241 ramp, 648, 806
adaptive-neighborhood noise sub- sector, 646, 647, 651
traction, 244 space-invariant, 857
alpha-trimmed mean, 181 space-variant, 231, 235, 891
band-reject, 199 three-dimensional, 947
bandpass, 648, 660 Wiener, 225, 233, 863, 897, 935
blind deblurring, 877 ltered backprojection, 804, 811
Butterworth, 197, 325, 648, 807, nite impulse response lter, 213
811 xed operators
comb, 199, 890 limitations of, 323
comparative analysis, 867 !uoroscopy, 17
constrained least-squares restora- focal spot, 19, 92, 127
tion, 872 four-connected neighborhood, 175
directional, 644 Fourier descriptors, 562
fan, 646, 647, 651 Fourier slice theorem, 798
nite impulse response, 213 Fourier transform, 99, 122, 206
for periodic artifacts, 199 convolution property, 117
frequency domain, 193 coordinates of, 105
Gabor, 657 display of, 116
generalized linear, 328 folding of, 116
high-emphasis, 325 inverse, 115
highpass, 325 linearity, 115
homomorphic, 328, 335, 885, 886 matrix representation, 206
ideal, 194, 325, 647, 648 multiplication property, 118
innite impulse response, 213 of a circle, 105
inverse, 858, 867 of a line, 646
Kalman, 898, 943 of a rectangle, 104, 105
1266 Biomedical Image Analysis
periodicity, 116 gray-scale windowing, 292, 827
properties, 110 grid artifact, 21, 199
rotation, 117 ground-truth, 1109
scaling property, 117
separability, 115 Hadamard matrices, 211
shift property, 116 Hamming distance, 959
shifting of, 116 Hamming window, 809, 894
symmetry, 115, 116 Haralick's measures of texture, 600
fractal analysis of texture, 605 head, imaging of, 32
fractals, 1035 heart, imaging of, 41, 44, 277, 834,
fractional Brownian motion, 609 937
frame averaging, see synchronized av- hexadecimal code, 961
eraging high-emphasis lter, 325
Freeman chain coding, 530, 977, 978 high-frequency emphasis, 315, 322
frequency-domain lters, 193 high-frequency noise, 194
functional imaging, 6, 36, 40, 43, 44, highpass lter, 325
49 histogram, 78
fusion operator, 426, 500 of contrast, 346
fuzzy connectivity, 449 histogram concavity, 691
fuzzy fusion, 426, 500 histogram equalization, 301, 478, 501
fuzzy region growing, 429 adaptive-neighborhood, 311
fuzzy segmentation, 421 local-area, 310
fuzzy sets, 417 histogram specication, 305
homogeneity, 601
Gabor function, 622, 657, 659, 755, homomorphic deconvolution, 623, 885,
757, 780 886
Gabor wavelets, 487, 663, 757, 780 homomorphic ltering, 328, 335
gamma, 73 Hough transform, 435, 450, 481
gamma camera, 38 Hounseld units, 825, 826
spread function, 97 Human coding, 961
gamma correction, 294, 345 human{instrument system, 53
gated blood-pool imaging, 168, 277 Hurter{Dri"eld curve, 73
Gaussian mixture model, 744, 840
Gaussian noise, 154, 172, 180, 194, ideal lter, 194, 325, 647, 648
254 impulse function, 78, 90
Gaussian PDF, 159, 1110, 1118, 1120 impulse noise, 177
generalized linear ltering, 328 indexed atlas, 1172, 1177
geometric distortion, 804, 813, 822 innite impulse response lter, 213
geometric mean, 868, 940 in!ection
of planar images, 925, 926 points of, 534, 542
geometric transformation, 291 information content, 61
global operations joint, 87, 88
limitations of, 310 mutual, 90
gold standard, 1134, 1138 information theory, 956
gradient analysis, 632 infrared imaging, 3
of breast masses, 627, 702 inhomogeneity, 596
gradients, 367 integration, 121
Gray code, 961, 969, 1055, 1062 interference, 151
gray-level co-occurrence matrix, 597 physiological, 165
Index 1267
power-line, 164 line, Fourier transform of, 646
interpolation, 66 linear discriminant analysis, 1095, 1097,
interpolative coding, 1001 1104, 1166
interval cancer, 1145, 1146 linear prediction, 1005
intrinsic orientation angle, 726 linear regression, 692
inverse lter, 858 live wire, 449
isointensity contours, 710, 712, 725 liver, imaging of, 947
Lloyd{Max quantizer, 68
JBIG, 1046 LMMSE lter, 225
enhanced, 1062 LMS lter, 235
Jeries{Matusita distance, 1142 local LMMSE lter, 228
JM distance, 1142 local-area histogram equalization, 310
joint information, 88 local-statistics lters, 174
JPEG, 1049 logarithmic transformation, 334, 456,
just-noticeable dierence, 76, 343, 405 462
logistic regression, 429, 434, 1120
K-means clustering, 1108 loss function, 1110
k-NN method, 1104 lossless compression, 957
applied to breast masses, 1171, lowpass lter, 194
1177
Kaczmarz method, 813 magnetic resonance imaging, see MRI
Kalman lter, 898, 943 magnication, 27
Karhunen{Lo%eve transform, 763, 769, Mahalanobis distance, 1105
989 applied to breast masses, 1167
kidney, imaging of, 10 mammograms
knee, imaging of, 49 analysis of, 410, 575, 578, 627,
kurtosis, 560, 596 699, 742, 775, 1160, 1166
enhancement of, 335, 344, 350,
L lter, 181 1143
Laplacian, 120, 138, 316 mammography, 22
subtracting, 316 Manhattan distance, 643, 1105
Laplacian MSE, 138 Markov entropy, 1071
Laplacian of Gaussian, 376 Markov source, 1071
Laplacian PDF, 163, 984, 1001 matched lter, 867
Laws' measures of texture, 603 matrix representation, 69, 202
leave-one-out method, 1125 dierentiation in, 224
left-most-looking rule, 977 of convolution, 212
Lempel{Ziv coding, 974 of images, 203
Levinson algorithm, 1014, 1019, 1023 of transforms, 206
ligament tissue, imaging of, 7, 10, 14, max lter, 181
680, 684 maximin-distance clustering, 1108
likelihood function, 745, 840, 1110 maximum likelihood, 842, 1124, 1138,
limitations of 1147
xed operators, 323 McNemar's test of symmetry, 1138
global operations, 310 in breast cancer screening, 1147
line detection, 780 mean, 152, 204, 1118
line function, 95 geometric, 868, 925, 926, 940
line spread function, 93, 127, 131 of planar images, 925
gamma camera, 97 mean lter, 176
1268 Biomedical Image Analysis
adaptive-neighborhood, 242 neural networks, 1126
mean-squared error, 68, 138 neuroblastoma, 834
mean-squared value, 152 NMR, 47
measure of fuzziness, 426 noise, 131, 151
medial axis, 548 additive, 115, 131, 170
median lter, 177 lm-grain, 170, 254
adaptive-neighborhood, 242 Gaussian, 154, 172, 180, 194, 254
Metz lter, 874, 940 high-frequency, 194
microscopy impulse, 177
confocal, 270 in nuclear medicine images, 271
electron, 10 multiplicative, 170
light, 6 PDFs, 159
microtomography, 831 photon detection, 21
min lter, 181 Poisson, 169, 180, 254, 271
min/max lter, 181 salt-and-pepper, 166, 177, 180,
minimum-description length, 746, 843 181, 259
mobile agents, 1177 signal-dependent, 169, 248
modulation transfer function, see MTF SNR, 131
moments, 601 speckle, 43, 170, 254
angular, 642 structured, 40, 164
rst-order, 152 uniformly distributed, 254
second-order, 152 noiseless coding theorem, 957
motion artifact, 287 nonstationary lter, 231, 235
motion deblurring, 875 nonstationary process, 166, 230, 414
moving-average lter, 121 normal equations, 1006, 1029
moving-window processing, 167, 174, normalized error, 138
662 normalized MSE, 138
MPEG, 1050 notch lter, 890
MRI, 47 nuclear magnetic resonance, 47
MTF, 122, 129, 131, 140 nuclear medicine images
digital radiography, 127 restoration of, 919, 934
screen-lm system, 127 nuclear medicine imaging, 36
multichannel linear prediction, 1009 attenuation correction, 923
multiframe averaging, see synchronized noise reduction in, 271
averaging quality control, 922
multiplication of images, 118, 328 scatter compensation, 922
multiplicative noise, 170
multiresolution analysis, 660, 707, 762 objectives of image analysis, 53
multiscale analysis, 380, 390, 491, 666, octal code, 961
700 optical density, 72
mutual information, 90 optical transfer function, 122
myocyte, image of, 7 optimal lter, 224, 865, 872, 898
order-statistic lters, 177, 181
nearest-neighbor rule, 1104 oriented pattern analysis, 639
negative predictive value, 1134 Otsu's method of thresholding, 649
neighborhood outliers, 181
eight-connected, 176
four-connected, 175 parabolic modeling of contours, 543
shapes, 175 parallel-ray geometry, 798
Index 1269
Parseval's theorem, 115, 993 probability density function, 80, 151
pattern classication, 1089, 1091 divergence, 1141
reliability, 1140 Gaussian, 159, 1118
supervised, 1095 Laplacian, 163
test set, 1095 normalized distance, 1141
test step, 1125 Poisson, 160
training set, 1095, 1140 Rayleigh, 163
training step, 1125 uniform, 160
unsupervised, 1104 projection
pectoral muscle fan-beam, 31
detection of, 481 geometry, 797
perceptron, 1127 image reconstruction from, 797
PET, 41 imaging, 15, 32, 40, 41
phantom, 64, 92, 97, 199, 271, 934, parallel-ray, 31, 797
935, 943 projection theorem, 798
phase, 104, 116 prototype, 157, 1097, 1123
linear component, 116, 886 pseudo-color, 827
unwrapping, 886 pyramidal decomposition, 707, 720
use in blind deblurring, 878
phase portraits, 779 quality of images, 61
photomultiplier tube, 39 characterization of, 64
photon detection noise, 21 quantitative analysis, 56
physiological imaging, see functional quantization, 66
imaging quasistationary process, 167, 176
physiological interference, 165
planar imaging, 15, 32, 40, 41 radiographic imaging, 15
point spread function, 91, 802, 805 Radon transform, 798, 886
Poisson noise, 169, 180, 254, 271 ramp lter, 648, 806
Poisson process, 15, 160 random noise, 151
polygonal modeling of contours, 537 random variable, 20, 87, 151
positive predictive value, 1134 ray integral, 798
positivity, 203, 874 Rayleigh PDF, 163
positron emission tomography, see PET receiver operating characteristics, 1135
power law, 609 applied to breast masses, 1147,
power spectral density, 159 1162, 1167
power spectrum equalization, 860, 877, free-response, 791
935 in breast cancer screening, 1145
power-line interference, 164 reconstruction
predictive coding, 1004, 1049 algebraic reconstruction techniques,
Prewitt operators, 368 813, 821
principal axis, 641 additive, 820
principal-component analysis, 769, 989, constrained, 821
991 multiplicative, 821
probabilistic models, 1110 backprojection, 801
Bayes rule, 1116 convolution backprojection, 804,
conditional probability, 1116 811
likelihood function, 1116 ltered backprojection, 804, 811
posterior probability, 1110 Fourier method, 97, 801
prior probability, 1110 from projections, 797
1270 Biomedical Image Analysis
simultaneous iterative reconstruc- shape analysis, 529
tion technique, 822 of breast masses, 1097, 1162
with limited data, 804, 813, 822 of calcications, 575, 1128
rectangle function, 104 of tumors, 578
region growing, 340, 393, 421, 429, shape factors, 549
1052 sharpness, 139
adaptive-neighborhood, 242, 249 short-time analysis, 167, 662
splitting and merging, 397 signal-dependent noise, 169, 248
region-based segmentation, 396 transformation of, 171
relative dispersion, 608 signal-to-noise ratio, see SNR
resolution, 99 signature of a contour, 530, 562
recovery, 924 simultaneous iterative reconstruction
restoration, 857 technique, 822
comparison of lters, 867 sinc function, 104, 646
information required, 875 single-photon emission computed to-
ringing artifact, 197, 316, 326 mography, see SPECT
ripple detection, 604 skeletonization, 548, 692
risk{benet analysis, 54 skewness, 560, 596
Roberts operator, 369 snakes, 444, 456
root mean-squared value, 152 SNR, 131
rose diagram, 641, 678, 682, 683, 686, Sobel operators, 369, 604
696, 771, 772 sonication, 625
rotation, 105, 117, 655 source coding, 961
run-length coding, 969 space-invariant lter, 857
Rutherford{Appleton threshold, 691 space-variant lters, 231, 235, 891
space-variant systems
salt-and-pepper noise, 166, 177, 180, transformation to space-invariant
181, 259 systems, 893
sampling, 65 spatial statistics, 157
scale-space, 380 specicity, 1132
scaling, 117 speckle noise, 43, 170, 254
scanning geometry, 31 SPECT, 32, 40
scatter compensation, 922 restoration of, 919
scattering, 40, 43, 92 spread function, 99
Compton, 920 spectrum, 99
screen-lm system, 16, 92 spiculation index, 570, 578, 1160, 1162
MTF, 127 spinal canal
screening, 1132 detection of, 449
breast cancer, 1143 splines, 444
sectioned ltering, 893, 897 spot detection, 604
sector lter, 646, 647, 651 spread functions, 90
segmentation, 393, 396, see also de- standard deviation, 152
tection stationary process, 166
improvement of, 444 block-wise, 167
of contours, 534 cyclo-, 167
of texture, 622 ergodic, 167
segmentation-based coding, 1051 non-, 167
sensitivity, 1132 quasi-, 167, 176
sequency, 210 statistical decision, 1110
Index 1271
statistical separability, 1141 Rutherford{Appleton, 691
statistically independent processes, 155 time averages, 157, 167
step function, 96 tissue characterization, 838
straight line, detection of, 437 Toeplitz matrix, 213, 1008
streaking, 804, 813 tomography, 27
structural analysis of texture, 621 transform coding, 984
structured noise, 164 transillumination, 6
subtracting Laplacian, 316 true negative, 1132
subtraction, 287 true positive, 1132
angiography, 286 tumor
energy, 287 in neuroblastoma, 834
temporal, 291 tumors, see also breast masses
synchronized averaging, 171, 277 detection of, 417, 500, 699
in confocal microscopy, 271 shape analysis, 578
telemedicine, 1177 ultrasonography, 43
teleradiology, 1079 uncertainty principle, 659
analog, 1080 uniform PDF, 160, 254
digital, 1082 uniformity, 596
high-resolution, 1084 unit step function, 163
temperature, 2, 4, 5 unsharp masking, 314, 322, 345
template matching, 119, 169
temporal statistics, see time averages variance, 135, 152, 560, 596, 601, 1118
temporal subtraction, 291 varicocele, detection of, 3
texton, 583, 621, 891 vector representation, see matrix rep-
texture, 583 resentation
Fourier spectrum, 612
fractal measures, 605 Walsh functions, 209
Haralick's measures, 600 Walsh{Hadamard transform, 209, 211
in liver image, 43 warping, 291
Laws' measures, 603 wave detection, 604
model for generation, 584 wavelets, 659, 663, 707, 756, 757
of breast masses, 627, 699, 701, Gabor, 487, 663, 757, 780
1166 Weber's law, 76, 343, 405
ordered, 589 Wiener lter, 225, 233, 863, 897, 935
oriented, 590, 639 noise-updating repeated, 234
periodic, 891 window
random, 589 Hamming, 809, 894
statistical analysis, 596 windowing of gray scale, 292, 827
structural analysis, 621
texture energy, 603 X ray
texture !ow-eld, 726 beam hardening, 20
thermal imaging, 2 contrast medium, 286, 839
thermography, 3 dual-energy imaging, 287
thinning, 548 energy, 19
three-dimensional ltering, 947 energy-subtraction imaging, 287
thresholding, 291, 364, 690, 722 exposure, 19
optimal, 395 grids, 20
Otsu's method, 649 imaging, 15
1272 Biomedical Image Analysis
scatter, 20, 25
stoppping, 22
xeromammography, 25
Yule{Walker equations, 1006, 1014
zero padding, 101, 193, 215
zero-crossings, 370, 380