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03 - Image and Its Properties Part3

The document discusses the importance of high bit-depth in scientific image formats, particularly in CT imaging, to preserve critical information that could be lost with lower bit-depths. It explains the concept of pixels and their physical representation, noting that pixel sizes can vary across different imaging modalities. Additionally, it highlights the transition from 2D to 3D imaging in medical and microscopy applications.

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Choky Aconk
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3 views1 page

03 - Image and Its Properties Part3

The document discusses the importance of high bit-depth in scientific image formats, particularly in CT imaging, to preserve critical information that could be lost with lower bit-depths. It explains the concept of pixels and their physical representation, noting that pixel sizes can vary across different imaging modalities. Additionally, it highlights the transition from 2D to 3D imaging in medical and microscopy applications.

Uploaded by

Choky Aconk
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Image and Its Properties 39

65536 (= 216 ) or a bit-depth of 16. A good example of such an image


is a CT DICOM image.
Scientific image formats store the pixel values at high precision, not
only for accuracy, but also to ensure that physical phenomena records
are not lost. In CT, for example, a pixel value of > 1000 indicates
bone. If the image is stored in 8-bit, the pixel value of bone would be
truncated at 255 and hence the information will be permanently lost. In
fact, the most significant pixels in CT have intensity > 255 and hence
need higher bit-depth.
There are a few image formats that store images at even higher
bit-depth such as 32 or 64. For example, a JPEG image containing
RGB (3 channels) will have a bit-depth of 8 for each channel and hence
has a total bit-depth of 24. Similarly, a TIFF microscope image with
5 channels (say) with each channel at 16-bit depth will have a total
bit-depth of 80.

3.2.2 Pixel and Voxel

A pixel in an image can be thought of as a bucket that collects light


or electrons depending on the type of detector used. A single pixel in
an image spans a distance in the physical world. For example, in Figure
3.2, the arrows indicate the width and height of a pixel placed adjacent
to three other pixels. In this case, the width and height of this pixel
is 0.5 mm. Thus in a physical space, traversing a distance of 0.5 mm
is equivalent to traversing 1 pixel in the pixel space. For all practical
purposes, we can assume that detectors have square pixels, i.e., the
pixel width and pixel height are the same.
The pixel size could be different for different imaging modalities
and different detectors. For example, the pixel size is greater for CT
compared to micro-CT.
In medical and microscope imaging, it is more common to acquire
3D images. In such cases, the pixel size will have a third dimension,

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