Choosing the Optimal Spatial Domain Measure of Enhancement for Mammogram Images

Abstract

Medical imaging systems often require image enhancement, such as improving the image contrast, to provide medical professionals with the best visual image quality. This helps in anomaly detection and diagnosis. Most enhancement algorithms are iterative processes that require many parameters be selected. Poor or nonoptimal parameter selection can have a negative effect on the enhancement process. In this paper, a quantitative metric for measuring the image quality is used to select the optimal operating parameters for the enhancement algorithms. A variety of measures evaluating the quality of an image enhancement will be presented along with each measure’s basis for analysis, namely, on image content and image attributes. We also provide guidelines for systematically choosing the proper measure of image quality for medical images.