Elimination of Defects in Mammograms Caused by a Malfunction of the Device Matrix

Abstract

Today, the processing and analysis of mammograms is quite an important field of medical image processing. Small defects in images can lead to false conclusions. This is especially true when the distortion occurs due to minor malfunctions in the equipment. In the present work, an algorithm for eliminating a defect is proposed, which includes a change in intensity on a mammogram and deteriorations in the contrast of individual areas. The algorithm consists of three stages. The first is the defect identification stage. The second involves improvement and equalization of the contrasts of different parts of the image outside the defect. The third involves restoration of the defect area via a combination of interpolation and an artificial neural network. The mammogram obtained as a result of applying the algorithm shows significantly better image quality and does not contain distortions caused by changes in brightness of the pixels. The resulting images are evaluated using Blind/Referenceless Image Spatial Quality Evaluator (BRISQUE) and Naturalness Image Quality Evaluator (NIQE) metrics. In total, 98 radiomics features are extracted from the original and obtained images, and conclusions are drawn about the minimum changes in features between the original image and the image obtained by the proposed algorithm.

Keywords

• mammography
• image processing
• device malfunctions
• interpolation
• mammogram defects