Suitable Image Intensity Normalization for Arterial Visualization

Abstract

Ultrasonic imaging is a widely used non-invasivemedical imaging procedure since it is economical, comparativelysafe, portable and adaptable. However, one of its main weaknessesis the poor quality of images, which makes the enhancementof image quality an important issue in order to have a moreaccurate diagnose of the disease, or for the transformation of theimage through telemedicine channel and in many other imageprocessing tasks [1]. The purpose of this paper is to automaticallyenhance the image quality after the automatic detection of theartery wall. This step is essential before subsequent measurementsof arterial parameters [9]. This was performed automaticallyby applying linear normalization, where results showedthat normalization of ultra sound images is an important step inenhancing the image quality for later processing. In comparisonwith other methods, our method is automatic. The evaluationof image quality was done mathematically by comparing pixelintensities of images before and after enhancement, in additionto a visual evaluation.