title: A method for modeling noise in medical images.
abstract: We have developed a method to study the statistical properties of the noise found in various medical images. The method is specifically designed for types of noise with uncorrelated fluctuations. Such signal fluctuations generally originate in the physical processes of imaging rather than in the tissue textures. Various types of noise (e.g., photon, electronics, and quantization) often contribute to degrade medical images; the overall noise is generally assumed to be additive with a zero-mean, constant-variance Gaussian distribution. However, statistical analysis suggests that the noise variance could be better modeled by a nonlinear function of the image intensity depending on external parameters related to the image acquisition protocol. We present a method to extract the relationship between an image intensity and the noise variance and to evaluate the corresponding parameters. The method was applied successfully to magnetic resonance images with different acquisition sequences and to several types of X-ray images.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de recherche en Imagerie et orthopédie, Ecole de technologie supérieure, Montréal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada. pierre.gravel@etsmtl.ca
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gravel
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beaudoin
authors.forename: Jacques A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: De Guise
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013269:Stochastic Processes