title: Medical image visual appearance improvement using bihistogram Bezier curve contrast enhancement: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.
abstract: Well-defined image can assist user to identify region of interest during segmentation. However, complex medical image is usually characterized by poor tissue contrast and low background luminance. The contrast improvement can lift image visual quality, but the fundamental contrast enhancement methods often overlook the sudden jump problem. In this work, the proposed bihistogram Bezier curve contrast enhancement introduces the concept of "adequate contrast enhancement" to overcome sudden jump problem in knee magnetic resonance image. Since every image produces its own intensity distribution, the adequate contrast enhancement checks on the image's maximum intensity distortion and uses intensity discrepancy reduction to generate Bezier transform curve. The proposed method improves tissue contrast and preserves pertinent knee features without compromising natural image appearance. Besides, statistical results from Fisher's Least Significant Difference test and the Duncan test have consistently indicated that the proposed method outperforms fundamental contrast enhancement methods to exalt image visual quality. As the study is limited to relatively small image database, future works will include a larger dataset with osteoarthritic images to assess the clinical effectiveness of the proposed method to facilitate the image inspection.
authors: Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
authors: Hong-Seng
authors: HS
authors: Gan
authors: Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, Medical Device and Technology Group, Material and Manufacturing Research Alliance, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
authors: Tan Tian
authors: TT
authors: Swee
authors: Department of Radiology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors: Ahmad Helmy
authors: AH
authors: Abdul Karim
authors: Department of Radiology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors: Khairil Amir
authors: KA
authors: Sayuti
authors: Medical Device and Technology Group, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
authors: Mohammed Rafiq
authors: MR
authors: Abdul Kadir
authors: Department of Control Engineering and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
authors: Weng-Kit
authors: WK
authors: Tham
authors: Department of Control Engineering and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
authors: Liang-Xuan
authors: LX
authors: Wong
authors: Institute of Advanced Photonics Science, Nanotechnology Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
authors: Kashif T
authors: KT
authors: Chaudhary
authors: Institute of Advanced Photonics Science, Nanotechnology Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
authors: Jalil
authors: 0000-0002-4471-3681
authors: J
authors: Ali
authors: Department of Physics, Advanced Studies Center, Faculty of Science, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand.
authors: Preecha P
authors: PP
authors: Yupapin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity