Traitement d’images de radiographie à faible dose : Débruitage et rehaussement de contraste conjoints, et détection automatique de points de repère anatomiques pour l’estimation de la qualité des images

摘要

We aim at reducing the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) dose limits for images acquired with EOS full-body system by means of image processing techniques. Two complementary approaches are studied.First, we define a post-processing method that optimizes the trade-off between acquired image quality and X-ray dose. The Non-Local means filter is extended to restore EOS images. We then study how to combine it with a multi-scale contrast enhancement technique. The image quality for the diagnosis is optimized by defining non-parametric noise containment maps that limit the increase of noise depending on the amount of local redundant information captured by the filter.Secondly, we estimate exposure index (EI) values on EOS images which give an immediate feedback on image quality to help radiographers to verify the correct exposure level of the X-ray examination. We propose a landmark detection based approach that is more robust to potential outliers than existing methods as it exploits the redundancy of local estimates.Finally, the proposed joint denoising and contrast enhancement technique significantly increases the image quality with respect to an algorithm used in clinical routine. Robust image quality indicators can be automatically associated with clinical EOS images. Given the consistency of the measures assessed on preview images, these indices could be used to drive an exposure management system in charge of defining the optimal radiation exposure.