Realtime automatic metal extraction of medical x-ray images for contrast improvement

Martin Prangl; Hermann Hellwagner; Christian Spielvogel; Horst Bischof; Tibor Szkaliczki

doi:10.1117/12.653065

17 March 2006 Realtime automatic metal extraction of medical x-ray images for contrast improvement

Martin Prangl, Hermann Hellwagner, Christian Spielvogel, Horst Bischof, Tibor Szkaliczki

Proceedings Volume 6144, Medical Imaging 2006: Image Processing; 614461 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.653065
Event: Medical Imaging, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This paper focuses on an approach for real-time metal extraction of x-ray images taken from modern x-ray machines like C-arms. Such machines are used for vessel diagnostics, surgical interventions, as well as cardiology, neurology and orthopedic examinations. They are very fast in taking images from different angles. For this reason, manual adjustment of contrast is infeasible and automatic adjustment algorithms have been applied to try to select the optimal radiation dose for contrast adjustment. Problems occur when metallic objects, e.g., a prosthesis or a screw, are in the absorption area of interest. In this case, the automatic adjustment mostly fails because the dark, metallic objects lead the algorithm to overdose the x-ray tube. This outshining effect results in overexposed images and bad contrast. To overcome this limitation, metallic objects have to be detected and extracted from images that are taken as input for the adjustment algorithm. In this paper, we present a real-time solution for extracting metallic objects of x-ray images. We will explore the characteristic features of metallic objects in x-ray images and their distinction from bone fragments which form the basis to find a successful way for object segmentation and classification. Subsequently, we will present our edge based real-time approach for successful and fast automatic segmentation and classification of metallic objects. Finally, experimental results on the effectiveness and performance of our approach based on a vast amount of input image data sets will be presented.

Citation Download Citation

Martin Prangl, Hermann Hellwagner, Christian Spielvogel, Horst Bischof, and Tibor Szkaliczki "Realtime automatic metal extraction of medical x-ray images for contrast improvement", Proc. SPIE 6144, Medical Imaging 2006: Image Processing, 614461 (17 March 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.653065

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