X-ray Single Exposure Imaging and Image Processing of Objects with High Absorption Ratio.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Digital Image Processing
• X-ray Technology

Background:

• Detecting high absorption ratio objects in X-ray imaging requires a wide dynamic range.
• Current filtering methods reduce X-ray intensity but also decrease image contrast and structural information.
• Single exposure imaging of high absorption ratio objects is challenging due to dynamic range limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel contrast enhancement method for X-ray images based on Retinex theory.
• To address the limitations of reduced contrast and weakened structural information in filtered X-ray images.
• To enable effective single exposure imaging of high absorption ratio objects.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Retinex theory and a multi-scale residual decomposition network to separate images into illumination and reflection components.
• Employed a U-Net model with global-local attention for enhancing the illumination component's contrast.
• Applied an anisotropic diffused residual dense network for detailed enhancement of the reflection component.
• Fused the enhanced illumination and reflection components.

Main Results:

• The proposed Retinex-based method effectively enhances contrast in X-ray single exposure images of high absorption ratio objects.
• The method successfully preserves and displays detailed structure information, even on low dynamic range devices.
• Achieved improved imaging of high absorption ratio objects without image saturation.

Conclusions:

• The developed contrast enhancement technique significantly improves the quality of X-ray images for high absorption ratio objects.
• This approach offers a viable solution for single exposure imaging, overcoming dynamic range challenges.
• The method ensures comprehensive display of image structures, benefiting diagnostic accuracy.