approach to edge detection in medical imaging through histogram analysis and morphological gradient

Abstract

Edge detection takes importance in image processing systems for computer-aided diagnosis, wheresharp changes in pixel intensity are analyzed to obtain fast and accurate information about regions ofinterest to the specialist. A method for feature enhancement and edge detection in medical imageswas developed using image processing by analyzing the pixel distribution histogram andmorphological gradient operation. Images from the MINI MIAS dataset and the COVID-CT datasetwere used. The method is based on image processing and is applied to mammography and chest CTimages, where blur filtering steps are accompanied by morphological gradient filtering, in addition toobtaining the threshold for edge detection by analyzing the point of maximum pixel concentrationaccording to the distribution histogram. The processing is presented in a graphical user interfacedeveloped in Python language. The method is validated by comparison with other edge detectiontechniques such as the Canny Algorithm, and with deep learning methods such as Holistically-NestedEdge Detection. The proposed method improves image quality in both mammograms and CT scanscompared to other techniques. It also presents the best performance considering internal and externaledge detection, as well as an average response time of 1.054 seconds and 2.63 % of Central Processing Unit requirement. The developed system is presented as a support tool for use in computer-aideddiagnosis processes due to its high efficiency in edge detection.