Enhancement of micro-channels within the human mastoid bone based on local structure tensor analysis

• Numerous micro-channels have recently been discovered in the human temporal bone by x-ray micro-CT-scanning. After a preliminary study suggesting that these micro-channels form a separate blood supply for the mucosa of the mastoid air cells, a structural analysis of the micro-channels using a local structure tensor was carried out. Despite the high-resolution of the micro-CT scan, presence of noise within the air cells along with missing information in some micro-channels suggested the need of image enhancement. This paper proposes an adaptive enhancement of the micro-channels based on a local structure analysis while minimizing the impact of noise on the overall data. Comparison with an anisotropic diffusion PDE based scheme was also performed.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Micro-channels

Structure tensor analysis

Image enhancement

Adaptive filtering

Human temporal bone

Mastoid bone

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)