COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IMAGE ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR UTERINE FIBROID ULTRASOUND

Background: The ultrasound image is a vital diagnostic tool in the preliminary clinical assessment of many diseases, especially in Obstetrics and Gynecology. However, poor ultrasound image quality often leads to inaccurate diagnosis of diseases such as uterine fibroids. Many researchers have proposed various methods for improving ultrasound image quality. Objective: To explore, by comparison of four image enhancement techniques, the best approach for the enhancement of uterine fibroid images towards achieving better diagnosis and proper management of the disease. Methodology: The study assessed and compared the performance of four different image enhancement techniques, namely: Contrast Stretching, Gamma Correction, Histogram Equalization (HE), and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) on uterine fibroid ultrasound images. Twenty (20) ultrasound images from the database were downloaded and processed in MATLAB (2015a version) using the image processing toolbox. Based on histogram distribution and statistical features (Mean, Standard Deviation, and Entropy), the enhanced images were evaluated and compared. Results: The results show that Contrast Stretching performed better based on histogram distribution, while CLAHE showed superior performance on statistical features. Conclusion: Contrast Stretching and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) demonstrated good performance in the enhancement of uterine fibroid ultrasound images.