Prevalent degradations and processing challenges of computed tomography medical images: a compendious analysis

Abstract

Computed Tomography (CT) has remained an important component of medical imaging since its inception. In general, it is preferred to keep the radiation dose as low as possible during the CT examinations to prevent patients as well as operators from the dangerous side effects of these radiations, which in an extreme case may lead to cancer. However, reducing the radiation dose leads to undesirable degradations which not only reduce the visual quality of CT images, but also make such images difficult to interpret in clinical routines. The most common degradations in low-dose CT images include blur, noise and low-contrast. Over the recent years, considerable research has been made to process these degradations. However, they still remain open for research due to the wide variety of challenges they offer. In this article, the causing factors of such degradations are addressed adequately. Furthermore, the challenges that face the processing of these degradations are mentioned in detail. Finally, this article is intended for researchers who are approaching this topic to understand the aforesaid issues extensively.