The enhancement of radiographic images from a multiwire camera using a maximum entropy algorithm

• Published in: Physics in medicine & biology 1988-12, Vol.33 (12), p.1373-1383
• Main Authors: Lockett, S J, Bateman, J E, Bradwell, A R, Ramsden, D B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Autoradiography; Biological and medical sciences; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Medical sciences; Radiographic Image Enhancement - instrumentation; Radiographic Image Enhancement - methods
• ISSN: 0031-9155; 1361-6560
• DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/33/12/003

The multiwire camera (MWC) produces high speed, quantitative autoradiography of radiolabelled substances in two-dimensional systems. While greatly superior to film-based systems in respect of speed and quantitativity the MWC has significantly poorer spatial resolution (particularly for high energy beta-emitting radiolabels) and the performance is ultimately limited by the noise induced in the images by Poisson statistics and counter background. Processing the MWC images with a maximum entropy algorithm significantly improves the performance of the system in these respects. The algorithm has been tested using one-dimensional data taken from images of known tritium, 14C and 125I distributions. Processed images are visually more acceptable with improved quantitative accuracy and spatial resolution. Quantitative accuracy, calculated as the root mean square deviation between an image and the known sample activities, is 10-40% lower for processed images compared with original camera images. Spatial resolution, calculated from slopes in the images representing edges of activity in the sources, is improved by 20-40% for the processed images. The algorithm is used to improve a two-dimensional image from a biological study. The source distribution consisted of a set of circular dots of varying activity. The dots with lowest activity were barely discernible in the raw MWC image but are clearly resolved after processing. The algorithm used is simple and effective and executes acceptably quickly on a personal computer. It should prove useful in any context where the imaging performance of a system is limited by Poisson statistics.