An Analysis of X-Ray Image Enhancement Methods for Vertebral Bone Segmentation

Image enhancement is a critical component in getting a good segmentation, especially for x-ray images. Magnification of the contrast and sharpness of the image will increase the accuracy of the subsequent modules for an autonomous disease diagnosis system. In this paper, we analyze various methods of preprocessing techniques for vertebral bone segmentation. Three methods are considered which are histogram equalization (HE), gamma correction (GC) and contrast limited adaptive histogram equalizer (CLAHE). This work aims to compare and quantify the precision and accuracy of the techniques that are used to enhance the image quality. Experimental results of the system yield favorable results where the most accurate technique is CLAHE, followed by GC and HE.