DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

Pournami P N
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engg.
National Institute of Technology Calicut
Kerala– 673 601,India
pournamipn@nitc.ac.in
DIGITAL IMAGE

 Mathematically, a 2-dimensional image is defined

by a function f(x; y) of two variables x and y (co-
ordinates in the image plane).
CONTD..

 The function values are brightness (gray levels)

in black-and-white case, or k tuples of brightness
values in several spectral bands (i.e. R, G, B) for
color images.
SAMPLING AND QUANTIZATION

 When an image is digitized, a sampling process is

used to extract from the image a discrete set of
real numbers.
 The image samples are usually quantized to a set
of discrete brightness values.
 A digital image can be represented as a matrix
with integer values. Each element of the matrix, a
picture element, is called a pixel.
DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING

 Digital image processing is the use of computer

algorithms to perform image processing on digital
images.
 Point operations, neighborhood operations etc.
DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

 Image analysis is the extraction of meaningful

information from images; mainly from digital
images by means of digital image processing
techniques.
 Segmentation, Registration etc.
IMAGE REGISTRATION
 Vital problem in many disciplines
 Determination of a geometrical transformation that
aligns points in one view of an object with corresponding
points in another view of that object or another object.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS

 Super resolution image formation

 Remote Sensing

 Medical community

 Pattern Recognition

 Machine Vision

 Industrial applications

 Lot more…
COMPONENTS

 A Feature space – extracts the information from

the images which is to be used for matching
 A search space – class of transformations

 A search strategy – decides how to choose the

next transformation
 A similarity measure – controls the search
GENERAL ALGORITHM
Step 1 : Preprocessing
Step 2 : Evaluate matching criterion at current position of
mis-registration
Step 3 : Optimize matching criterion
Step 4 : Calculate corresponding transformation
parameters
Step 5 : Images registered?
If yes, Stop, else go back to Step 1.
 REFERENCES
1. Lisa G Brown, “A Survey of Image Registration Techniques”, ACM
Computing Surveys, 1992.
2. J P W Pluim, J B A Maintz, M A Viergever, “Mutual Information based
Registration of Medical Images: A Survey”, IEEE Transactions on Medical
Imaging, 2003.
3. A. Ardeshir Goshtasby, “2-D and 3-D Image Registration for medical, remote
sensing and remote sensing applications”, Wiley Interscience Publications,
2005
4. J B Antoine Maintz, Max A Viergever, ”A Survey of Medical Image
Registration” Medical Image Analysis (1990), Vol 2, Oxford university Press.
5. Medha V. Wyawahare, Dr. Pradeep M Patil and Hemant K. Abhyankar, “Image
Registration Techniques : An overview”, International Journal of Signal
Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Vol. 2, No. 3,
September 2009.
REFERENCES
6. Derek L G Hill, Phillip G Batchelor, Mark Holden, David J Hawkes, “Medical
Image Registration” , Institute of Physics Publishing, Physics in Medicine and
Biology46, 2001, R1-R45
7. Frederik Maes, Andre Collignon, Dirk Vandermeulen, Guy Marchal, Paul
Suetens, ”Multimodality Image Registration by Maximisation of Mutual
Information ”, IEEE Proceedings of the Workshop on Mathematical Methods
in Biomedical Image Analysis, 1996.
8. Frederik Maes, Dirk Vandermeulen, Paul Suetens, “Medical Image
Registration using Mutual Information”, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 91, No.
10, October 2003
MEDICAL IMAGES

 Medical images provide information about pathology and associated

anatomy of the human body.
 Clinicians wish to compare two or more images of the same anatomical
regions acquired under different modalities.
 It is impractical for a clinician to align many images manually.
 Medical image registration aims at solving such problems for the
purpose of improved diagnosis or treatment planning.
 Medical diagnosis benefits from the complementary information in
images of different modalities.
 An image registration technique transfers all the image information into
a common coordinate system.
 Presents the images in a way that makes it easier for the clinician to fuse
the image information to find similarities and differences.
MEDICAL IMAGES
X-Ray CT MRI SPECT

PET
 BRAIN IMAGING MODALITIES
 X-ray projection imaging
 X-ray computed tomography (CT)
 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS)
 Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)
 Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
 Ultrasonics
 Electrical Source Imaging (ESI)
 Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT)
 Magnetic Source Imaging (MSI)
 Medical Optical Imaging (MOI)
 TIMELINE OF MR IMAGING
1972 – Damadian
patents idea for large
NMR scanner to 1985 – Insurance
detect malignant reimbursements for
tissue. MRI exams begin.

1973 – Lauterbur MRI scanners

publishes method for
1924 - Pauli suggests 1937 – Rabi measures become clinically
generating images prevalent.
that nuclear particles magnetic moment of
using NMR gradients.
may have angular nucleus. Coins
momentum (spin). “magnetic resonance”.
NMR renamed MRI

1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

1946 – Purcell shows
that matter absorbs
energy at a resonant
frequency.
1946 – Bloch demonstrates
that nuclear precession can be
measured in detector coils.
1990 – Ogawa and
1973 – Mansfield
colleagues create
independently
functional images
1959 – Singer publishes gradient
using endogenous,
measures blood flow approach to MR.
blood-oxygenation
using NMR (in
contrast.
mice).
1975 – Ernst
develops 2D-Fourier
transform for MR.
NOBEL PRIZES FOR MAGNETIC RESONANCE
 1944: Rabi
Physics (Measured magnetic moment of nucleus)

 1952: Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell

Physics (Basic science of NMR phenomenon)

 1991: Richard Ernst

Chemistry (High-resolution pulsed FT-NMR)

 2002: Kurt Wüthrich

Chemistry (3D molecular structure in solution by NMR)

 2003: Paul Lauterbur & Peter Mansfield

Physiology or Medicine (MRI technology)
MAGNETIC RESONANCE TECHNIQUES
Nuclear Spin Phenomenon:
 NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance)
 MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
 EPI (Echo-Planar Imaging)
 fMRI (Functional MRI)
 MRS (Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy)
 MRSI (MR Spectroscopic Imaging)

Electron Spin Phenomenon (not covered in this course):

 ESR (Electron Spin Resonance)
or EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance)
 ELDOR (Electron-electron double resonance)
 ENDOR (Electron-nuclear double resonance)
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

 Handbook of Physics in Medicine and Biology

 Published - April 5, 2010 by CRC Press
 El-Sayed H. Ibrahim and Nael F. Osman
INTRODUCTION
 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a tomographic imaging
technique that produces images of internal physical and chemical
properties of the body by measuring the emitted nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) signals.
 In a typical MRI exam, the patient lies inside the machine and a
radiofrequency (RF) signal is emitted into the patient body, which
responds by emitting another RF signal.
 The received signal is recorded and processed to yield the MRI
image.
FLEXIBILITIES OF MRI

 No ionizing radiation
 No radioactive materials,

 High level of tissue contrast

 Arbitrary image orientation

 High spatial

 Resolution

 Various physical parameters to be imaged

INTRODUCTION
 How Does it Work?
 The magnetic resonance imaging is accomplished through the
absorption and emission of energy of the radio frequency (RF)
range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
 THE COMPONENTS:
 Three types of magnetic fields are involved in an MRI experiment
 main static magnetic field, B0, responsible for tissue magnetization;
 RF magnetic field, B1, responsible for signal excitation
 Gradient magnetic field, G, responsible for signal localization
 A very powerful computer system, which translates the signals
transmitted by the coils.
 Costs about one to two million dollars.
 Strength of the permanent magnetic field 0.5-tesla to 3.0-tesla
GRADIENT COILS
APPLICATIONS

 Brain Imaging
 Cardiac Imaging

 Musculoskeletal applications

 MR Angiography

 MR Spectroscopy

 Etc…
THE TECHNOLOGY – NMR PHENOMENON
 How Does It All Work?
 Spin:
 The atoms that compose the human body have a
property known as spin (a fundamental property of all
atoms in nature like mass or charge).

 Spin can be thought of as a small magnetic field and

can be given a + or – sign and a mathematical value of
multiples of ½.

 Components of an atom such as protons, electrons and

neutrons all have spin.
THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
 Spin (cont.):
 Protons and neutron spins are
known as nuclear spins.
 In NMR it is the unpaired
nuclear spins that produce a
signal in a magnetic field.
 These are nuclei with odd
number of protons or neutrons
or both.
 Hydrogen is an example, which
is abundantly present in the
human body.
THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
 When placed in a large magnetic field,
hydrogen atoms have a strong tendency
to align in the direction of the magnetic
filed
 Inside the bore of the scanner, the
magnetic field runs down the center of
the tube in which the patient is placed,
so the hydrogen protons will line up in
either the direction of the feet or the
head.
 The majority will cancel each other, but
the net number of protons is sufficient
to produce an image.
THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)

 Energy Absorption:
 The MRI machine applies radio
frequency (RF) pulse that is specific to
hydrogen.

 The RF pulses are applied through a coil

that is specific to the part of the body
being scanned.
A SINGLE PROTON

There is electric charge m The proton also

J
on the surface of the has mass which
proton, thus creating a generates an
small current loop and + angular
generating magnetic + momentum
+
moment m. J when it is
spinning.

Thus proton “magnet” differs from a magnetic bar in that it

also possesses angular momentum caused by spinning.
PROTONS IN A MAGNETIC FIELD

Bo
Parallel
(low energy)

Anti-Parallel
(high energy)

Spinning protons in a magnetic field will assume two states.

If the temperature is 0o K, all spins will occupy the lower energy state.
PROTONS ALIGN WITH FIELD
Outside magnetic field
randomly oriented
• spins tend to align parallel or anti-parallel to
B0
• net magnetization (M) along B0
• spins precess with random phase
• no net magnetization in transverse plane
• only 0.0003% of protons/T align with field

longitudinal
Inside magnetic field axis
Mz Mxy = 0

M
transverse
plane

Transverse
Longitudinal magnetization
magnetization
NET MAGNETIZATION

Bo
M

Bo
M c
T
THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)

Resonance (cont.)
The gradient magnets are rapidly turned on and off which
alters the main magnetic field.

 The pulse directed to a specific area of the body causes

the protons to absorb energy and spin in different
direction, which is known as resonance

Frequency (Hz) of energy absorption depends on strength of external

magnetic field.
 THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)

Larmor Equation

 =  2
0 0

For hydrogen at 1.5T:   2.675x108 s1T

 1.5T
0

 63.864MHz
0

 Larmor frequency.
THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
 Imaging:
 When the RF pulse is turned off the hydrogen protons slowly
return to their natural alignment within the magnetic field and
release their excess stored energy. This is known as relaxation.

 What happens to the released energy?

 Released as heat
OR
 Exchanged and absorbed by other protons
OR
 Released as Radio Waves.
THE TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
 Measuring the MR Signal:
 the moving proton vector induces a signal in the
RF antenna

 The signal is picked up by a coil and sent to the

computer system.
the received signal is sinusoidal in
nature

 The computer receives mathematical data,

which is converted through the use of a Fourier
transform into an image.
THE IMAGE
 PHYSICS OF MRI

IT IS AN INTERPLAY OF

 Magnetism

 Resonance
 Fig: 1. A) The top spinning in the earth's gravity. The gravity
tries to pull it down but it stays upright due to its fast
rotation. B) A charge spinning in the magnetic field Bo.
 Fig: 2. A) The protons spinning in the nature, without an
external strong field. The directions of spins are random and
cancel out each other. The net magnetization is nearly 0. B)
In the presence of a large external magnetic field Bo the
spins align themselves either against or along.
Fig: 3. A) The compass needle (a small magnet) aligns itself with a
N/S-S/N direction when placed in a large magnetic field. B) When
another strong magnet is brought near the aligned compass needle
the magnetic fields of all three magnets interact in such a way that
the mobile, weakest magnet (the compass needle) realigns itself
away from its original orientation. C) When the perturbing magnetic
field is removed suddenly the compass needle magnet realigns itself
with the large external magnet field, but before realigning, it
wobbles around the point of stability and gradually comes to rest.
 Fig: 4. The spin of a proton can be represented by a vector
B with a direction and magnitude. Its relation to the
direction of the external magnetic field Bo is represented by
an angle.
 Fig: 5. A) The spin of a proton aligned to Bo in the Z-axis.
B) An external perturbing magnetic field, B1, is applied
which knocks the vector out of its axis, which now is
aligned at a new angle with respect to Bo. C) As the
perturbing field B1 is removed the vector gradually starts
returning back to its original state and D) begins to wobble
RESONANCE

 Fig: 7. The gradient coils. A) the

body placed in the core of the
magnet with B0 aligned to its long
axis. B) the gradient coil oriented
in the Z-axis (along the long axis
of the body) which gradually and
linearly increases from left to
right. C) At the center of the
gradient field, the frequency is
equal to that of B0, but at a
distance x the field changes by a
factor of B0.
RESONANCE

 The resonance equation shows that the resonance

frequency n of a spin is proportional to the magnetic
field, Bo, it is experiencing.

n =  Bo

 Where  is the gyromagnetic ratio. [the ratio of the

magnetic moment of a spinning charged particle to its
angular momentum]
WHAT DOES THE IMAGE REPRESENT?

 For every unit volume of tissue, there is a number

of cells, these cells contain water molecules, each
water molecule contain one oxygen and two
hydrogen atoms.

 Each hydrogen atom contains one proton in its

nucleus. Different tissues thus produce different
images based on the amount of their hydrogen
atoms producing a signal
MAGNETIZATION RELAXATION

 Spin-Lattice Relaxation Time (T1 relaxation)

 Spin-Spin Relaxation Time (T2 relaxation)
NORMAL PLANES OF VIEW
T1 & T2 IMAGES
REFERENCES
Books covering basics of MR physics:
E. Mark Haacke, et al 1999 Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Physical Principles and
Sequence Design.

C.P. Slichter 1978 (1992) Principles of Magnetic Resonance.

A. Abragam 1961 (1994) Principles of Nuclear Magnetism.

Online resources for introductory review of MR physics:

Robert Cox’s book chapters online
http://afni.nimh.nih.gov/afni/edu/
See “Background Information on MRI” section

Mark Cohen’s intro Basic MR Physics slides

http://porkpie.loni.ucla.edu/BMD_HTML/SharedCode/MiscShared.html

Douglas Noll’s Primer on MRI and Functional MRI

http://www.bme.umich.edu/~dnoll/primer2.pdf

Joseph Hornak’s Web Tutorial, The Basics of MRI

http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/mri/mri-main.htm
REFERENCES
 Ballinger, Ray. Basics of MRI. 1994-1996.
http://www.mritutor.org/mritutor/basics.htm Retrieved: 7/7/03

 Buckwalter, Ken, M.D. Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

http://www.indyrad.iupui.edu/public/lectures/mri/iu_lectures/mri_homepage.ht
m Retrieved: 7/6/2003

 Gould, Todd, RT, MR, ARRT. How MRI Works.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/mri7.htm Retrieved:7/5/2003

 Hornak, Joseph, PhD. The Basics of MRI. 1996-2003.

http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/mri/index.html

 Nagasaki School of Medicine, Department of Radiology.

Basics of MRI-I.
http://www.med.nagasakiu.ac.jp/radiolgy/MRI%20of%20the%20FOOT/MRI-
CDNUH/nf-basic1.html Retrieved 7/7/03.
THANK YOU….