Comparative study of the methodologies used for subjective medical image quality assessment

Abstract

Healthcare professionals have been increasingly viewing medical images and videos in their routine clinical practice, and this in a wide variety of environments. Both the perception and interpretation of medical visual information, across all branches of practice or medical specialties (e.g., diagnostic, therapeutic, or surgical medicine), career stages, and practice settings (e.g., emergency care), appear to be critical for patient care. However, medical images and videos are not self-explanatory and, therefore, need to be interpreted by humans, i.e., medical experts. In addition, various types of degradations and artifacts may appear during image acquisition or processing, and consequently affect medical imaging data. Such distortions tend to impact viewers' quality of experience, as well as their clinical practice. It is accordingly essential to better understand how medical experts perceive the quality of visual content. Thankfully, progress has been made in the recent literature towards such understanding. In this article, we present an up-to-date state of the art of relatively recent (i.e., not older than ten years old) existing studies on the subjective quality assessment of medical images and videos, as well as research works using task-based approaches. Furthermore, we discuss the merits and drawbacks of the methodologies used, and we provide recommendations about experimental designs and statistical processes to evaluate the perception of medical images and videos for future studies, which could then be used to optimise the visual experience of image readers in real clinical practice. Finally, we tackle the issue of the lack of available annotated medical image and video quality databases, which appear to be indispensable for the development of new dedicated objective metrics.

Comparative analysis of wavelet transform filtering systems for noise reduction in ultrasound images

“…However, even though the results of the objective evaluations are outstanding, the clinical requirements are often not met. As mentioned in [ 57 ], filtering allows a better separation of classes between asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects. Both the perception and interpretation of medical visual information are critical in clinical practice.…”

The application value of LAVA-flex sequences in enhanced MRI scans of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: comparison with T1WI-IDEAL

“…The SNR of the tumor (SNR t ) and muscle (SNR m ) was calculated following the method recommended by the American Society of Electrical Manufacturers ( 22 , 23 ). The tumor ROI was positioned in non-necrotic areas, while central necrotic areas were avoided if present.…”

Review of Image Quality Assessment Methods for Compressed Images

“…Numerous survey articles have delved into the realm of image quality assessment (IQA) methods, offering valuable insights into both subjective and objective evaluation methodologies. One such recent endeavor, undertaken by Leveque et al [10], conducted a comparative study specifically within the medical images domain, scrutinizing subjective methodologies. Similarly, Opozda and Sochan conducted a comprehensive examination of both subjective and objective methods for 2D and 3D image types [11].…”