Enhanced maximum intensity projection (eMIP) for improving the fidelity of optoacoustic images
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) image reconstructions are often rendered as two-dimensional images, using maximum intensity projections (MIPs). However, MIP's rendering fidelity depends on the alignment of the individual slices along the projection direction. Also, the presence of noise and artifacts affects the contrast and the projected image elements. We introduce enhanced MIP (eMIP), a methodology that aligns the boundaries (e.g., skin boundary) of adjacent slices of the 3D volume onto the same coordinate system assumed by MIP (e.g., same depth) and applies robust contrast adjustment to normalize the intensities of the projected slices. We benchmark eMIP on 1725 clinical scans of human skin, using raster-scan optoacoustic mesoscopy (RSOM) that were assessed by 8 experts. Our results show that eMIP facilitates interpretability compared to conventional MIP and increases consistently the perceived image quality. The improved diagnostic ability of eMIP has the potential to replace MIP in RSOM and similar modalities.
Source: npj Imaging
Authors: Manuel Gehmeyr, María Begoña Rojas López, Suhanyaa Nitkunanantharajah, Hubert Preißl, Andreas Vosseler, Reiner Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, Andreas L. Birkenfeld, Nikoletta Katsouli, Nikolina-Alexia Fasoula, Angelos Karlas, Michael Kallmayer, Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, Dominik Jüstel, Vasilis Ntziachristos
Institutions: Helmholtz Munich, Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging, Institute of Computational Biology, Technical University of Munich, German Center for Diabetes Research, University of Tübingen, King's College London, TUM Klinikum, German Centre for Cardiovascular Research, Institute of Diabetes Research
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,790
Awards: G1020016209, G1240115043, Revolutionizing disease and environmental detection with portable optoacoustic sensing, G3747124717, Fast optoacoustic mesoscopy, using the skin as a window for therapeutic monitoring of local and systemic disease., Combining optoacoustic imaging phenotypes and multi-omics to advance diabetes healthcare, G6929675561, G8365735328
OpenAlex ID: W4414848383