Method and apparatus for processing a medical image

An apparatus for processing a medical image comprising a processor configured to:

• receive a medical image comprising a first plurality of pixels each having an initial pixel value;
• for each of the first plurality of pixels, apply a filtering operation to the pixel to generate a filtered pixel value for the pixel based on the initial pixel values of pixels that surround the pixel in the medical image;
• for each of the first plurality of pixels,
• perform a comparison of the initial pixel value with the filtered pixel value, the comparison including
• comparing a first parameter indicative of the initial pixel value less the filtered pixel value to a first threshold in response to determining that the initial pixel value is greater than or equal to the filtered pixel value, and
• comparing a second parameter indicative of the filtered pixel value less the initial pixel value to a second threshold in response to determining that the initial pixel value is less than the filtered pixel value;
• determine, based on the comparison, a plurality of erroneous pixels;
• and
• determine, based on the comparison, a plurality of non-erroneous pixels.

A computer program product for processing a medical image, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• receive a medical image comprising a first plurality of pixels each having an initial pixel value;
• for each of the first plurality of pixels, apply a filtering operation to the pixel to generate a filtered pixel value for the pixel based on the initial pixel values of pixels that surround the pixel in the medical image;
• for each of the first plurality of pixels,
• perform a comparison of the initial pixel value with the filtered pixel value, the comparison including
• comparing a first parameter indicative of a difference between the initial pixel value and the filtered pixel value to a first threshold in response to determining that the initial pixel value is greater than or equal to the filtered pixel value, and
• comparing a second parameter indicative of a difference between the filtered pixel value and the initial pixel value to a second threshold in response to determining that the initial pixel value is less than the filtered pixel value;
• determine, based on the comparison, a plurality of erroneous pixels;
• determine, based on the comparison, a plurality of non-erroneous pixels;
• and
• generate a result image corresponding to the medical image, wherein each of the plurality of erroneous pixels and each of the plurality of non-erroneous pixels have a corresponding pixel in the result image, wherein generating the result image comprises
• for each of the plurality of erroneous pixels, using the filtered pixel value of the pixel of the medical image as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the result image, and
• for each of the plurality of non-erroneous pixels, using the initial pixel value of the pixel of the medical image as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the result image.