Endoscope system and image generation method to generate images associated with irregularities of a subject

An endoscope system, comprising:

• an electric endoscope that acquires an image signal by imaging a subject;
• a processor device configured to
• generate an irregularity image by extracting information of irregularities on the subject from the image signal;
• wherein the processor device generates a hypertrophy image as the irregularity image by extracting a hypertrophy, which has a thickness from a body tissue surface layer to a medium-deep layer, from the image signal;
• wherein the image signal is configured to include image signals of a plurality of colors having information of different wavelength components;
• and
• the processor device further configured to:
• generate a brightness signal showing an average brightness of the subject based on the image signals of the plurality of colors;
• and
• generate the hypertrophy image by extracting a pixel region, in which a pixel value is within a fixed range, of the brightness signal as a hypertrophy.

An image generation method, comprising:

• acquiring an image signal by imaging a subject with an imaging device;
• and
• generating an irregularity image by extracting information of irregularities on the subject from the image signal using irregularity image generation unit;
• wherein the irregularity image generation unit includes a microstructure image generation section that generates a microstructure image as the irregularity image by extracting a microstructure of a body tissue surface layer from the image signal;
• wherein the image signal is configured to include image signals of a plurality of colors having information of different wavelength components,
• the microstructure image generation section includes:
• generating a first brightness signal showing an average brightness of the subject based on the image signals of the plurality of colors;
• and
• extracting a pixel region, in which a pixel value exceeds a fixed threshold value, of the brightness signal as a microstructure using a first image generation section that generates the microstructure image.