Noise reduction for 8K endoscope images
Aya Kubota, Seiichi Gohshi · International Workshop on Advanced Image Technology (IWAIT) 2019 · 2019
In the medical field, diagnosis based on images/videos is constantly becoming increasingly important. Recently, an 8K resolution endoscope has been developed. Lighting is necessary to obtain sufficiently lighted images/videos when endoscopic examinations or operations are performed. Although it is necessary to have sufficient illumination, the lighting condition of endoscopes is limited owing to the heat generated by the light source. Poor lighting conditions always produce noise. Particularly, the size of an 8K imaging cell is small, and the number of photons for it is limited. Noise is an important issue in 8K endoscopic images. During a diagnosis, in order to obtain detailed information on an ailing part, same areas are often monitored repeatedly. 8K endoscopic videos have a high resolution; having a high image quality in each frame of still images is important used during diagnoses. However, unlike videos, in still images, observers can easily distinguish not only resolution differences but also degradations, such as noise, in problematic areas. In this study, a total variation (TV) denoising method is used to reduce the noise of 8K endoscopic images.