Multi-modal Medical Image Fusion Algorithm Based on Spatial Frequency Motivated PA-PCNN in the NSST Domain

A multibranch and multiscale neural network based on semantic perception for multimodal medical image fusion

Medical imaging is indispensable for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment, with modalities like MRI and CT providing diverse yet complementary information. Traditional image fusion methods, while essential in consolidating information from multiple modalities, often suffer from poor image quality and loss of crucial details due to inadequate handling of semantic information and limited feature extraction capabilities. This paper introduces a novel medical image fusion technique leveraging unsupervised image segmentation to enhance the semantic understanding of the fusion process. The proposed method, named DUSMIF, employs a multi-branch, multi-scale deep learning architecture that integrates advanced attention mechanisms to refine the feature extraction and fusion processes. An innovative approach that utilizes unsupervised image segmentation to extract semantic information is introduced, which is then integrated into the fusion process. This not only enhances the semantic relevance of the fused images but also improves the overall fusion quality. The paper proposes a sophisticated network structure that extracts and fuses features at multiple scales and across multiple branches. This structure is designed to capture a comprehensive range of image details and contextual information, significantly improving the fusion outcomes. Multiple attention mechanisms are incorporated to selectively emphasize important features and integrate them effectively across different modalities and scales. This approach ensures that the fused images maintain high quality and detail fidelity. A joint loss function combining content loss, structural similarity loss, and semantic loss is formulated. This function not only guides the network in preserving image brightness and texture but also ensures that the fused image closely resembles the source images in both content and structure. The proposed method demonstrates superior performance over existing fusion techniques in objective assessments and subjective evaluations, confirming its effectiveness in enhancing the diagnostic utility of fused medical images.

Deep learning supported disease detection with multi-modality image fusion

Multi-modal image fusion techniques aid the medical experts in better disease diagnosis by providing adequate complementary information from multi-modal medical images. These techniques enhance the effectiveness of medical disorder analysis and classification of results. This study aims at proposing a novel technique using deep learning for the fusion of multi-modal medical images. The modified 2D Adaptive Bilateral Filters (M-2D-ABF) algorithm is used in the image pre-processing for filtering various types of noises. The contrast and brightness are improved by applying the proposed Energy-based CLAHE algorithm in order to preserve the high energy regions of the multimodal images. Images from two different modalities are first registered using mutual information and then registered images are fused to form a single image. In the proposed fusion scheme, images are fused using Siamese Neural Network and Entropy (SNNE)-based image fusion algorithm. Particularly, the medical images are fused by using Siamese convolutional neural network structure and the entropy of the images. Fusion is done on the basis of score of the SoftMax layer and the entropy of the image. The fused image is segmented using Fast Fuzzy C Means Clustering Algorithm (FFCMC) and Otsu Thresholding. Finally, various features are extracted from the segmented regions. Using the extracted features, classification is done using Logistic Regression classifier. Evaluation is performed using publicly available benchmark dataset. Experimental results using various pairs of multi-modal medical images reveal that the proposed multi-modal image fusion and classification techniques compete the existing state-of-the-art techniques reported in the literature.