Metal Artifact Reduction from Computed Tomography (CT) Images using Directional Restoration Filter

Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is a stabilized tool for vessel imaging in the medical image processing field. High-intense structures in the contrast image can seriously hamper luminal visualization. Metal artifacts are an extensive problem in computed tomography (CT) images. We proposed directional restoration filtering process with Fuzzy logic in order to reduce metal artifact from CT images. We create two sets by iteration process and these sets will be sorted in ascending order. After sorting we take two elements from two data sets and the tracking both elements will be selected from the second position of those sorting arrays. Intersection Fuzzy logic will be executed between two selected elements and Gaussian convolution operation will be performed in the entire images because of enhancement the artifact affected CT images. In this paper, we investigated a fully automated intensity-based filter and it depends on the gray level variation rating. This results in a better visualization of the vessel lumen, also of the smaller vessels, allowing a faster and more accurate inspection of the whole vascular structures. Index Terms—Artifact reduction, Filter, Stent wire, Computed Tomography, Restoration, Gaussian convolution