Bone Suppression for Chest Radiographic Images

Chest radiography remains the most commonly used method for screening and diagnosing lung diseases, such as lung cancer, pneumothorax, interstitial disease, emphysema and many others. The detectability of a lung disease on a chest radiograph is affected by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the image. High-contrast bone structures are major noise contributors that significantly reduce the SNR in chest radiographic images. A signal of interest in a chest radiograph could be either partially or completely obscured, or “overshadowed,” by the highly contrasted bone structures surrounding it. This is why removing the bone structures, especially the posterior rib and clavicle structures, is highly desirable to increase the visibility of soft tissue.