Enhancing Medical Image Denoising with Innovative Teacher-Student Model-Based Approaches for Precision Diagnostics

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Nov 29;23(23):9502. doi: 10.3390/s23239502.

Abstract

The realm of medical imaging is a critical frontier in precision diagnostics, where the clarity of the image is paramount. Despite advancements in imaging technology, noise remains a pervasive challenge that can obscure crucial details and impede accurate diagnoses. Addressing this, we introduce a novel teacher-student network model that leverages the potency of our bespoke NoiseContextNet Block to discern and mitigate noise with unprecedented precision. This innovation is coupled with an iterative pruning technique aimed at refining the model for heightened computational efficiency without compromising the fidelity of denoising. We substantiate the superiority and effectiveness of our approach through a comprehensive suite of experiments, showcasing significant qualitative enhancements across a multitude of medical imaging modalities. The visual results from a vast array of tests firmly establish our method's dominance in producing clearer, more reliable images for diagnostic purposes, thereby setting a new benchmark in medical image denoising.

Keywords: lightweight model; medical image denoising; model speed optimization; teacher–student network.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Signal-To-Noise Ratio
  • Students*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed* / methods

Grants and funding

This paper is supported by Korean Agency for Technology and Standard under Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2023, project numbers are K_G012002236201, K_G012002073401 and K_G012002234001.