An efficient hybrid approach for medical images enhancement

Medical images have various critical usages in the field of medical science and healthcare engineering. These images contain information about many severe diseases. Health professionals identify various diseases by observing the medical images. Quality of medical images directly affects the accuracy of detection and diagnosis of various diseases. Therefore, quality of images must be as good as possible. Different approaches are existing today for enhancement of medical images, but quality of images is not good. In this literature, we have proposed a novel approach that uses principal component analysis (PCA), multi-scale switching morphological operator (MSMO) and contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) methods in a unique sequence for this purpose. We have conducted exhaustive experiments on large number of images of various modalities such as MRI, ultrasound, and retina. Obtained results demonstrate that quality of medical images processed by proposed approach has significantly improved and better than other existing methods of this field

An efficient hybrid approach for medical images enhancement

Medical images have various critical usages in the field of medical science and healthcare engineering. These images contain information about many severe diseases. Health professionals identify various diseases by observing the medical images. Quality of medical images directly affects the accuracy of detection and diagnosis of various diseases. Therefore, quality of images must be as good as possible. Different approaches are existing today for enhancement of medical images, but quality of images is not good. In this literature, we have proposed a novel approach that uses principal component analysis (PCA), multi-scale switching morphological operator (MSMO) and contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) methods in a unique sequence for this purpose. We have conducted exhaustive experiments on large number of images of various modalities such as MRI, ultrasound, and retina. Obtained results demonstrate that quality of medical images processed by proposed approach has significantly improved and better than other existing methods of this field

Retinal Blood Vessels Segmentation using Fréchet PDF and MSMO Method

Blood vessels of retina contain information about many severe diseases like glaucoma, hypertension, obesity, diabetes etc. Health professionals use this information to detect and diagnose these diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to segment retinal blood vessels. Quality of retinal image directly affects the accuracy of segmentation. Therefore, quality of image must be as good as possible. Many researchers have proposed various methods to segment retinal blood vessels. Most of the researchers have focused only on segmentation process and paid less attention on pre processing of image even though pre processing plays vital role in segmentation. The proposed method introduces a novel method called multi-scale switching morphological (MSMO) for pre processing and Fréchet match filter for retinal vessel segmentation. We have experimentally tested and verified the proposed method on DRIVE, STARE and HRF data sets. Obtained outcome demonstrate that performance of the proposed method has improved substantially. The cause of improved performance is the better pre processing and segmentation methods

Clinical spectrum and diagnostic yields of Mycoplasma pneumoniae as a causative agent of community-acquired pneumonia

INTRODUCTION: Infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumonia) occurs worldwide which accounts for 15%–20% of cases of community-acquired pneumonia and indistinguishable clinically from other infectious causes of pneumonia. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to correlate it with other diagnostic methods such as culture, serology (ELISA), and conventional PCR along with the clinical signs and symptoms produced by M. pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 130 patients of all age groups presenting with clinical features of lower respiratory tract infections were enrolled over a period of 1 year and 2 months in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. M. pneumoniae in throat swab samples was detected by real-time PCR, compared with culture, serology, conventional PCR, and clinical signs and symptoms. Univariate analyses were conducted to determine the association of M. pneumoniae infection among different categories of patients. RESULTS: Out of a total of 130 patients, 18 patients (14%) were positive for M. pneumoniae by any test; culture was positive in nine patients (50%), serology (IgM) in eight patients (44.4%), PCR in five patients (27.7%), and real-time PCR was positive in six patients (33.3%). Clinical signs and symptoms were higher in incidence in M. pneumoniae-positive patients. Age-matched healthy controls (30) were included in the study, and all were negative for any diagnostic test performed (P = 0.026). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that combination of M. pneumoniae-specific testing modalities is required for the diagnosis of this etiological agent rather than a single diagnostic method

Intra‐abdominal omental mass as a desmoplastic round cell tumor: A rare case report

Key Clinical Message Desmoplastic round cell tumor, though rare, must be taken into consideration as a differential diagnosis, thus aiding in early evaluation and changing the trajectory of the natural history of the disease condition, and improving the prognosis of patients. Abstract Desmoplastic small round cell tumor is a rare, aggressive tumor of mesenchymal origin with an incidence of 0.74 cases per million. We present a young adult with a periumbilical mass who was diagnosed as a desmoplastic round cell tumor and later was treated with exploratory laparotomy and resection of the tumor with no recurrence during a 6‐month follow‐up period

Primary hyperparathyroidism presenting as hypercalcemic crisis: Twenty-year experience

Context: To study hyperparathyroid-induced hypercalcemic crisis (HIHC). Aims: We see very advanced cases of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and therefore, we sought to determine the incidence of HIHC in our surgically-treated PHPT patients, clinical presentation, and short- and long-term results with the use of bisphosphonate therapy and expeditious parathyroidectomy over a 20-year period at a single institution. Settings and Design: Retrospective review of PHPT patients at Department of Endocrine Surgery, a tertiary care referral center. Materials and Methods: Retrospective review of 177 patients of advanced PHPT who underwent parathyroidectomy at a single institution from 1989 to 2010. All patients with serum calcium ≥14 mg/dl (≥3.5 mmol/l) were included in HIHC group. Statistical Analysis: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine differences between groups. Data is expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM); P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: We observed a higher incidence of HIHC (n = 37, 21%) with higher incidence of pancreatitis (n = 5, 13.5%). Crisis patients had heavier (6,717 mg) glands. Use of bisphosphonate therapy in seven crisis patients resulted in quicker lowering of serum calcium (mean: 4.5 vs 14.6 days in other crisis patients, P = 0.027) permitting early surgery. The incidence of postoperative hypocalcemia was not higher in these patients. Although the parathyroid adenoma was common pathology in both the groups, the incidence of parathyroid carcinoma was higher in crisis group (10.8%). Outcome with regards to postoperative eucalcemia was similar in both groups. Conclusions: Crisis patients are at risk of developing pancreatitis. Bisphosphonate therapy has the potential to quickly lower the serum calcium permitting early surgery without added risk of postoperative hypocalcemia. Successful and sustained eucalcemia with excellent long-term survival is possible with use of bisphosphonates and semi-emergent, focused parathyroidectmy