Image processing in digital mammography: the optimum image for each woman's breasts

Image processing can enhance an image making it easier to identify the signs of cancer or can obscure the signs of cancer. Careful tests of the effects of image processing should be completed first in geometric test objects before they are tried in digital data sets from patients. The major goal of image processing is to optimize the contrast of the signs of cancer; a secondary goal is to decrease the visibility of breast structure and image noise that can interfere with the visibility of cancer. This article discusses aspects of contrast enhancement related to both the digital data set and the interaction of that data set with the image display device, the use of image separation into high and low frequency images and the use of edge enhancement in the detection of the signs of breast cancer.