Photoacoustic Imaging Enhancement Algorithm Based on Multi-Scale Retinex Algorithm

Photoacoustic Imaging (PAI), as a biomedical imaging technology, boasts remarkable features containing exceptional resolution and outstanding contrast. However, when lasers propagate through biological tissues, its energy rapidly attenuates with distance. Consequently, the photoacoustic (PA) signal becomes weak, resulting in worse contrast and resolution of the PA image. To address this challenge, we develop the multi-scale retinex (MSR) algorithm for enhancing PA images. Subsequently, the MSR algorithm was utilized in animal and human experiments. And the enhanced images were quantitative analyzed by information entropy, contrast and brightness. The results indicate a significant improvement in both contrast and resolution of the PA images enhanced by the MSR algorithm.