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3.4 MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING AND ITS ROLE 47

FIG. 3.3
(A) Original image [12], (B) contrast-improved version, and (C) segmented version.

image processing techniques where a soft computing technique [13] is used to segment an MRI brain
image that is first contrast-improved with the local region-based enhanced technique [14].
Nowadays, the size and dimensionality of healthcare data has increased tremendously. This results
in a high-level complexity in understanding the dependencies among the data [15]. Manually analyzing
data with this much complexity is unfeasible. The rapid increase in the number of healthcare organi-
zations as well as the number of patients undergoing treatment has increased the need for computer-
aided diagnostic models. These models are considered to be efficient if the embedded image processing
algorithms are able to produce an optimal analysis result. The incorporation of such techniques with
suitable care has helped clinicians advance diagnostic accuracy [15]. The integration of medical images