TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control)
Vol 24, No 4: August 2026

Comparative evaluation of classical and machine learning methods for medical image enhancement

Md. Mehedi Hasan (University of Frontier Technology)
Sujon Chandra Sutradhar (University of Frontier Technology)
Zannatul Ferdushie (University of Frontier Technology)
Rabeya Basri (University of Frontier Technology)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Aug 2026

Abstract

Medical imaging is critical for diagnostic accuracy, yet raw images often suffer from noise and low contrast. This study provides a comparative evaluation of classical methods, namely the Laplace transform (LT), Sobel operator (SO), and histogram equalization (HE), against a data-driven convolutional neural network (CNN) using the musculoskeletal radiographs (MURA) and Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) lung computed tomography (CT) datasets. While quantitative analysis shows that HE and SO significantly outperform other methods in isolated contrast enhancement and edge definition, they often introduce artifacts. In contrast, the CNN based approach demonstrates superior detail preservation and entropy, offering a more balanced and adaptive solution for diverse diagnostic requirements. Our findings statistically validate that although classical operators remain highly effective for specific boundary detection tasks, machine learning (ML) frameworks provide the most robust performance for cross-modality image enhancement, bridging the gap between raw data acquisition and clinical interpretation.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

TELKOMNIKA

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT

Description

Submitted papers are evaluated by anonymous referees by single blind peer review for contribution, originality, relevance, and presentation. The Editor shall inform you of the results of the review as soon as possible, hopefully in 10 weeks. Please notice that because of the great number of ...