Optimized pap-smear image enhancement: hybrid Perona-Malik diffusion filter-CLAHE using spider monkey optimization

Pap-smear image quality is crucial for cervical cancer detection. This study introduces an optimized hybrid approach that combines the Perona-Malik diffusion (PMD) filter with contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) to enhance pap-smear image quality. The PMD filter reduces the image noise, whereas CLAHE improves the image contrast. The hybrid method was optimized using spider monkey optimization (SMO PMD-CLAHE). Blind/reference-less image spatial quality evaluator (BRISQUE) and contrast enhancement-based image quality (CEIQ) are the new objective functions for the PMD filter and CLAHE optimization, respectively. The simulations were conducted using the SIPaKMeD dataset. The results indicate that SMO outperforms state-of-the-art methods in optimizing the PMD filter and CLAHE. The proposed method achieved an average effective measure of enhancement (EME) of 5.45, root mean square (RMS) contrast of 60.45, Michelson’s contrast (MC) of 0.995, and entropy of 6.80. This approach offers a new perspective for improving pap-smear image quality.