Medical Imaging
Medical Imaging
MIAAI - Medical Image Analysis & Artificial Intelligence
Medical imaging comprises a variety of different modalities such as mammography, computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and is used for diagnostic purposes, as the basis for treatment decisions, for planning and performing medical interventions such as surgery and radiotherapy and for research purposes.
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Medical image analysis involves the study of 2D and 3D image data sets obtained from the human body using the above modalities. A prominent feature of medical imaging is that it provides a detailed but non-invasive examination of human anatomy and physiology and reveals pathological changes. Imaging is thus an integral part of medical diagnostics and essential for therapy planning in a wide range of diseases.
For the routine clinical evaluation and reporting of medical imaging, usually only individual quantitative measurements (e.g. tumour diameter in one or two planes) and a qualitative image assessment are recorded. However, detailed assessments of the image content (such as the exact volume of a tumour and its appearance on the different imaging modalities) could provide important information about the disease. With current technology, such detailed quantitative evaluation is very time-consuming and therefore not integrated into routine clinical care.
However, systematic quantitative image analysis would enable capturing relevant disease characteristics that could be integrated into intelligent clinical decision-making systems, and thus simplify and improve diagnostics and treatment planning.