Biomedical Imaging [ Active ]

Preface

The field of medical imaging has been revolutionized by advances in computing technologies and systems resulting in new and expanded image systems finding their way into the medical environment. These systems now range from those devoted to planar imaging using x-rays to technologies that are just emerging, such as virtual reality.

Consider the following:

• Some of the systems, such as ultrasound, are relatively inexpensive, while others, such as positron emission tomography (PET) facilities, cost millions of dollars for the hardware and the employment of Ph.D.-level personnel to operate them.

• Systems that make use of x-rays have been designed to image anatomic structures, while others that make use of radioisotopes provide functional information.

• The fields of view that can be imaged range from the whole body obtained with nuclear medicine bone scans to images of cellular components using magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy.

• The designs of transducers for the imaging devices to the postprocessing of the data to allow easier interpretation of the images by medical personnel are all aspects of the medical imaging devices field.

Because of the importance of this field, Biomedical Imaging has been developed taking the most relevant sections to this important topic from the second edition of The Biomedical Engineering Handbook published by CRC Press in 2000.

The handbook begins with a section on physiologic systems, edited by Robert Plonsey, that provides an excellent overview of human systems. In this way biomedical engineers engaged in medical imaging can better understand the utilization of various imaging modalities to provide information regarding structure and physiologic function. The physiologic systems covered include cardiovascular, nervous, vision, auditory, respiratory, endocrine, and gastrointestinal.

The primary editor of Biomedical Imaging, Dr. Karen Mudry, then provides an overview of the main medical imaging devices as well as some of the emerging systems. The topics include x-ray, computed tomographic (CT) systems, magnetic resonance imaging, SPECT systems, ultrasound, and virtual reality, among others.