FUNDAMENTALS
OF MEDICAL IMAGING
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
This full-day
course is intended to introduce the fundamentals of medical imaging to
engineers and physicists that have no experience in this field. The class begins with a brief overview of the
various technologies used to obtain medical images. The focus then shifts to in-depth
descriptions of individual techniques.
Beginning with the fundamentals of tomographic reconstruction, this
presentation is followed by one-hour discussions of the medical imaging
modalities of X-ray CT,
single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission
mammography (PET), and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Emphasis will be placed on the underlying
physical principles, instrument design, performance criteria, and clinical
applications.
No prior
knowledge of medical imaging techniques or computed tomography is assumed;
however, the course does assume an understanding of physics, elementary
radiation detection and measurement techniques, and a basic understanding of
Fourier analysis. The registration fee
includes refreshments and lunch, a copy of the lecture notes, and a certificate
of completion.
TOPICS AND
COURSE OUTLINE:
- Overview
- Why are there so many medical imaging techniques
- Basic principles of commonly used techniques
- Advantages and disadvantages of commonly used
techniques
- New, emerging techniques
- Tomographic Image Reconstruction
- X-ray CT
- CT fundamentals
- Major components and designs
- Key performance parameters
- Image Artifacts and corrections
- Helical CT
- Multi-slice CT
- Recent advancement in clinical applications
- SPECT
- Overview and fundamentals
- Collimator systems – the resolution / efficiency
tradeoff
- Electronically collimated SPECT
- Photon detector and camera systems
- Image reconstruction methods
- Corrections for gamma-ray attenuation and Compton
scattering
- Clinical uses
- PET
- Fundamentals of PET
- Conventional detector design and evaluation
- Alternate detector designs
- Attenuation correction methods
- Effects of Compton-scatter
- Radiotracer selection
- Clinical uses
- MRI
- Basic NMR physics – Larmor
and Bloch equations
- Roles of magnetic fields for MRI (static, gradient,
RF)
- Derivation of pulse sequences
- Sampling, field-of-view, and resolution issues
- Image formation methods
STAFF:
Neal Clinthorne, University of
Michigan. Neal is a Scientist in the Nuclear
Medicine/Radiology. His research
interests include SPECT, PET, X-ray CT,
and optical imaging instrumentation, and image reconstruction techniques.
Jeff Fessler, University of Michigan. Jeff is an
Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Department, the Biomedical Engineering department, and in Nuclear Medicine /
Radiology. He currently serves as
Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. His primary
research focus is on the statistical aspects of imaging problems, and he has
supervised graduate student research in PET, SPECT, X-ray
CT, MRI, and optical imaging problems.
Jiang Hsieh,
General Electric Medical Systems. Jiang
is a Chief Scientist in the Applied Science Laboratory. His primary research interests include
pre-processing, image reconstruction, post-processing, and advanced clinical
applications of CT. His research
interests also include various aspects of SPECT imaging.
William W. Moses, Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory. Bill is a Senior
Staff Scientist in the Center for Functional Imaging. His research interests include PET
instrumentation development and the study of scintillation mechanisms.