Abstract
Images are everywhere in Biology and Medicine. The physician, the surgeon, and the biologist use them on a routine basis. Their importance is recognized for numerous reasons. 3-D images allow better morphological and functional assessment of the anatomy and the physiology of the human body to be performed. 3-D imaging is a powerful tool for diagnosis (detection, characterization, quantification of lesions, estimation of blood flow, functional assessment, etc.) and therapy (3-D localization, volume computation, surgical planning, etc.). A thorough checkup of a patient can now be performed by means of different imaging modalities. Many believe that echography is the stethoscope of tomorrow. Even palpation could be made through an imaging technique, like the recently reported Magnetic Resonance Elastography approach, which can be used to study and visualize strain-wave propagation within objects or material.
Images play a key role in Biology. They are crucial in the analysis of a wide variety of biological materials ranging from tissues to macromolecules. The definitive advantage of imaging is its accuracy and the diversity of vision systems operating at various resolutions up to the atomic level. 3-D reconstructed images in Electron Microscopy, for example, offer the only way of seeing isolated DNA molecules.
Looking backward over the major achievements in the field of Medical Imaging, it is clear that technological advances have been made possible only under specific conditions, when sufficient multidisciplinary competences have been brought together. The invention of the Computed Tomography scanner in the late 60s is a success story of a neuroradiologist (J. Ambrose) and a physicist (G.N. Hounsfield). A physician (R.V. Damadian) was the first to think that Nuclear Magnetic Resonance could be used for medical imaging purposes. But MRI became a reality when P.C. Lauterbur, a physicist, solved the localization problem in the mid-70s using magnetic field gradients.
Today, the main challenges still consist in developing integrated applications in a clinical environment. Designing, implementing and validating complex systems necessitates medical knowledge, in depth involvement of clinical partners, basic and applied technological research. Multidisciplinarity is the key to success. Education and training are necessary too.
This book is intended to provide a convenient reference for the results and current trends in the field of Biomedical Imaging. It brings together in one volume eleven chapters concerning the different aspects of this field in terms of basic engineering issues (reconstruction, visualization, segmentation, texture, modeling, interpretation, and fusion) and biological and medical issues (the study of macromolecules, X-ray imaging, ultrasound imaging, computed tomography, emission computed tomography, surgery, morphology, anthropometrics, forensic science, computer integrated surgery and therapy, and clinical evaluation).
A review of the general approach and major applications is provided in the introductory chapter. The other topics are addressed in dedicated chapters written by leading European researchers in Biomedical Imaging. We believe that they provide the reader with up-to-date, state-of-the-art knowledge on current and emerging areas. The appendix presents an accessible survey of differential geometry.
We are especially grateful to the authors of the different chapters who enthusiastically joined in with the edition of this book and who have provided an excellent and recent analysis and view of their own scientific field. We are also deeply indebted to co-workers, collaborators and doctoral researchers of the Laboratoire de Traitement du Signal et de l' Image, the department of Image et Traitement de l'Information and of the Laboratoire de Traitement de l'Information Médicale, who are responsible for significant contributions to the first chapter.
This book would not have been made without the initiative of Dr E. Fredriksson, Director, IOS Press. The help of Drs Brinkman and Hermsen, assistant publishers, IOS Press is also acknowledged, as well as the contribution of Janet Ormrod, ENST de Bretagne, who carefully proofread part of the manuscript.
Brest and Rennes, Brittany, France. November 1996
Christian Roux and Jean-Louis Coatrieux
Dedicace
To Claire, Benoît, Etienne and François, Christian Roux
To my loved ones, Jean-Louis Coatrieux