ABSTRACT
Medical imaging is a fundamental component of modern health care, used widely for patient diagnosis and treatment applications. Virtually every healthcare clinical discipline depends on imaging informatics. This chapter describes various imaging modalities, image formation techniques, image analysis techniques, image archiving and retrieval techniques, image segmentation techniques and the application of these techniques for cancer detection, specifically breast cancer detection. Medical imaging measurements can be from X-rays, ultrasound, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging and other modes. Computed tomography offers good soft-tissue contrast and resolution and is used in orthopedics, including imaging of the protrusion of vertebral discs, complex joints such as the hip or shoulder, etc. Ultrasonic imaging was developed as an extension to SONAR, which sends out a high-pitched sound pulse into the ocean, and measures the time taken to travel after reflection by an obstructing object. Nuclear medicine involves the diagnostic and therapeutic use of liquid radionuclides.
