Computers in Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine Imaging - A Review

Digital computers are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of purposes in nuclear medicine. They are particuiarly useful in the areas of nuclear imaging and gamma camera image processing,radionuclide inventory and patient record keeping. By far the most important use of the digital computer is in array processors which are commonly available with emission computed systems for fast reconstruction of images in transverse, coronal and sagittal views, particularly when the data to be handled is enormous and involves filtration and correction processes. The addition of array processors to computer systems has helped the clinicians in improving diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging capability. This paper reviews briefly therole of computers in the field of nuclear medicine imaging

Focal Spot, Winter 1983

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/focal_spot_archives/1033/thumbnail.jp

Exploring the relationship between the Engineering and Physical Sciences and the Health and Life Sciences by advanced bibliometric methods

We investigate the extent to which advances in the health and life sciences (HLS) are dependent on research in the engineering and physical sciences (EPS), particularly physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering. The analysis combines two different bibliometric approaches. The first approach to analyze the 'EPS-HLS interface' is based on term map visualizations of HLS research fields. We consider 16 clinical fields and five life science fields. On the basis of expert judgment, EPS research in these fields is studied by identifying EPS-related terms in the term maps. In the second approach, a large-scale citation-based network analysis is applied to publications from all fields of science. We work with about 22,000 clusters of publications, each representing a topic in the scientific literature. Citation relations are used to identify topics at the EPS-HLS interface. The two approaches complement each other. The advantages of working with textual data compensate for the limitations of working with citation relations and the other way around. An important advantage of working with textual data is in the in-depth qualitative insights it provides. Working with citation relations, on the other hand, yields many relevant quantitative statistics. We find that EPS research contributes to HLS developments mainly in the following five ways: new materials and their properties; chemical methods for analysis and molecular synthesis; imaging of parts of the body as well as of biomaterial surfaces; medical engineering mainly related to imaging, radiation therapy, signal processing technology, and other medical instrumentation; mathematical and statistical methods for data analysis. In our analysis, about 10% of all EPS and HLS publications are classified as being at the EPS-HLS interface. This percentage has remained more or less constant during the past decade

Cardiovascular instrumentation for spaceflight

The observation mechanisms dealing with pressure, flow, morphology, temperature, etc. are discussed. The approach taken in the performance of this study was to (1) review ground and space-flight data on cardiovascular function, including earlier related ground-based and space-flight animal studies, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and recent bed-rest studies, (2) review cardiovascular measurement parameters required to assess individual performance and physiological alternations during space flight, (3) perform an instrumentation survey including a literature search as well as personal contact with the applicable investigators, (4) assess instrumentation applicability with respect to the established criteria, and (5) recommend future research and development activity. It is concluded that, for the most part, the required instrumentation technology is available but that mission-peculiar criteria will require modifications to adapt the applicable instrumentation to a space-flight configuration

Computer- and robot-assisted Medical Intervention

Medical robotics includes assistive devices used by the physician in order to make his/her diagnostic or therapeutic practices easier and more efficient. This chapter focuses on such systems. It introduces the general field of Computer-Assisted Medical Interventions, its aims, its different components and describes the place of robots in that context. The evolutions in terms of general design and control paradigms in the development of medical robots are presented and issues specific to that application domain are discussed. A view of existing systems, on-going developments and future trends is given. A case-study is detailed. Other types of robotic help in the medical environment (such as for assisting a handicapped person, for rehabilitation of a patient or for replacement of some damaged/suppressed limbs or organs) are out of the scope of this chapter.Comment: Handbook of Automation, Shimon Nof (Ed.) (2009) 000-00

NASA Image Processing Technology Applied to Medicine: Ten Unsolved Problems in Medical Imaging

The solutions to current diagnostic imaging problems will be found, at least in part, in digital image processing technology developed by NASA. The adaptation of appropriate technology that can be applied clinically to improve the care of patients is a major concern of radiologists. We have considered ten problems with clinical significance in diagnostic medical imaging, and discuss the impact of NASA image processing technology presently and predict future developments in this area

Focal Spot, Spring 1998

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/focal_spot_archives/1078/thumbnail.jp

Focal Spot, Spring 1990

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/focal_spot_archives/1054/thumbnail.jp