Thank you to the following supporters of ICASSP 2007
Habib Zaidi, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
This tutorial represents a complete and balanced review of the subject having a broad scope and coverage of quantitative analysis of molecular medical images, which is growing in importance both for clinical and research applications. The seminar begins with an introduction to various medical imaging modalities followed by a detailed examination of the fundamental concepts of quantitative image analysis techniques as they are applied in diagnostic and therapeutic molecular imaging using conventional single-modality instrumentation and dual-modality imaging devices. It covers the entire range of molecular imaging from basic principles to various steps required for obtaining quantitatively accurate data from nuclear medicine images including data collection methods and algorithms used to correct them for physical degrading factors, and image reconstruction algorithms (analytic, iterative) as well as image processing and analysis techniques as their clinical and research applications. Impact of physical degrading factors including collimator response (in SPECT), attenuation of photons and contribution from photons scattered in the patient and partial volume effect on diagnostic quality and quantitative accuracy of medical images will be discussed. Computer implementations of dedicated software packages and their clinical and research applications are described and illustrated with some useful features and examples. Various subjective and objective quantitative assessment of image quality will be presented including well-known figures of merit. A detailed description of analytical and Monte Carlo modelling of imaging systems, the functionality of computer codes widely used and development of anthropomorphic mathematical and voxel-based phantoms will be provided together with their potential in qualitative and quantitative assessment of image quality. Prospective future applications of quantitative molecular imaging are also addressed especially its use prior to therapy for dose distribution modelling and optimisation of treatment volumes in external radiation therapy and patient-specific 3D dosimetry in targeted therapy towards the concept of image-guided radiation therapy.
The tutorial is intended for imaging scientists, researchers, biomedical engineers for professional development, and graduate students in science, medical and engineering faculties, medical physics, and biomedical engineering specialties. It is recommended for those having experience in other areas of image processing and interested in embarking in medical applications or scientist with prior experience in medical imaging with interest in learning about new developments in the area of quantitative imaging procedures. A manifold of quantitative medical imaging techniques will be presented within a unified framework and illustrated with examples encompassing clinical and research applications, which should be of interest for both the academic researcher and the specialist in industrial R&D.
Dr. Habib Zaidi is senior physicist and head of the PET Instrumentation & Neuroimaging Laboratory at Geneva University Hospital and is senior faculty member as Privat-Docent (PD) at the department of Radiology of Geneva University. He received a Ph.D. in medical physics from Geneva University for a dissertation on Monte Carlo modelling and scatter correction in positron emission tomography. Dr. Zaidi is actively involved in developing imaging solutions for cutting-edge biomedical research and clinical diagnosis in addition to lecturing graduate and postgraduate courses on medical physics and medical imaging. His multidisciplinary research centre on modelling medical imaging systems using the Monte Carlo method, dosimetry, image correction, reconstruction and quantification techniques in emission tomography as well as statistical image analysis in functional brain imaging, and more recently on novel design of dedicated high-resolution PET scanners in collaboration within the Computed Imaging for Medical Applications (CIMA) collaboration hosted by CERN. He was guest editor for a special issue of Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine dedicated to medical image segmentation and serves as associate editor for Medical Physics, the International Journal of Biomedical Imaging and the International Journal of Tomography & Statistics. He is also a member of the editorial board of Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine and the International Journal of Nuclear Medicine, regional Editor for Electronic Medical Physics News, a publication of the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP), and scientific reviewer for leading journals in medical physics, nuclear medicine and scientific computing. He is senior member of the IEEE and Vice Chair of the professional relations committee of the IOMP in addition to being affiliated to several International medical physics and nuclear medicine organisations. He is involved in the evaluation of research proposals for European and International granting organisations and participates in the organisation of International symposia and top conferences as member of scientific committees. His academic accomplishments in the area of quantitative PET imaging have been well recognized by the medical imaging community at large since he is recipient of many awards and distinctions among which the prestigious 2003 Young Investigator Medical Imaging Science Award given by the Nuclear Medical and Imaging Sciences Technical Committee (NMISTC) of the IEEE to a young investigator in recognition of significant and innovative technical contributions to the field of medical imaging science and the 2004 Mark Tetalman Memorial Award given by the Society of Nuclear Medicine based on research accomplishments, teaching, clinical service, administration; service to the Society and a commitment to academic nuclear medicine. Dr. Zaidi has been an invited speaker of many keynote lectures at an International level, has authored over 130 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters and is the editor of two textbooks on therapeutic applications of Monte Carlo calculations in nuclear medicine and quantitative analysis in nuclear medicine imaging.