1. Medical Image Processing Studies:
Current Research in Biomedicine
Method of finding projects was to type in “image/signal processing” into several search engines and sift through the hits to find interesting/relevant topics

2. Research Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison Univ. of Minnesota
ECG Compression using Signal Processing
Univ. of Minnesota
Magnetic resonance imaging based on blood oxygen level dependent contrast
New type of magnetic resonance imaging based on detection of image contrast determined by local varations in magnetic field
Takes advantage of non-spatially uniform magnetization
Animation of MRI:
Univ. of Wisconsin: MATH
ECG waveforms are signals measured from heart, providing essential info to cardiologist … normally 24-hr recording is desirable to detect abnormalities, compression is needed for storage… use percent-root-mean-square difference – crucial requirement is not to distort the diagnostic info used by the physician
Their technique compresses the data by discarding relatively insignificant information
Univ. of Minnesota:
Used to generate functional images in human brain
BOLD relies on magnetic field inhomogeneity generated when blood contains deoxyhemoglobin
deoxyhemoglobin is generated when oxygen is used by cells in body, it is paramagnetic, therefore properties differ from the magnetic properties of tissue surrounding the blood vessels containing deoxyhemoglobin… this provides magnetic field gradients across the boundaries of the blood vessels
For animation slides:
Head of subject rendered as opaque volume, followed by the skull changing from translucent to transparent to show activation on cerebral cortex
Using translucent opacity for the brain, while maintaining activation as opaque, 3d structure is illustrated
Cerebrum fades out to leave only cerebellum, which is then replicated into 2 cerebellums, showing difference between subject completing difficult v. simple task

3. More Research…
Stanford Univ. – Center for Advanced Medical Informatics
Spinal Image Fusion Project
Benefits: Improve diagnostic accuracy of spinal imaging techniques, improve outcome of existing treatments for patients with severe spinal disorders
Semi-Automated Editing of Medical Images
Benefits: Expedite editing process, save expensive radiologist time
3D Reconstruction of Blood Vessels from MR Angiograms
Benefits: Classify MRA data into vessel & surrounding-tissue categories, then implementation of program to test segmentation methods
Stanford U:
Spinal Image Fusion Project:
Enhance diagnostic capability of CT & MRI in area of spinal disorders
Surgeons need to be able to visualize spatial relationships among various soft & hard tissue types associated with vertebrae next to disks & nerves
Goal: generate automatically fused images of cervical spine by using retrospective registration technique
Semi-automated Editing of Medical Images:
3d reconstruction procedure using edited images to generate clear displays of selected organs, minimizing editing time by the radiologist
Algorithm: segmentation of all images, search procedure to find segments w/I sequence of images that belong to same organ
3D Reconstruction of Blood Vessels from MR Angiograms:
Recent CT & MR angiography tech. Have provided 3d observations of vascular structures without arterial catheterization, but these images are often noisy …
Developing methods that segment vessels using direction & magnitude of blood-flow velocity

4. Research cont… Yale University Univ. of Michigan
Segmentation of Anatomical Structure
Measurement of Cortex from 3D MR Images
Boundary finding with Correspondence
Univ. of Michigan
Elasticity Imaging
Can noninvasively detect kidney transplant rejection
1st project: quantitative analysis helps in understanding of brain anatomy & function, can be done by extracting structure & obtaining representation for various measurements
Manual segmentation tedious and intensive, automatic segmentation is not developed fully yet
Their solution: (taking into account the nearly constant thickness of the cortical mantle) evolve two embedded surfaces simultaneously, final representation and automatic segmentation can occur:
Cortical surface area, surface curvature, and cortical thickness can be then evaluated
Boundary finding: Based on prior knowledge and edge info. Of input image, used to find the boundary with subset points in correspondence w/ boundaries.
Univ. of Michigan:
New diagnostic modality to detect abnormalities in organs by using sensitive ultrasound speckle tracking procedures, controlled surface deformations and quantitative reconstruction algorithms – provide info. About mechanical properties of internal organs, such as kidney elasticity which can indicate renal damage - Can noninvasively detect kidney transplant rejection

5. More research… University of Alberta, CA
Medical Imaging Group
Acquiring & manipulation of image data for rehabilitation of scoliosis patients
To see an example of the imaging:
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging
Signal Processing Society
Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society
This group works mainly at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in N. Edmonton, task is to acquire & manipulate image data for the rehabilitation of scoliosis patients

6. Programs in Image Processing:
Magnetic Resonance User Interface
Matlab based Graphical User Interface software
Uses time domain signals, then FT for interpreting data and quantitation results
NASA’s Langley Research Center:
Retinex Image Processing
Graphical interface for the processing of in vivo MR data in time domain – eliminates limitations associated with Fourier Transformation methodologies
Frequency selective filtering of signals, correction of artifacts, and quantitation by fitting peaks in spectrum

7. More programs… TRACEE Factor Analysis of Dynamic Structures
Unix-based image processing environment
Includes visualization & analysis tools
Factor Analysis of Dynamic Structures
Benefits: Technicians spared time drawing regions of interest around organs; computational speed, increased accuracy (speculatory)
Fully automated method of identifying and extracting overlaying structure in medical image sequences, mostly used for time series
Uses temporal info to discriminate between structure which correspond to organ or other compartment in body
Technique: Performing principal components analysis on pop. Of time-activity curve obtained from each pixel in the image… mathematical transformation

8. Interesting websites Westminster Dept. of Electrical Systems
CMSA Filter Designer -
Signal Processing Information Database
News of Diagnostic Imaging
Center for Imaging Science
Choose a cut-off freq, and desired filter, and it designs digital filter & draws the frequency response

9. More cool stuff… Medical Image Analysis Online
www3.oup.co.uk/mediaj/
Bio-Imaging Research, Inc.
Information about CT scans, ultrasound imaging, MRIs, and more

10. Test Images Penn State University’s Electrical Engineering Dept.
Multidimensional Image Processing
Computer Vision Test Images