Medical imaging is an integral part of modern clinical practice. Even though there are various imaging modalities, the physical principles are invariant. This book emphasizes these physical principles, which are used to elicit the biomedical signal, its characteristics and how it is analyzed to generate images and make measurements. In other words, this book deals with both the signal and the subsequent image reconstruction. Of course, the signals (and images) depend upon the physiology of the tissue/organ being investigated.
In terms of signal generation, part one of the book covers X-rays, ultrasound, positron emission tomography, and nuclear magnetic resonance methods. In part two, the author deals with how image reconstruction techniques are applied to the signal to generate the image—these include methods based on timing, back projection and Fourier. There are very good discussions of image reconstruction principles as well as other topics such as contrast enhancement, perfusion imagery, metabolic imaging and so forth (Part 3).
One thing that the book does not do is get bogged down in details of hardware—technology changes rapidly and I believe the author did the right thing by not including discussions of hardware (or software implementation). The interested reader, armed with the basics can venture out into these areas.
The well-illustrated book is written in simple language that is suitable for either an introductory course or for self-study. The math and physics prerequisites are rather minimal and well within the skill set of a typical undergraduate sophomore- or junior-level engineering student. Where needed, the relevant physiology is introduced. A variety of real-life examples are given, and each chapter has a number of exercises (with solutions) as well as a short bibliography at the end of the chapter. If I were to teach an introductory semester-long course in medical imaging, this book would be my primary choice.
Review by Vengu Lakshminarayanan, University of Waterloo, Canada
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.