Computer imaging of the human brain promises to open new vistas for medical scientists
IF WILHELM Roentgen was to see a modern medical imaging laboratory today
too years after the first x-ray images
he would not recognise it. From
ultrasound to magnetic resonance
imaging machines, from PET (positron
emission tomography) scanners to
radionuclides, the range of devices used
today for probing the human body is
mind boggling. But one common
feature which all these machines share
is the extensive use of computers.
The probes used by these different
machines range from x-rays to gamma
rays, but the efficacy of the techniques
ties in the analysis of raw data done
by fast computers using sophisticated
algorithms.
Now a team of scientists at the
Washington University Medical School,
St Louis, us, is developing comput
programs which will rearrange an 14
of the brain made by magnetic re
nance imaging (MRI) to match a s
dard atlas image of the brain or na
versa. The boundaries and other 10
tures of the atlas can then be
onto the original image, thus provi
a modc by which doctors can
radiation therapy or even measurt
volume and shape of the br;
structures like the hippocart
(Science, Vol 269, September 8, 1995).
The mapping can be done by h
but that takes an enormous amoul
time and is unreliable. The existing
grams for this mapping, though u!
and fast, distort key features and de
The new approach is to allow the
image to 'flow' on a supercomputer
with 16,000 separate processors. The
image undergoes various transformations like stretching and shrinking,
while all the time preserving the basic
topology of the brain. It continues to
evolve until it matches the standard
image in the atlas.
While the technique is being
developed for use in medical imaging,
it could find extensive applications in
other areas like astronomy or materia
science. For instance, taking a raw
image (from the telescope) of an object
and mapping it onto a good reference
image could prove to be very useful for
astronomers.
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