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Overview
This book provides a review of image analysis techniques as they are applied in the field of diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine. Driven in part by the remarkable increase in computing power and its ready and inexpensive availability, this is a relatively new yet rapidly expanding field. Likewise, although the use of radionuclides for diagnosis and therapy has origins dating back almost to the discovery of natural radioactivity itself, radionuclide therapy and, in particular, targeted radionuclide therapy has only recently emerged as a promising approach for therapy of cancer and, to a lesser extent, other diseases. As effort has, therefore, been made to place the reviews provided in this book in a broader context. The effort to do this is reflected by the inclusion of introductory chapters that address basic principles of nuclear medicine imaging, followed by overview of issues that are closely related to quantitative nuclear imaging and its potential role in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
The different chapters discuss the basic principles and 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 (e.g. collimator response, attenuation, scatter, partial volume effect), and image reconstruction algorithms (analytic, iterative) as well as image processing and analysis techniques as their clinical and research applications in neurology, cardiology and oncology. Some algorithms are described and illustrated with some useful features and clinical applications. Other potential applications of quantitative image analysis such as image-guided radiation therapy are also discussed.
Synopsis
This book provides a review of image analysis techniques as they are applied in the field of diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine. Driven in part by the remarkable sophistication of nuclear medicine instrumentation and - crease in computing power and its ready and inexpensive availability, this is a relatively new yet rapidly expanding field. Likewise, although the use of nuclear imaging for diagnosis and therapy has origins dating back almost to the pioneering work of Dr G. de Hevesy, quantitative imaging has only recently emerged as a promising approach for diagnosis and therapy of many diseases. An effort has, therefore, been made to place the reviews provided in this book in a broader context. The effort to do this is reflected by the inclusion of introductory chapters that address basic principles of nuclear medicine instrumentation and dual-modality imaging, followed by overview of issues that are closely related to quantitative nuclear imaging and its potential role in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. A brief overview of each chapter is provided below. Chapter 1 presents a general overview of nuclear medicine imaging physics and instrumentation including planar scintigraphy, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). Nowadays, patients’ diagnosis and therapy is rarely done without the use of imaging technology. As such, imaging considerations are incorporated in almost every chapter of the book. The development of dual-modality - aging systems is an emerging research field, which is addressed in chapter 2.Editorials
Reviewer: Mark T. Madsen, PhD(University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics)
Description: This book provides a recent survey on quantitative techniques in nuclear medicine that includes planar, SPECT and PET imaging. It also provides details on specific applications of these methods especially related to radionuclide treatment planning.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide a review of the methods required for quantitative nuclear medicine imaging and therapy. Quantitative nuclear medicine is a very important, sophisticated, and rapidly progressing field and there is a need for a book that combines recent information on physical compensation techniques and multimodality image analysis with current clinical applications. This book does exactly that.
Audience: It is clearly written for image scientists and graduate students interested in radionuclide imaging. The book is technically complete and includes the integral equations required to model the physical imaging processes, tomographic reconstructions, and tracer kinetics. Dr. Zaidi is an expert in this field and he has gathered together an outstanding group of eminent scientists to write about these issues. Dr. Zaidi is not only the editor, but is also author or coauthor of 12 of the 18 chapters. This gives the book a pleasing continuity and accounts for the consistency in presentation and equations.
Features: The book begins with a comprehensive review of the physics and instrumentation used in single photon and PET imaging. The next section covers information that any serious image scientist working in the field needs to know, including image reconstruction techniques, attenuation, scatter and spatial resolution compensation, and tracer kinetic modeling. Image segmentation and the registration of radionuclide volumetric data with other modalities are also covered along with a very useful summary of Monte Carlo and mathematical phantom resources. The final section focuses on clinical and therapeutic applications. Too often PET dominates discussions of quantitative radionuclide imaging at the expense of SPECT, but in this book there is a very nice balance between these two radionuclide imaging modalities. There are 110 illustrations and each chapter has an abundance of relevant and recent references.
Assessment: This is an outstanding book and it certainly belongs in the library of any serious imaging scientist.