Medical imaging

Medical imaging refers to the application of imaging techniques and devices to living things.

Medical imaging may be "clinical", seeking to diagnose and examine disease in specific human patients (see pathology). Alternatively, it may be research-motivated, attempting to understand processes in humans or animal models.

Medical imaging techniques include, among others:

• radiography
• fluoroscopy
• computed axial tomography (CT)
• ultrasound
• magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• nuclear medicine, and
• positron emission tomography
• elastography
• opto acoustic imaging
• positron emission tomography
• diffuse optical tomography

Mathematically speaking, medical imaging usually involves the solution of Inverse Problems. This means that we infer cause (in this case properties of living tissue) from effect. The effect in this case is the response to being probed by various means. e.g. In case of ultrasound the probe is high frequency sound, in the case of radiography (Xray) the probe is Gamma (?) radiation.

See also:

• Medical test
• Medical examination