The unprecedented potential of nanotechnology for early detection, diagnosis, and personalized treatment of diseases has found application in every biomedical imaging modality. However, with the increasing concern about the ethical and toxicity issues associated with some "nanoplatforms," biomedical researchers are in pursuit of safer, more precise, and effective ways to practice nanomedicine. Designed and written to be accessible to anyone, with or without previous knowledge of nanotechnology, Nanomedicine: A Soft Matter Perspective takes a balanced look at potential pitfalls and challenges faced by the field and how they can be translated into nonomedicine technologies. A multidisciplinary and fast-evolving research area, nanomedicine presents new clinically relevant promises grounded in the disciplines of molecular biology, genomics, chemistry, and nanotechnology. Nanoparticle-based theranostic approaches have emerged as an interdisciplinary area, which shows promise to understand the components, processes, dynamics, and therapies of a disease at a molecular level. This book discusses some of the unique opportunities presented by biomaterials at the nanoscale. The book provides a broad introduction to the areas of nanomedicinal application with an emphasis on imaging and therapeutics. It covers "soft" nanoscopic objects with prerequisite features for different imaging modalities with a potential for image-guided drug delivery. The book also offers a general introduction to the various drug delivery systems and their opportunities from chemistry, materials, biology, and nanomedical standpoints. The chapters provide a comprehensive introduction to the field and the subfield, with a deeper discussion on the individual modalities for molecular imaging and their present status of clinical translation.

Regularization becomes an integral part of the reconstruction process in accelerated parallel magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI) due to the need for utilizing the most discriminative information in the form of parsimonious models to generate high quality images with reduced noise and artifacts. Apart from providing a detailed overview and implementation details of various pMRI reconstruction methods, Regularized image reconstruction in parallel MRI with MATLAB examples interprets regularized image reconstruction in pMRI as a means to effectively control the balance between two specific types of error signals to either improve the accuracy in estimation of missing samples, or speed up the estimation process. The first type corresponds to the modeling error between acquired and their estimated values. The second type arises due to the perturbation of k-space values in autocalibration methods or sparse approximation in the compressed sensing based reconstruction model. Features: Provides details for optimizing regularization parameters in each type of reconstruction. Presents comparison of regularization approaches for each type of pMRI reconstruction. Includes discussion of case studies using clinically acquired data. MATLAB codes are provided for each reconstruction type. Contains method-wise description of adapting regularization to optimize speed and accuracy. This book serves as a reference material for researchers and students involved in development of pMRI reconstruction methods. Industry practitioners concerned with how to apply regularization in pMRI reconstruction will find this book most useful.

This book introduces and reviews all of the currently available methods being used for computational electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis, from the fundamentals through to the state-of-the-art. The aim of the book is to help biomedical engineers and medical doctors who use EEG to better understand the methods and applications of computational EEG analysis from a single, well-organized resource. Following a brief introduction to the principles of EEG and acquisition techniques, the book is divided into two main sections. The first of these covers analysis methods, beginning with preprocessing, and then describing EEG spectral analysis, event-related potential analysis, source imaging and multimodal neuroimaging, and functional connectivity analysis. The following section covers application of EEG analysis to specific fields, including the diagnosis of psychiatric diseases and neurological disorders, brain-computer interfacing, and social neuroscience. Aimed at practicing medical specialists, engineers, researchers and advanced students, the book features contributions from world-renowned biomedical engineers working across a broad spectrum of computational EEG analysis techniques and EEG applications.

This popular text provides a comprehensive, yet accessible, introduction to the physics and technology of medical ultrasound, with high quality ultrasound images and diagrams throughout. Covering all aspects of the field at a level that meetings the requirements of accredited sonography courses, it is ideal for both trainee and qualified healthcare professionals practising ultrasound in a clinical setting. Building on the content of previous editions, this third edition provides the latest guidance relating to ultrasound technology, quality assurance and safety and discusses the latest techniques.

Bone is a complex biological material that consists of both an inorganic and organic phase, which undergoes continuous dynamic biological processes within the body. This complex structure and the need to acquire accurate data have resulted in a wide variety of methods applied in the physical analysis of bone in vivo and in vitro. Each method has its own strengths and applications depending on the information sought by the clinician or researcher. The Physical Measurement of Bone provides a detailed description of all the major methods of bone analysis, including brief comments on clinical evaluation. The physics of each method are introduced as well as a summary of practical procedures. The book is essential reading for practicing medical physicists and technicians who need to know about the many methods of bone analysis open to them, and, more importantly, the wide coverage provides a good introductory framework for students of medical physics and biomedical engineering.

Read an exclusive interview with Dr. Jerry Battista here. A critical element of radiation treatment planning for cancer is the accurate prediction and delivery of a tailored radiation dose distribution inside the patient. Megavoltage x-ray beams are aimed at the tumour, while collateral damage to nearby healthy tissue and organs is minimized. The key to optimal treatment therefore lies in adopting a trustworthy three-dimensional (3D) dose computation algorithm, which simulates the passage of both primary and secondary radiation throughout the exposed tissue. Edited by an award-winning university educator and pioneer in the field of voxel-based radiation dose computation, this book explores the physics and mathematics that underlie algorithms encountered in contemporary radiation oncology. It is an invaluable reference for clinical physicists who commission, develop, or test treatment planning software. This book also covers a core topic in the syllabus for educating graduate students and residents entering the field of clinical physics. This book starts with a historical perspective gradually building up to the three most important algorithms used for today's clinical applications. These algorithms can solve the same general radiation transport problem from three vantages: firstly, applying convolution-superposition principles (i.e. Green's method); secondly, the stochastic simulation of radiation particle interactions with tissue atoms (i.e. the Monte Carlo method); and thirdly, the deterministic solution of the fundamental equations for radiation fields of x-rays and their secondary particles (i.e. the Boltzmann method). It contains clear, original illustrations of key concepts and quantities thoughout, supplemented by metaphors and analogies to facilitate comprehension and retention of knowledge. Features: Edited by an authority in the field, enhanced with chapter contributions from physicists with clinical experience in the fields of computational dosimetry and dose optimization Contains examples of test phantom results and clinical cases, illustrating pitfalls to avoid in clinical applications to radiation oncology Introduces four-dimensional (4D) dose computation, on-line dose reconstruction, and dose accumulation that accounts for tissue displacements and motion throughout a course of radiation therapy

Use the GPU Successfully in Your Radiotherapy Practice With its high processing power, cost-effectiveness, and easy deployment, access, and maintenance, the graphics processing unit (GPU) has increasingly been used to tackle problems in the medical physics field, ranging from computed tomography reconstruction to Monte Carlo radiation transport simulation. Graphics Processing Unit-Based High Performance Computing in Radiation Therapy collects state-of-the-art research on GPU computing and its applications to medical physics problems in radiation therapy. Tackle Problems in Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy The book first offers an introduction to the GPU technology and its current applications in radiotherapy. Most of the remaining chapters discuss a specific application of a GPU in a key radiotherapy problem. These chapters summarize advances and present technical details and insightful discussions on the use of GPU in addressing the problems. The book also examines two real systems developed with GPU as a core component to accomplish important clinical tasks in modern radiotherapy. Translate Research Developments to Clinical Practice Written by a team of international experts in radiation oncology, biomedical imaging, computing, and physics, this book gets clinical and research physicists, graduate students, and other scientists up to date on the latest in GPU computing for radiotherapy. It encourages you to bring this novel technology to routine clinical radiotherapy practice.

When Professor J.E. Roberts was first employed at the then Cancer Hospital (Free) in 1932, the words medical and physics were rarely joined together. Meandering in Medical Physics presents an account of Professor Roberts's experiences in professional life, both in the United Kingdom and overseas. It documents the early history of medical physics and provides insight into the very basic equipment and working conditions well known to hospital physicists not long ago. Enhanced by archived photographs from the British Institute of Radiology, the book will entertain, enlighten, and educate.

Achieving Quality in Brachytherapy addresses the main issues that often prevent correct delivery of brachytherapy treatment. The book explains how to set up a functional quality assurance program in brachytherapy and covers all the steps needed to undertake particular treatment plans, from the initial planning required to the detailed specification. It highlights the importance of planning as a means of controlling and dealing with errors during the treatment process and advises on what to check and how to check during treatment to ensure effective quality assurance. This comprehensive reference is ideal for professionals working in brachytherapy, physics, and radiation oncology, and serves as an introduction for trainees with an undergraduate degree in medical physics or clinical radiation oncology.

Linear Accelerators for Radiation Therapy, Second Edition focuses on the fundamentals of accelerator systems, explaining the underlying physics and the different features of these systems. This edition includes expanded sections on the treatment head, on x-ray production via multileaf and dynamic collimation for the production of wedged and other intensity modulated beams, on electron scattering systems, and on dosimetry. With high-quality illustrations and practical examples throughout, it contains a detailed description of electron beam optics and linear accelerator components. The final chapter explains how to use other equipment, such as scanners and simulators, in conjunction with linear accelerators for optimum treatment of cancers.

With the development of rapidly increasing medical imaging modalities and their applications, the need for computers and computing in image generation, processing, visualization, archival, transmission, modeling, and analysis has grown substantially. Computers are being integrated into almost every medical imaging system. Medical Image Analysis and Informatics demonstrates how quantitative analysis becomes possible by the application of computational procedures to medical images. Furthermore, it shows how quantitative and objective analysis facilitated by medical image informatics, CBIR, and CAD could lead to improved diagnosis by physicians. Whereas CAD has become a part of the clinical workflow in the detection of breast cancer with mammograms, it is not yet established in other applications. CBIR is an alternative and complementary approach for image retrieval based on measures derived from images, which could also facilitate CAD. This book shows how digital image processing techniques can assist in quantitative analysis of medical images, how pattern recognition and classification techniques can facilitate CAD, and how CAD systems can assist in achieving efficient diagnosis, in designing optimal treatment protocols, in analyzing the effects of or response to treatment, and in clinical management of various conditions. The book affirms that medical imaging, medical image analysis, medical image informatics, CBIR, and CAD are proven as well as essential techniques for health care.

The discipline of rehabilitation engineering draws on a wide range of specialist knowledge, from the biomedical sciences to materials technology. Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation provides broad background and motivational material to ease readers' introduction to the subject. The book begins with a wide-ranging yet concise introduction to the legislative, technological, testing, and design basis of rehabilitation engineering, followed by the fundamentals of design and materials and a full account of the biomechanics of rehabilitation. Major sections of the book are devoted to various aspects of mobility, including detailed discussion of wheelchair design. Valuable additional material deals with seating, prosthetic devices, robotics, and the often-neglected subject of recreational devices and vehicles. More than a thousand references to the research and review literature put readers in touch with the leading edge of a rapidly growing field.

Prepare for success on the ARRT exam and in the practice of radiography! Essentials of Radiographic Physics and Imaging, 3rd Edition follows the ASRT recommended curriculum and focuses on what the radiographer needs to understand to safely and competently perform radiographic examinations. This comprehensive text gives you a foundational understanding of basic physics principles such as atom structure, electricity and magnetism, and electromagnetic radiation. It then covers imaging principles, radiation production and characteristics, digital image quality, imaging equipment, digital image acquisition and display, image analysis, and more- linking physics to the daily practice of radiographers. New for the third edition is updated information on radiation classifications, a shift in focus to SI units, and a thoroughly updated chapter on Fluoroscopic Imaging. UPDATED! Content reflects the newest standards outlined by the ARRT and ASRT, providing you with the information you needed to pass the boards. Chapter Review Questions at the end of every chapter allow you to evaluate how well you have mastered the material in each chapter. Critical Thinking Questions at the end of every chapter offer opportunity for review and greater challenge. Critical Concept boxes further explain and emphasize key points in the chapters. Radiation Protection callout boxes help you understand the ethical obligations to minimize radiation dosages, shielding, time and distance, how to limit the field of exposure and what that does to minimize dose, and technical factors and how they affect the primary beam and image quality. More than 400 photos and line drawings encourage you to visualize important concepts. Strong pedagogy, including chapter objectives, key terms, outlines, bulleted chapter summaries, and specialty boxes, help you to organize information and focus on what is most important in each chapter. An emphasis on the practical information highlights just what you need to know to ace the ARRT exam and become a competent practitioner. Numerous critique exercises teach you how to evaluate the quality of radiographic images and determine which factors produce poor images. NEW! A shift in focus to SI units aligns with international system of measurement. UPDATED Information regarding radiation classifications helps you to understand radiation levels. NEW! Inclusion of advances in digital imaging helps familiarize you with state-of-the-art images. NEW and UPDATED! Expanded Digital Fluoroscopy chapter, familiarizes you with the equipment you will encounter.

Implement TMR with Your Patients and Improve Their Quality of Life Developed by Dr. Todd A. Kuiken and Dr. Gregory A. Dumanian, targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) is a new approach to accessing motor control signals from peripheral nerves after amputation and providing sensory feedback to prosthesis users. This practical approach has many advantages over other neural-machine interfaces for the improved control of artificial limbs. Targeted Muscle Reinnervation: A Neural Interface for Artificial Limbs provides a template for the clinical implementation of TMR and a resource for further research in this new area of science. After describing the basic scientific concepts and key principles underlying TMR, the book presents surgical approaches to transhumeral and shoulder disarticulation amputations. It explores the possible role of TMR in the prevention and treatment of end-neuromas and details the principles of rehabilitation, prosthetic fitting, and occupational therapy for TMR patients. The book also describes transfer sensation and discusses the surgical and functional outcomes of the first several TMR patients. It concludes with emerging research on using TMR to further improve the function and quality of life for people with limb loss. With contributions from renowned leaders in the field, including Drs. Kuiken and Dumanian, this book is a useful guide to implementing TMR in patients with high-level upper limb amputations. It also supplies the foundation to enable improvements in TMR techniques and advances in prosthetic technology.

The Physics of Conformal Radiotherapy: Advances in Technology provides a thorough overview of conformal radiotherapy and biological modeling, focusing on the underlying physics and methodology of three-dimensional techniques in radiation therapy. This carefully written, authoritative account evaluates three-dimensional treatment planning, optimization, photon multileaf collimation, proton therapy, transit dosimetry, intensity-modulation techniques, and biological modeling. It is an invaluable teaching guide and reference for all medical physicists and radiation oncologists/therapists that use conformal radiotherapy.

CI Techniques & Algorithms for a Variety of Medical Imaging SituationsDocuments recent advances and stimulates further research A compilation of the latest trends in the field, Computational Intelligence in Medical Imaging: Techniques and Applications explores how intelligent computing can bring enormous benefit to existing technology in medical image processing as well as improve medical imaging research. The contributors also cover state-of-the-art research toward integrating medical image processing with artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches. The book presents numerous techniques, algorithms, and models. It describes neural networks, evolutionary optimization techniques, rough sets, support vector machines, tabu search, fuzzy logic, a Bayesian probabilistic framework, a statistical parts-based appearance model, a reinforcement learning-based multistage image segmentation algorithm, a machine learning approach, Monte Carlo simulations, and intelligent, deformable models. The contributors discuss how these techniques are used to classify wound images, extract the boundaries of skin lesions, analyze prostate cancer, handle the inherent uncertainties in mammographic images, and encapsulate the natural intersubject anatomical variance in medical images. They also examine prostate segmentation in transrectal ultrasound images, automatic segmentation and diagnosis of bone scintigraphy, 3-D medical image segmentation, and the reconstruction of SPECT and PET tomographic images.

This book introduces advanced and hybrid compression techniques specifically used for medical images. The book discusses conventional compression and compressive sensing (CS) theory based approaches that are designed and implemented using various image transforms, such as: Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and greedy based recovery algorithm. The authors show how these techniques provide simulation results of various compression techniques for different types of medical images, such as MRI, CT, US, and x-ray images. Future research directions are provided for medical imaging science. The book will be a welcomed reference for engineers, clinicians, and research students working with medical image compression in the biomedical imaging field. Covers various algorithms for data compression and medical image compression; Provides simulation results of compression algorithms for different types of medical images; Provides study of compressive sensing theory for compression of medical images.

The proposed book aims to explain the basic principles, concepts and regulations behind radiation protection and their application in the field of radiation oncology practice. This book will be useful to all those students, teachers and practicing professionals involved in the field of radiation oncology.

The Physics of Three Dimensional Radiation Therapy presents a broad study of the use of three-dimensional techniques in radiation therapy. These techniques are used to specify the target volume precisely and deliver radiation with precision to minimize damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The book discusses multimodality computed tomography, complex treatment planning software, advanced collimation techniques, proton radiotherapy, megavoltage imaging, and stereotactic radiosurgery. A review of the literature, numerous questions, and many illustrations make this book suitable for teaching a course. The themes covered in this book are developed and expanded in Webb's The Physics of Conformal Radiotherapy and the two may be used together or in successive semesters for teaching purposes.

Through a biophysical approach, Electromagnetic Fields in Biology and Medicine provides state-of-the-art knowledge on both the biological and therapeutic effects of Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs). The reader is guided through explanations of general problems related to the benefits and hazards of EMFs, step-by-step engineering processes, and basic results obtained from laboratory and clinical trials. Basic biological mechanisms reviewed by several authors lead to an understanding of the effects of EMFs on microcirculation as well as on immune and anti-inflammatory responses. Based upon investigational mechanisms for achieving potential health benefits, various EMF medical applications used around the world are presented. These include the frequent use of EMFs in wound healing and cartilage/bone repair as well as use of EMFs in pain control and inhibition of cancer growth. Final chapters cover the potential of using the novel biophysical methods of electroporation and nanoelectroporation in electrochemotherapy, gene therapy, and nonthermal ablation. Also covered is the treatment of tendon injuries in animals and humans. This book is an invaluable tool for scientists, clinicians, and medical and engineering students.

The Topics Every Medical Physicist Should Know Tutorials in Radiotherapy Physics: Advanced Topics with Problems and Solutions covers selected advanced topics that are not thoroughly discussed in any of the standard medical physics texts. The book brings together material from a large variety of sources, avoiding the need for you to search through and digest the vast research literature. The topics are mathematically developed from first principles using consistent notation. Clear Derivations and In-Depth Explanations The book offers insight into the physics of electron acceleration in linear accelerators and presents an introduction to the study of proton therapy. It then describes the predominant method of clinical photon dose computation: convolution and superposition dose calculation algorithms. It also discusses the Boltzmann transport equation, a potentially fast and accurate method of dose calculation that is an alternative to the Monte Carlo method. This discussion considers Fermi Eyges theory, which is widely used for electron dose calculations. The book concludes with a step-by-step mathematical development of tumor control and normal tissue complication probability models. Each chapter includes problems with solutions given in the back of the book. Prepares You to Explore Cutting-Edge Research This guide provides you with the foundation to read review articles on the topics. It can be used for self-study, in graduate medical physics and physics residency programs, or in vendor training for linacs and treatment planning systems.

CMOS: Front-End Electronics for Radiation Sensors offers a comprehensive introduction to integrated front-end electronics for radiation detectors, focusing on devices that capture individual particles or photons and are used in nuclear and high energy physics, space instrumentation, medical physics, homeland security, and related fields. Emphasizing practical design and implementation, this book: Covers the fundamental principles of signal processing for radiation detectors Discusses the relevant analog building blocks used in the front-end electronics Employs systematically weak and moderate inversion regimes in circuit analysis Makes complex topics such as noise and circuit-weighting functions more accessible Includes numerical examples where appropriate CMOS: Front-End Electronics for Radiation Sensors provides specialized knowledge previously obtained only through the study of multiple technical and scientific papers. It is an ideal text for students of physics and electronics engineering, as well as a useful reference for experienced practitioners.

Based on hospital clinical trials examining the use of signal and image processing techniques, Surface Imaging for Biomedical Applications bridges the gap between engineers and clinicians. This text offers a thorough analysis of biomedical surface imaging to medical practitioners as it relates to the diagnosis, detection, and monitoring of skin conditions and disease. Written from an engineer's perspective, the book discusses image acquisition methods, image processing, and pattern recognition techniques. It focuses on a variety of techniques used in recent years for image processing and pattern recognition (principal component analysis, independent component analysis, singular value decomposition, texture modeling, inverse model analysis, polynomial surface fitting, and classification techniques), and considers interventional and non-invasive procedures used to diagnose skin-related disease. It examines the biological causation of four skin disorders (psoriasis, vitiligo, ulcer, and acne), provides basic terminologies in surface imaging, and details the outcome of various clinical observations and other research. It also details numerous measurement parameters related to surface imaging (body surface, skin color, tissue characteristic, thickness, roughness, volume of skin, and retinal changes). Discusses the development of a psoriasis severity measurement tool Provides material on assessing segmented repigmentation areas in vitiligo patients via VT-Scan Introduces a volume ulcer assessment using non-invasive 3D imaging Presents an automated system for acne grading that is based on capturing the images of various body parts using the DSLR camera Includes the MATLAB (R) codes for various pattern recognition techniques applied during the assessment/measurement at the end of each chapter This interdisciplinary reference highlights the importance of disease diagnosis and monitoring, and is suitable for medical practitioners, biomedical engineers, and core image processing researchers.

* Chapters describe the impact of our reliance plastics in certain sectors and how they relate to microplastic pollution * Investigates emerging solutions to the microplastic pollution * Presents a multi-disciplinary perspective, covering topics such as analytical techniques, quantitative techniques, environmental monitoring and human health monitoring

Written by internationally known experts in the field, Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy examines one of the fastest-developing subspecialties within radiation oncology. These procedures deliver large doses of radiation in one to five sessions to a precisely determined target. Often these techniques have proven to be as or more effective than traditional radiation therapy techniques, while at the same time being cost-efficient and convenient for the patient. These techniques, however, require careful planning, specialized equipment, and well-trained staff. This volume provides a cutting-edge look at the biological and technical underpinnings of SRS and SBRT techniques. It includes a history of the development of SRS and SBRT; clinical applications of the techniques; dedicated devices for delivering precisely shaped, high doses of radiation; use of in-room imaging for treatment planning and treatment guidance; immobilization techniques for accurate targeting; and future developments that will continue to evolve and refine existing techniques. A valuable introduction to those just learning about these specialized techniques, and an ideal reference for those who are already implementing them, this book covers a wide variety of topics, with clear discussions of each aspect of the technology employed.