Assignment – 02

EC 644 [Bio-medical Signal Processing]

Que 1. Name three top-tier Journals and Conferences in the domain of Biomedical Image Processing.

Answer-1

The top-tier conferences

1. MICCAI (medical image computing & computer assisted intervention)

2. IPMI (Information Processing in Medical Imaging)
3. Other conferences: IEEE ISBI, EMBC and SPIE Med Imaging

The top-tier technical journals:

1. IEEE TMI, TBME, PAMI, and TIP

2. Medical Image Analysis, CMIG, and NeuroImage

Que 2. How X-Rays are generated for medical usages?

Answer-2
X-rays - radiation, a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiations.

• Production by electrons: X-rays can be generated by an X-ray tube, a vacuum tube that uses a high voltage
to accelerate the electrons released by a hot cathode to a high velocity. The high velocity electrons collide
with a metal target, the anode, creating the X-rays. In medical X-ray tubes the target is usually tungsten or a
more crack-resistant alloy of rhenium (5%) and tungsten (95%).

If x-rays travelling through the body also pass through an x-ray detector on the other side of the patient, an image
will be formed that represents the “shadows” formed by the objects inside the body.

Medical x-rays are used to generate images of tissues and structures inside the body.

Que 3. Write a short note on Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and how it is useful in biomedical Image
Processing?

Answer-3
The Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is a measure of the ability of an optical system to transfer various levels of
detail from object to image. Performance is measured in terms of contrast (degrees of gray), or of modulation,
produced for a perfect source of that detail level. The amount of detail in an image is given by the resolution of the
optical system, and is customarily specified in line pairs per millimeter (lp/mm). A line pair is one cycle of a light bar
and dark bar of equal width and has a contrast of unity. MTF is a plot of contrast, measured in percent, against
spatial frequency measured in lp/mm. This graph is customarily normalized to a value of 1 at zero spatial frequency
(all white or black).

An eye test is a common MTF measurement.

The benefits of using MTF as a system specification are three-fold.

1. First, in many cases, optical systems employing numerous stages (lenses, film, eye, etc.) have a system MTF
equal to the product of the MTF of the individual stage. This can be described as concatenation or cascading
of MTF, and allows testing at a subassembly level.
2. Second, MTF can be specified either at a single wavelength or over a range of wavelengths, depending upon
the application. Interferometric wavefront metrology is limited to certain laser wavelengths. MTF allows full
spectrum specification and testing.
 3. The third benefit of MTF testing is that it is objective and universal. The test engineer is not required to make
judgments of contrast, resolution or image quality. Therefore, under the same conditions the polychromatic
MTF of the lens can be directly compared to the polychromatic MTF of a design, or to another measurement
instruments.

Que 4. Mention the fundamental principle of computer tomography.

Answer-2 Computed tomography (CT) scanning, is a diagnostic imaging procedure that uses x-rays to build cross-
sectional images ("slices") of the body. Cross-sections are reconstructed from measurements of attenuation
coefficients of x-ray beams in the volume of the object studied.

It’s fundamental principle is:

➢ the density of the tissue passed by the x-ray beam can be measured from the calculation of the attenuation
coefficient. Using this principle, CT allows the reconstruction of the density of the body, by two-dimensional
section perpendicular to the axis of the acquisition system.

Unlike x-ray radiography, the detectors of the CT scanner do not produce an image. They measure the transmission
of a thin beam (1-10 mm) of x-rays through a full scan of the body. The image of that section is taken from different
angles, and this allows to retrieve the information on the depth (in the third dimension). The image by the CT
scanner is a digital image and consists of a square matrix of elements (pixel), each of which represents a voxel
(volume element) of the tissue of the patient.

Que 5. Compare T1 and T2 NMRI

Answer-5 Two basic types of MRI images: T1-weighted & T2-weighted, often referred to as T1 and T2 images.

1. T1-weighted images are produced by using short TE and TR times. Conversely, T2-weighted images are
produced by using longer TE and TR times.
2. T1 images results in images which highlight fat tissue within the body whereas T2 images results in images
which highlight fat and water within the body.
3. T1 images can be thought of as a map of proton energy within fatty tissues of the body whereas T2 images
are a map of proton energy within fatty and water-based tissues of the body.
4. Fatty tissue is distinguished from water-based tissue by comparing with the T1 images – anything that is
bright on the T2 images but dark on the T1 images is fluid-based tissue.
5. Abnormal low signal on T1 images frequently indicates a pathological process such as trauma, infection, or
cancer whereas Abnormal brightness on a T2 image indicates a disease process such as trauma, infection, or
cancer.
In general, T1- and T2-weighted images can be easily differentiated by looking the CSF. CSF is dark on T1-weighted
imaging and bright on T2-weighted imaging.

Que 6. How PET is useful in medical diagnosis?

Answer-6. A positron emission tomography is a nuclear medical imaging technique which produces a three-
dimensional image of functional processes in the body. It uses a radioactive substance called a tracer to look for disease
in the body. A positron emission tomography (PET) scan shows how organs and tissues are working.

It’s significance in medical diagnosis

1. PET is both a medical and research tool. It is used heavily in clinical oncology (medical imaging of tumours and the
search for metastases), and for clinical diagnosis of certain diffuse brain diseases.
2. PET is also an important research tool to map normal human brain and heart function, and support drug
development.
 3. PET is also used in pre-clinical studies using animals, where it allows repeated investigations into the same
subjects. This is particularly valuable in cancer research, as it results in an increase in the statistical quality of
the data (subjects can act as their own control) and substantially reduces the numbers of animals required
for a given study.
4. By identifying changes in the body at the cellular level, PET imaging may detect the early onset of disease
before it is evident on other imaging tests such as CT or MRI.
5. PET imaging has recently been shown to aid in the diagnosis of particular neurological syndromes associated
with cancer.
6. PET scans of the heart are used to determine blood flow to the heart muscle and help evaluate signs of
coronary artery disease.
7. PET scans of the heart can also be used to determine if areas of the heart that show decreased function are
alive rather than scarred as a result of a prior heart attack, called a myocardial infarction.

Question-7. Write the working principle of Ultrasound Imaging in medical diagnosis.

Answer-7. Ultrasound or ultrasonography is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves and
their echoes. Ultrasound imaging utilizes the interaction of sound waves with living tissue to produce an image of the
tissue or, in Doppler-based modes, determine the velocity of a moving tissue, primarily blood. These dynamic, real-
time images can be analysed to obtain quantitative structural and functional information from the target organ.

➢ Medical ultrasound is based on the use of high-frequency sound to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of
patients. Ultrasound frequencies range from 2 to approximately 15 MHz, although even higher frequencies
may be used in some situations.
➢ The ultrasound beam originates from mechanical oscillations of numerous crystals in a transducer, which is
excited by electrical pulses (piezoelectric effect). The transducer converts one type of energy into another
(electrical <--> mechanical/sound).
➢ The ultrasound waves (pulses of sound) are sent from the transducer, propagate through different tissues,
and then return to the transducer as reflected echoes. The returned echoes are converted back into
electrical impulses by the transducer crystals and are further processed to form the ultrasound image
presented on the screen.
➢ Ultrasound transducers contain a range of ultrasound frequencies, termed bandwidth. For example, 2.5-3.5
MHz for general abdominal imaging and 5.0-7.5 MHz for superficial imaging.
➢ Ultrasound waves are reflected at the surfaces between the tissues of different density, the reflection being
proportional to the difference in impedance. If the difference in density is increased, the proportion of reflected
sound is increased, and the proportion of transmitted sound is proportionately decreased.
➢ If the difference in tissue density is very different, then the sound is completely reflected, resulting in total
acoustic shadowing. Acoustic shadowing is present behind bones, calculi (stones in kidneys, gallbladder, etc.)
and air (intestinal gas) (See Fig. 1 with acoustic shadowing).
➢ Echoes are not produced if there is no difference in a tissue or between tissues. Homogenous fluids like
blood, bile, urine, contents of simple cysts, ascites and pleural effusion are seen as echo-free structures.

Submitted by – Suyash Maurya

[1601054]