Future medical imaging

Lindner JR (2004) Microbubbles in medical imaging current applications and future directions. Nat Rev Drug Discov 3 527-532... 

Thin film transistor (TFT) arrays are produced inexpensively and in large numbers for use in modern computer monitors and televisions. This readout system can be combined with amorphous hydrated silicon or amorphous selenium which is deposited over the large surface of the TFT array and acts as the X-ray conversion layer. Having established themselves firmly as an X-ray detector for medical imaging already, they have until now failed to make an impact on the field of crystallography, their high noise level being the main drawback. It can be surmised with some confidence that this type of detector will become standard equipment in the near future. 

While these experiences extracted the best of my technical know-how, they also led me to join various IBM committees on technology planning. This allowed me to better understand the future of medical imaging and to more clearly imderstand the business and decision-making side of industry. These experiences became useful later, when I began working with legislation, and in my role as member of various professional societies. 

Doi K. Computer-aided diagnosis in medical imaging Historical review, current status and future potential. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics. 2007 31(4—5) 198-211. 

However, the pathological differences of solid and cystic pancreatic tumors usually lead to an entirely different diagnosis and treatment for patients. Therefore, the CAD system could combine with other medical imaging to make a more complete evaluation tool for pancreatic tumors in the future. 

Muller H, Michoux N, Bandon D, Geissbuhler A. A review of content-based image retrieval systems in medical applications—clinical benefits and future directions. International Journal of Medical Informatics 2004 73 1-23. 

As I look back at this experience, it was an awesome adventure to be alone, during and for an interval of time after this discovery, with the apparatus showing one new effect after another, when there was no one in the Illinois Physics Department experienced in NMR with whom I could talk. Little did the early NMR resonance community realize that the analogue of spin echo hidden memory contained in excited phases of all kinds of states of matter, including plasmas, would be obtained in the future by use of optical laser, electric, and acoustic pulses as well. And now today the use of spin echoes is a standard procedure for magnetic resonance imaging of the human body for medical diagnosis. 

---