WELCOME TO INTRODUCTORY BIOMEDICAL IMAGING
Imaging is everywhere. We use our eyes to see and cameras to take
pictures. Scientists use microscopes and telescopes to peer into cells
and out to space. Doctors use ultrasound, X-rays, radioisotopes, and
MRI to look inside our bodies. If you are curious about imaging, open
this textbook to learn the fundamentals.
Imaging is a powerful tool in fundamental and applied scientific
research and also plays a crucial role in medical diagnostics,
treatment, and research. This undergraduate textbook introduces
cutting-edge imaging techniques and the physics underlying them.
Elementary concepts from electromagnetism, optics, and modern
physics are used to explain prominent forms of light microscopy, as
well as endoscopy, ultrasound, projection radiography and computed
tomography, radionuclide imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging.
This textbook also covers digital image processing and analysis.
Theoretical principles are reinforced with illustrative homework
problems, applications, activities, and experiments, and by
emphasizing recurring themes, including the effects of resolution,
contrast, and noise on image quality. Readers will learn imaging
fundamentals, diagnostic capabilities, and strengths and weaknesses
of techniques.
This textbook had its genesis, and has been vetted, in a "Biomedical
Imaging" course at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, and is
designed to facilitate the teaching of similar courses at other
institutions. It is unique in its coverage of both optical microscopy and
medical imaging at an intermediate level, and exceptional in its
coverage of material at several levels of sophistication.
This website provides supplemental materials from the course at
Lewis & Clark College, including lecture notes, PowerPoint
presentations, medical imaging simulations (each with a separate
background and activities), and a blog describing interesting and
recent developments in biomedical imaging.
