Imaging

Imaging is a technique and process used to create visual representations of the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention. Medical imaging seeks to reveal internal structures hidden by the skin and bones, and to diagnose and treat disease. It also establishes a database of normal anatomy and physiology to make it possible to identify abnormalities.

Types of Imaging

There are several types of imaging used in the medical field. These include:

• Radiography: This is the use of X-rays to view a single plane of the body in a static image.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): This uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of the body.
• Computed Tomography (CT): This is a medical imaging technique that uses computer-processed combinations of many X-ray measurements taken from different angles to produce cross-sectional images of specific areas of a scanned object.
• Ultrasound: This is a type of imaging that uses high-frequency sound waves to look at organs and structures inside the body.
• Nuclear Medicine: This involves the use of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Applications

Medical imaging is often perceived to designate the set of techniques that noninvasively produce images of the internal aspect of the body. In this restricted sense, medical imaging can be seen as the solution of mathematical inverse problems. This means that cause (the properties of living tissue) is inferred from effect (the observed signal).

See Also

• Radiology
• Medical Physics
• Medical Imaging Technology

References

Imaging Resources
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