COLLOQUIUM
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Carolina
 
Medical Imaging Simulation of Mice and Men
	
Paul Segars

Department of Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Environmental Health Sciences

Johns Hopkins University

Date: July 9, 2004 (Friday)
Time: 10:00-11:00AM
Place: Swearingen 1A03 (Faculty Lounge)

Abstract

Medical imaging simulation is a powerful tool for characterizing,
evaluating, and optimizing medical imaging systems. Simulation
involves computer-generated phantoms, models of the imaging process,
and fast computational methods. Given a model of the physics of the
imaging process, acquired data of a computer phantom can be generated
using the computational methods. A major advantage to using
computer-generated phantoms in simulation studies is that the exact
anatomy and physiological functions of the phantom are known, thus
providing a gold standard from which to evaluate and improve medical
imaging devices and image processing and reconstruction
techniques. Other advantages are that computer phantoms are always
willing participants and can be altered easily to model different
anatomies and medical situations, thus providing a large population of
subjects from which to perform research. It is frequently difficult
both ethically and practically to test every combination of parameters
on live subjects under experimental conditions. A vital aspect of
simulation is to have a realistic phantom or model of the subject's
anatomy. Without this, the results of the simulation may not be
indicative of what would occur in actual patients or animal subjects
and would, therefore, have limited practical value. For my research, I
have developed two realistic phantoms for use in imaging research.
The 4D NURBS-based Cardiac-Torso (NCAT) phantom was developed to model
the human anatomy while the 4D mouse whole-body (MOBY) phantom was
developed to model the mouse.  In this talk, I will discuss the
development of these phantoms and highlight some of their uses in
research.

Paul Segars is an assistant professor in the Departments
of Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Environmental Health
Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. His primary research interest is
in computer simulation for medical imaging research. He has developed
a virtual patient model for use in nuclear medicine and x-ray CT
research as well as a virtual mouse model for use in molecular imaging
research. These tools are widely used in the medical imaging research
community. Dr. Segars received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering
in 1996 from the University of South Carolina and his Ph.D. in
Biomedical Engineering in 2001 from the University of North Carolina.