A Beginner's Guide to the Mathematics of Medical Imaging presents the basic mathematics of computerized tomography - the CT scan - for an audience of undergraduates in mathematics and engineering. Assuming no prior background in advanced mathematical analysis, topics such as the Fourier transform, sampling, and discrete approximation algorithms are introduced from scratch and are developed within the context of medical imaging. A chapter on magnetic resonance imaging focuses on manipulation of the Bloch equation, the system of differential equations that is the foundation of this important technology.

The text is self-contained with a range of practical exercises, topics for further study, and an ample bibliography, making it ideal for use in an undergraduate course in applied or engineering mathematics, or by practitioners in radiology who want to know more about the mathematical foundations of their field.

Autorentext

Dr. Timothy G. Feeman, veteran mathematics professor at Villanova University, has been published in all of the leading mathematics journals and has received an award for expository writing from the Mathematical Association of America. In 2002, the American Mathematical Society published his first book, Portraits of the Earth: A Mathematician Looks at Maps.

Klappentext

This text explores medical imaging, one of the most significant areas of recent mathematical applications, in a concise manner accessible to undergraduate students. The author emphasizes the mathematical aspects of medical imaging, including not only the theoretical background, but also the role of approximation methods and the computer implementation of the inversion algorithms.

In twenty-first century health care, CAT scans, ultrasounds, and MRIs are commonplace. Significant computational advances, along with the development, design, and improvement of the machines themselves, can only occur in conjunction with a proper understanding of the mathematics. This book is inherently interdisciplinary in nature, and therefore is appropriate for students of engineering, physics, and computer science, in addition to mathematics.

Inhalt

Preface.- 1 X-rays.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 X-ray behavior and Beer's law.- 1.3 Lines in the plane.- 1.4 Exercises.- 2 The Radon Transform.- 2.1 Definition.- 2.2 Examples.- 2.3 Linearity.- 2.4 Phantoms.- 2.5 The domain of R.- 2.6 Exercises.- 3 Back Projection.- 3.1 Definition and properties.- 3.2 Examples.- 3.3 Exercises.- 4 Complex Numbers.- 4.1 The complex number system.- 4.2 The complex exponential function.- 4.3 Wave functions.- 4.4 Exercises.- 5 The Fourier Transform.- 5.1 Definition and examples.- 5.2 Properties and applications.- 5.3 Heaviside and Dirac d.- 5.4 Inversion of the Fourier transform.- 5.5 Multivariable forms.- 5.6 Exercises.- 6 Two Big Theorems.- 6.1 The central slice theorem.- 6.2 Filtered back projection.- 6.3 The Hilbert transform.- 6.4 Exercises.- 7 Filters and Convolution.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Convolution.- 7.3 Filter resolution.- 7.4 Convolution and the Fourier transform.- 7.5 The Rayleigh-Plancherel theorem.- 7.6 Convolution in 2-dimensional space.- 7.7 Convolution, B, and R.- 7.8 Low-pass filters.- 7.9 Exercises.- 8 Discrete Image Reconstruction.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Sampling.- 8.3 Discrete low-pass filters.- 8.4 Discrete Radon transform.- 8.5 Discrete functions and convolution.- 8.6 Discrete Fourier transform.- 8.7 Discrete back projection.- 8.8 Interpolation.- 8.9 Discrete image reconstruction.- 8.10 Matrix forms.- 8.11 FFT-the fast Fourier transform.- 8.12 Fan beam geometry.- 8.13 Exercises.- 9 Algebraic Reconstruction Techniques.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Least squares approximation.- 9.3 Kaczmarz's method.- 9.4 ART in medical imaging.- 9.5 Variations of Kaczmarz's method.- 9.6 ART or the Fourier transform?.- 9.7 Exercises.- 10 MRI-An Overview.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Basics.- 10.3 The Bloch equation.- 10.4 The RF field.- 10.5 RF pulse sequences; T1 and T2 .- 10.6 Gradients and slice selection.- 10.7 The imaging equation.- 10.8 Exercises.- Appendix A Integrability.- A.1 Improper integrals.- A.2 Iterated improperintegrals.- A.3 L1 and L2 .- A.4 Summability.- Appendix B Topics for Further Study.- References.- Index