What You Should Know about Medical Imaging

Medical imaging is the process of creating images of the human body for clinical or medical purposes. It is used to reveal, diagnose or examine disease or to study normal anatomy and physiology. It can be in any form, and incorporates radiology, nuclear medicine, and endoscopy, as well as medical thermography, photography, and microscopy. Medical imaging likewise include measuring and recording techniques that produce data, which may be represented as maps.

In general, medical imaging is equal to radiology; hence, the medical practitioner who interprets (and sometimes acquires) the images is called a radiologist. On the other hand, the person who acquires medical images of diagnostic quality is called a radiographer or radiologic technologist. Being a field of scientific investigation, medical imaging may also be considered a sub-discipline of biomedical engineering, medical physics and medical science. In addition, many of the techniques employed in medical imaging is ideal for scientific and industrial purposes.

More often than not, medical imaging makes use of a set of techniques that produce images through non-invasive means into the internal aspect of the human body. In this context, it is then seen as the solution of mathematical inverse problems, where the cause or the qualities of the body is deduced from the effect or the acquired signals.

In recent times, medical imaging is into the production of three-dimensional (3D) images, as in the case of CT, MRI and ultrasound scanning. To do so, numerous scans are done, then applied with computers to make a 3D model, which is then manipulated and interpreted by a physician. Medical images in 3D are relatively easier to review, thus, allowing practitioners to make a more accurate diagnosis, assessment and treatment of a patient's condition.