Visvesvaraya Technological University

Santhibastawad Road, Machhe

Belgaum – 590014, INDIA

DSPs IN MEDICAL IMAGING

By

PRAMA MURTHY 1AT07EC 064

ASKB Campus, 1st Main, Anandnagar,

Bangalore 560024
INTRODUCTION
With technology advances in the diagnostic medical equipment arena
emphasizing higher performance and faster, real-time imaging to process
information on brain function and other more advanced body functions, the
increased flows of raw data require more advanced computing capabilities for
image processing.

India is one of the fastest growing medical imaging markets in the world.
Medical imaging is the technique and process used to create images of the
human body (or parts and function thereof) for clinical purposes ( medical
procedures seeking to reveal, diagnose or examine disease) or medical science.
With its full range of analog and embedded processing products, from building
blocks to complete semiconductor solutions, plus systems insight, global
support infrastructure, advanced process technology and medical industry
involvement, industries today are helping to make innovative medical
electronics more flexible, affordable and accessible.
ABSTRACT
Medical imaging is continually evolving and advancing to improve patient
care. The advances that have been made in recent years have been dramatic.  
For example, X-rays have migrated from film to digital and images can be
taken and displayed so rapidly that digital X-ray machines are now used in
surgical procedures .  Ultrasound machines have steadily become more
compact, with cart-based systems increasingly complemented by portable and
even handheld units. 

The key technology component that will improve medical imaging is the DSP.
Thus this presentation introduces advancement of medical imaging in today’s
technology using high performance DSPs.
ROLE OF DSPs IN MEDICAL IMAGING
The role of the DSP: past and future
DSPs are embedded processors that are ideal for much of the processing
required in medical imaging applications.   For instance, in digital X-ray, the
real-time processing nature of DSPs has been leveraged to increase the speed
at which digital x-ray images can be taken and displayed, enabling x-ray
imaging to be useful in cardiac and vascular surgery. DSPs have played an
even more prominent role in ultrasounds evolution into a high quality portable
imaging machine. The combination of high performance and power efficiency
offered by a DSP has allowed manufacturers to develop portable ultrasounds
that produce quality images while minimizing product size and maximizing
battery life.

DSPs will not only help revolutionize the well-known modalities such as X-Ray
and MRI, but will enable completely new medical applications that border on
the edge of science fiction. Future versions of the technology may be able to
identify biomarkers for diseases such as cancer and chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease.

Embedded processors are playing a key role in many of these. Unlike ASICs and
FPGAs, embedded processors are inherently flexible, programmable devices, so
they present an efficient development platform for rapid development and
implementation of sophisticated, adaptive medical imaging algorithms.
ADVANTAGES OF DSPs IN MEDICAL IMAGING
Embedded processors have three key traits often required in demanding,
critical applications such as medical imaging:

 They perform in real time.  This means immediate boot-up, no delays in

displaying images, and rapid response after changing functions or
parameters.

 They are highly reliable. This includes components that don’t fail even
after years of rough handling in the field, the ability to recover quickly
from failures due to software bugs, and immunity to electromagnetic
interference.

 Reliability directly affects the system’s total cost of ownership (TCO) for
end users such as hospitals and physician groups. They are energy-
efficient, compact and affordable. All of these directly affect the level of
patient care.

 Energy-efficient and compact enable portable imaging in places such as

first responder, trauma/triage and even home health. Affordability
means that state-of-the-art care can be extended to more people, such
as residents of developing countries.

LIMITATION
 It is not easy to develop DSPs that have the performance, reliability and
efficiency necessary for medical imaging applications. Yet many of the
underlying challenges including designing for high reliability, high
performance and low power are ones that have to be tackled for decades
in industries such as telecom, military communications, and automotive.
That experience has produced expertise that can now be brought to bear
in medical imaging.
AN OVERVIEW OF MEDICAL IMAGING
Medical imaging technology is continually evolving and advancing, all with the
goal of improving patient care. This is done by:

 Enabling faster, more accurate diagnostic results.

 Increasing the speed of delivery and availability of medical care

worldwide.

 Improving accessibility and affordability of end equipments.

APPLICATIONS
ULTRASOUND

Medical ultrasonography uses high frequency broadband sound waves in the

megahertz range that are reflected by tissue to varying degrees to produce (up
to 3D) images. This is commonly associated with imaging the fetus in pregnant
women. Uses of ultrasound are much broader, however. Other important uses
include imaging the abdominal organs, heart, breast, muscles, tendons,
arteries and veins.

Ultrasound representation of Urinary bladder (black butterfly-like shape) and

hyperplastic prostate
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI)
A magnetic resonance imaging instrument ( MRI scanner), or "nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging" scanner as it was originally known, uses
powerful magnets to polarise and excite hydrogen nuclei (single proton) in
water molecules in human tissue, producing a detectable signal which is
spatially encoded, resulting in images of the body. MRI uses three
electromagnetic fields:

 a very strong (on the order of units of teslas) static magnetic field to
polarize the hydrogen nuclei, called the static field;

 a weaker time-varying (on the order of 1  kHz) field(s) for spatial

encoding, called the gradient field(s);

 and a weak radio-frequency (RF) field for manipulation of the hydrogen

nuclei to pro duce measurable signals, collected through an RF antenna.

A brain MRI representation

DIGITAL X-RAYS
Digital radiography is a form of x-ray imaging, where digital X-ray sensors
are used instead of processing and the ability to digitally transfer and enhance
images. Also less radiation can be used to produce an image of similar contrast
to conventional radiography.

The advantages of digital radiography (DR) over film include immediate image
preview and availability, a wider dynamic range which makes it more
forgiving for over- and under-exposure as well as the ability to apply special
image processing techniques that enhance overall display of the image.

Other digital X-ray technology advances made possible by semiconductor

technology include:

 Faster diagnoses by eliminating photographic processing time

and facilitating quick transmission over network connections.

 Reduced costs by eliminating photographic processing film and

chemicals.

 Processing only the image data that highlights regions of

interests, suppressing irrelevant information.
Brain Tumor in MRI Cancer Medical Imaging

Digital x-ray machine

POSITION EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET)
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique
which produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes
in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a
positron-emitting radionuclide (tracer), which is introduced into the body on a
biologically active molecule.

DSPs can be used for PET scanner control and signal processing units. Filtered
back-projection algorithms can be used in image reconstruction. Several
iterative techniques have also been proposed for PET image reconstruction.

Image of a typical positron emission tomography (PET) facility

REFERENCES
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ml/slyt303a/slyt303a.pdf

http://www.ecnmag.com/Products/2009/05/DSPs-in-Medical-Imaging/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_imaging