What is medical imaging?
Medical imaging uses the fundamental concepts of physics to generate images that provide healthcare professionals with a glimpse into the inner workings of the human body. Common imaging technologies include x-ray, ultrasound, CT (computed tomography), PET (positron-emission tomography), and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). . These images help clinicians visualize the shape, size, and location of tumours and helps doctors make decisions concerning medical treatments. Cancer imaging plays an essential role in diagnosing and treating cancer and in monitoring a patient’s response to treatment.
What does it take to work in medical imaging?
Medical imaging includes a team of healthcare professionals such as radiologists, ultrasound technologists, medical physicists, biomedical engineers, physicians, and nurses. Radiologists and technicians analyze medical imaging results and often have university degrees at the undergraduate and professional levels. An understanding of both biology and physics is crucial for these individuals.
Where is the field of medical imaging heading?
The next steps in medical imaging involve combining these technologies with more powerful computers and artificial intelligence. Medical imaging teams are increasingly recruiting people with biology, physics, and engineering backgrounds as well as those familiar with computer science and machine learning. Reading, modelling, cataloguing, and interpreting medical images is becoming more automated than ever before. In the future, successful radiologists must be flexible and adapt to the new developments in their rapidly changing field, using these improved technologies and computer-aided approaches to apply medical technologies to patient care.
London RIOT 