01 / Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Citation
Smith, N. B., & Webb, A. (2010). Introduction to Medical Imaging: Physics, Engineering and Clinical Applications. Cambridge University Press.
Chapter Summary
The book is a compact volume of about 300 pages in the Cambridge Texts in Biomedical Engineering series, with only five chapters: one on general principles and one on each of the four main families of clinical imaging. The publisher describes each modality chapter as covering basic theory, instrumentation, current techniques and clinical applications, supported by solved example problems, clinical examples and references to specialised texts, review articles and journals. There are 137 end-of-chapter exercises and 217 black-and-white illustrations. Nadine Barrie Smith, of Pennsylvania State University, works on ultrasound transducers and therapeutic ultrasound; Andrew Webb, of Leiden University Medical Center, works on high-field magnetic resonance imaging.
Chapter 1: General image characteristics, data acquisition and image reconstruction
About 33 pages. The common framework for the rest of the book: the characteristics by which any medical image is judged, how imaging data are acquired, and how images are reconstructed from them. Because it comes first and is short, it sets out the concepts that each modality chapter then applies.
Chapter 2: X-ray planar radiography and computed tomography
About 55 pages. X-ray imaging from planar radiography to computed tomography (CT); among the recent developments the publisher highlights is multi-slice CT.
Chapter 3: Nuclear medicine: Planar scintigraphy, SPECT and PET/CT
About 56 pages. Imaging with radioactive tracers: planar scintigraphy, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography, including the combined PET/CT systems the publisher lists among the book's up-to-date topics.
Chapter 4: Ultrasound imaging
About 59 pages. Ultrasound imaging, from the underlying acoustics and instrumentation to clinical use; four-dimensional ultrasound is named by the publisher as one of the newer techniques covered. This is the field of the first author's research.
Chapter 5: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
About 79 pages, the longest chapter. Magnetic resonance imaging, the second author's research field, including the parallel imaging methods singled out in the publisher's description.
Key Concepts
Chapter 1: Principles
- Image characteristics: the measures used to judge any medical image and to compare modalities.
- Data acquisition and reconstruction: the steps from measured signals to an image, shared in different forms by all the modalities.
Chapters 2–3: Ionising-radiation imaging
- Planar radiography versus tomography: projection images compared with cross-sectional images reconstructed from many projections in CT.
- Emission imaging: images formed from radiation emitted by tracers inside the body, as in scintigraphy, SPECT and PET.
- Hybrid imaging: combined PET/CT systems that join functional and anatomical information.
Chapters 4–5: Non-ionising imaging
- Ultrasound imaging: images formed from reflected sound waves, extended to three dimensions over time in four-dimensional ultrasound.
- Magnetic resonance imaging: images formed from nuclear magnetic resonance signals, with parallel imaging to speed acquisition.
Critical Analysis
Strengths
- One coherent, short course. Five chapters in about 300 pages, one per major modality family, give students a manageable overview; the publisher presents it as suited to a one-semester course.
- Problem-based. With 137 end-of-chapter exercises and solved example problems with numerical solutions, the book supports homework-based teaching. K. Kirk Shung (University of Southern California), quoted by the publisher, called it excellently prepared for a senior or first-year graduate course and noted that few books include problem sets; Richard Magin (University of Illinois at Chicago) described it as approachable for both undergraduate and graduate students.
- Physics, engineering and clinical use together. Each modality chapter links the theory and instrumentation to clinical examples, as the subtitle promises, and points to specialised texts and review articles for further study.
- Authors who work in the field. Both authors are imaging researchers, in ultrasound and MRI respectively, the two longest modality chapters.
Limitations
- Level is higher than "introduction" may suggest. The publisher aims the book at senior undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Students need comfort with physics and mathematics; it is not a conceptual text for non-specialists.
- Dated in places. Published in late 2010 and not revised, its "state of the art" is that of around 2010; developments in detector technology, iterative and learning-based reconstruction and newer hybrid systems such as PET/MRI are not covered.
- Breadth at the cost of depth. Each modality family gets a single chapter of 55–80 pages, so detail is necessarily limited compared with the larger references in this course, and image analysis beyond reconstruction is not a chapter topic.
- Black-and-white illustrations. The book's 217 figures are printed in black and white, which limits the presentation of clinical images such as Doppler ultrasound or fused PET/CT.
Where It Fits in the Course
Smith and Webb is the compact, modality-by-modality engineering introduction in this course. Wolbarst, Capasso and Wyant's Medical Imaging: Essentials for Physicians is a more conceptual, largely non-mathematical introduction written for future users of images; students without the mathematics for Smith and Webb, or medical students, should start there. Suetens's Fundamentals of Medical Imaging covers similar modalities with more on image computing and analysis, and Prince and Links's Medical Imaging Signals and Systems builds every modality on a common signals-and-systems framework; either is a natural companion or next step for engineering students who want the mathematics of image formation in more depth.
Bushberg and colleagues' The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging is a large reference on imaging physics and radiation protection aimed at radiology residents and medical physicists, useful for looking up details. Barrett and Myers's Foundations of Image Science is a graduate treatment of the mathematics and statistics of imaging and image quality, for students continuing into imaging research.
How to Use This Book
The book suits senior undergraduates and first-year graduate students in biomedical engineering, physics or electrical engineering taking a one-semester course in medical imaging. Given the stated senior-undergraduate level, students should be comfortable with university physics and mathematics before starting.
A practical plan:
- Start with Chapter 1 and return to it: its image characteristics and reconstruction concepts recur in every later chapter.
- Then the modalities in book order (X-ray and CT, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, MRI). Chapters 2 and 3 share ideas about ionising radiation and tomography and are best read together; Chapter 5 is the longest and benefits from extra time.
- For each chapter, work the solved examples before attempting the end-of-chapter exercises, then compare the modalities using the Chapter 1 criteria.
Use the references at the end of each chapter for topics that interest you, and supplement the book with recent review articles on developments since 2010, such as advances in CT reconstruction and PET/MRI. For radiation dose and safety in depth, consult a larger reference such as Bushberg and colleagues.