Workshop Organizers:
Nicholas Diakides, Advanced Concepts Analysis, Inc., USA
Ioannis Pavlidis, University of Houston, Texas, USA
Amir Gandjbakhche, National Institutes of Health, USA

Tuesday, August 29, 2006: 8.00 AM-4.00 PM

Speakers:
Ioannis Pavlidis, Ph.D. and Jin Fei, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Houston,USA
Hairong, Qi, Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA        
Boguslaw Wiecek,Ph.D., Technical University of Lodz, Poland
Moinuddin Hassan, Ph.D., National Institutes of Health, USA
Nicholas Diakides,Ph.D., Advanced Concepts Analysis, Inc., USA 
James Giordano, Ph.D.,Georgetown University, USA     

Absrtact:

Infrared Imaging (IR) in medicine has undergone a significant evolution driven by advanced technology, “smart” image processing, informatics and telemedicine.  This integration spearheaded the creation of advanced computerized image processing and improved analytic methods for better understanding and interpretation of thermal images.  It created a physician-computer interaction thus aiding physicians in their important medical decisions.  Even more recently, intelligent image analysis approaches have been explored for computer-aided detection to enhance sensitivity and specificity of infrared images. The advantages of infrared imaging in medicine are: (1) early detection of metabolic activity related to tumor formation (enhanced survivability and reduced health care cost); (2) non-invasive, non-ionizing, and patient friendly (no contact); (3) reliable and reproducible results; (4) effective in a “first-line” detection screening; (5) suitable for imaging of dense-tissue, fibrous-tissue (good for younger women); (6) non-invasive monitoring of the efficacy of drugs and therapy (7) low cost.Internationally known invited speakers will give a series of tutorials on several key topics. Emphasis will be placed on: Infrared Biometrics, Image Processing, Physics of Infrared Detectors Including the Most Recent Multi-Colored (Multi-Wavelength) Detector Technology, Methods, Instrumentation, Systems, Clinical Protocols and Applications and the Use of Infrared Imaging in a Multi-Focal Diagnostic Paradigm with Emphasis in Pragmatic Utility and Ethical Obligations.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will give a tutorial emphasizing clinical research requirements such as protocols, standardized methodology, etc. with a view to universally bridging the gap in this area.The protocol is designed to safeguard the health of the participants as well as to explain sample size, eligibility, potential benefit, expected outcome and to answer specific research questions. Moreover, the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) concept as used by FDA to determine the added value of each imaging modality in a multi-modality environment will be presented in detail.  The efficacy of infrared imaging in modern medical practice will be further validated by recent clinical data. Presentations will include issues and areas that need to be further studied and resolved and new concepts such as image processing algorithms that enhance infrared images for better higher-level understanding and include solutions to extract information hidden in an infrared image, both from imaging (e.g. multi-spectral) and algorithmic design (e.g. feature extraction) points of view.

This workshop will be of interest to Biomedical Engineers, Radiologists, Clinicians, and those involved in Medical Imaging and Image Processing, Computer Aided Detection, Health Scientists and Medical Ethics.