Summary
Objectives: Medical image computing has become a key technology in high-tech applications in
medicine and an ubiquitous part of modern imaging systems and the related processes
of clinical diagnosis and intervention. Over the past years significant progress has
been made in the field, both on methodological and on application level. Despite this
progress there are still big challenges to meet in order to establish image processing
routinely in health care. In this issue, selected contributions of the German Conference
on Medical Image Processing (BVM) are assembled to present latest advances in the
field of medical image computing.
Methods: The winners of scientific awards of the German Conference on Medical Image Processing
(BVM) 2008 were invited to submit a manuscript on their latest developments and results
for possible publication in Methods of Information in Medicine. Finally, seven excellent papers were selected to describe important aspects of recent
advances in the field of medical image processing.
Results: The selected papers give an impression of the breadth and heterogeneity of new developments.
New methods for improved image segmentation, non-linear image registration and modeling
of organs are presented together with applications of image analysis methods in different
medical disciplines. Furthermore, state-of-the-art tools and techniques to support
the development and evaluation of medical image processing systems in practice are
described.
Conclusions: The selected articles describe different aspects of the intense development in medical
image computing. The image processing methods presented enable new insights into the
patient’s image data and have the future potential to improve medical diagnostics
and patient treatment.
Keywords
Medical image computing - image segmentation - non-linear image registration - image
analysis - modeling of organs - software development - medical informatics