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Bioimage

Biomedical imaging has revolutionized medicine and biology by allowing us to see inside the body and to visualize biological structure and function at microscopic levels. Images are representations of measurable properties that vary with spatial position (and often time). Images can provide exquisitely detailed information about biological structures; the most powerful imaging modalities provide functional information as well, allowing the recording of molecular or cellular processes, or physical properties (such as elasticity or temperature). Methods to visualize and quantify these properties are now available at the macroscopic (i.e.,of a size visible to the human eye) and microscopic level. This information can be used clinically for diagnosis and monitoring of treatment as well as scientifically for understanding normal and abnormal structure and physiology. The many different imaging modalities or types of imaging

methods fill different scientific and/or clinical niches. Every modality has limitations: A particular method may be low in quality, slow to acquire images, expensive, or not suitable for all patients. The set of advantages for a particular technology (e.g., high quality, faster, cheaper, or dynamic) will make it suitable in the right situations. Different modalities operate over different time or length scales and- because of the physics that underlie their operation can measure
different structures or functions (Table).

Notes: This is a summary if some of the key features of the imaging modalities discussed in this chapter related to spatial and temporal resolution, type of spatial imaging, and the type of measurements made. MR: structuri magnetic resonance imaging MRE functional magnetic resonance imaging: SPECT single photon emission computed tomography: PET: positron emission tomography, MRS: magnetic resonance spectroscopy: 30; the dimensional
Recent development in digital technologies is paving the way for

ever-increasing use of information technology and data-driven systems in medical and healthcare practices. The Internet, wireless technologies and wireless networks, databases, and telemetry permit the transmission of information and control of information both within a medical center and between medical centers. Recent developments in sensors, wearable computing, and ubiquitous communications have provided medical experts and users with frameworks for gathering physiological data on a real-time basis over extended periods of time.

Wearable sensor-based systems can transform the future of healthcare

by enabling proactive personal health management and unobtrusive

monitoring of a patient's health condition.

Wireless body area networks permit a comfortable tank top with sensors to use wireless local area networks (e.g., Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) to continuously transmit to other systems such as smartphones, and then from any location, such as home, away from home, on the streets. or a nursing home, to a medical center for analysis of cardiac arrhythmias and ventilation. For example, a simple remotely located base unit can continually collect and locally integrate many incoming signals such as electrocardiography, oxygen saturation, heart rate, noninvasive blood pressure, temperature, and respiration, and provide the information required for detecting any possible emergency cases for the patients. The medical center can then accommodate all complementary and bulky systems, including telemedicine-enabled equipment such as intensive care units, intelligent analyzers, and automatic recorders plus a professionally managed database system supported by a professional service provider.

Today's technology allows clinical processes to be conducted at a

distance; hence, it is an enabler, but in itself, the technology is not telemedicine. Telemedicine can be thought of as the tasks that the clinician carries out (such as observing, consulting, interpreting, and providing opinions), assisted by information and communication technologies, in circumstances where there is distance between the patient and the provider. Put succinctly, modem telemedicine is simply medicine at a distance.