The final goal of medical imaging is
the optimization of the acquisition, reconstruction and processing of (bio)
medical images aiming to ameliorate in a multidisciplinary effort the diagnosis
and therapy of patients and the understanding of clinical and fundamental
biological processes.
The evolution in imaging acquisition modalities (CT,
MR, US, PET, SPECT, ...) yields an explosion of image information that
becomes hard to analyse in detail. New tracers and contrast agents are
introduced for the visualisation of biological characteristics of the individual
patient ("personalised medicine"). New opportunities are created by development
in mathematics, computer sciences, evolution in hard- and software. For
the extraction of relevant clinical and biological information, new techniques
of image analysis, image quantification and image archiving are introduced.
Most efforts of medical imaging are focussed mainly on the diseases
of the century, i.e. cancer (screening, diagnosis and follow-up),
neurodegenerative diseases (movement disorders and dementia), epilepsy
and brain tumours, and heartand blood vessel diseases (diagnosis and therapy).
In this context there is a growing interest of clinicians
of different specialties for integration of multimodal imaging in clinical
pathways and decision trees. There is an increasing demand of the authorities
to limit the budget and to place the diagnostic possibilities in the context
of "evidence based medicine". At the same time medical imaging opens new
diagnostic tools for fundamental biological research trying to find new
molecular targets for diagnosis and therapy. Molecular imaging can also
stimulate the cooperation between academia and industry for the development
of new drugs on diagnostic tracers.
The challenges and the opportunities of medical imaging
in UZ Leuven are evident:
- International imaging research center in the heart of a 1800 bed
university hospital
- Faster interdisciplinary exchange of research information
- Creation of a platform for multidisciplinary cooperation projects
- Faster access to critical data
- A perfectfusion of research and clinical care
- An efficient platform for translational research
- Better qualitative clinical care as the ultimate result
