Gamma and X-ray Technologies for Medical Research: Image Analysis and Disease Discovered

Dear Colleagues,

Today, medical imaging is an essential component of healthcare. Technologies that use X-rays are of particular importance due to their dynamic development. An example is computed tomography (CT). Technological advances in CT have made it possible to increase the scanning speed, to reduce the thickness of the imaged layers, to reduce the radiation dose absorbed in tissues and to improve image quality. Perfusion scanning has entered into medical imaging to enable detection and quantification of cerebral stroke. The combination of CT perfusion and CT angiography has revolutionized the world of stroke therapy. Another frontier is cardiac CT with coronary CT angiography (CTA). This method displays the anatomical detail of blood vessels more precisely than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound (US). Today, it is well known that exposure to ionizing radiation from CT and other diagnostic methods increases the risk of malignant tumors. Therefore, one of the challenges of modern radiology is to minimize the dose with the possibly lossless quality of the obtained images. The future of computed tomography including radiation dose reduction is spectral (multi-energy) tomography. Spectral CT uses single acquisitions performed at multiple energies to extract more information about tissue differentiation based on the difference in absorption of photons of different energy in different tissues. Another promising achievement is the combination of CT and US or MRI or positron emission tomography (PET), where different scans obtained by the different methods based on various physical processes are jointly recorded. Such a fusion makes it possible to obtain complete diagnostic information. The new concept is now the so-called theranostics which is a combination of diagnostics and therapy, consisting of the creation of a single technology that both locates and treats cancers. Advances in medical imaging in recent decades was possible not only by the technological advances, but also by the digital revolution, including advances in software and hardware. It became possible to process huge amounts of data and create multi-plane and three-dimensional image reconstructions. An innovative solution is the use of advanced computational methods in analysis and interpretation of image, based on the Monte Carlo simulations or artificial intelligence algorithms.

Dr. Adam KonefaŁ
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.