Medical Imaging

Comment

Comment by David Paribello on June 25, 2009 at 6:28am

Take a look at these two sites. The first, my group, puts a larger focus on theoretical knowledge:
http://www.imaging.robarts.ca/~icunning/

The second one places an emphasis more on design, as well as some theory:
http://www.imaging.robarts.ca/~tpeters/

The role of a programmer should be most obvious in the 2nd site. They conduct Image Guided Surgery (IGS) research. They develop software that interfaces with surgical equipment that they either construct themselves or that someone else has developed or a combination of the two. How you can integrate previous knowledge with what you're trying to pursue is something you need to figure out on your own and is what makes you marketable to employers.

The role of the engineer inside an OR is/would be to streamline procedures that are being carried out. From my experience, the OR can be an organized mess (for lack of a better word). You will also want to be there in case there are any problems with hard/software and to accept constructive criticism from those using your device(s). In turn, you bring that information back to the office/lab and make improvements based on that.

Biomed. Engineers will learn bio, anatomy, phys, etc. Personally, I've never taken any specific courses on that and all of what I knwo has been self taught. You will most definitely pick up the terminology as you go - expect a bit of a learning curve without any prior knowledge.

Comment by A.Aghajanian on June 24, 2009 at 7:54pm

Sorry to all readers for my typo mistakes in my previous emails. I noticed it after posted the comment.
Thanks,
A. Aghajanian

Comment by A.Aghajanian on June 24, 2009 at 7:49pm

Thank you very much David. Your explanation was very helpful to me. I appreciate your time that you spent in answering my concerns.

What is not still clear for me is that why an image processer engineer does go to surgical rooms or labs?
What I know from image processing is just de-nosing, compression and doing many other procedures on images with programming languages and mathematical and statistical modeling. For example my thesis was all writing codes for lossless compression of 2D medical images with a new technique of lossless with Matlab. So, once the images converted into zeros and ones then all was mathematical algorithms and compression techniques and it was not matter whether the images were medical images or satellite images and so on.
I have also seen in youtube a mathematics professor of a university whose program had generated images for virtual surgery but what I don’t understand the role of an image processor engineer’s or code writer’s role in “labs” or “surgical rooms”??!! If you don’t mind, please let me know what really engineers do in surgical rooms?!
You had brought a point in your email that if also it depends on if a person is a theoretical person or hands on so then it can figured out what path is better for him/her in biomedical engineering. I am theoretical person since I am not a hardware design engineer but I would like to know about the subjects that are my interests which ones are relied on more practical and hands on knowledge and which on theoretical.
My personally an interested in these branches of biomedical engineering:
“image processing”/ “image, speech, voice recognition”/ “artificial inelegance” / “neural networks”.
I would like to know that if an engineer needs to know biology, anatomy and physiology of human body to work in these fields or not and if yes, how deep should know.

Thank you David for reading my long email and thank you in advance for you responses.

Sincerely,
A.Aghajanian

Comment by David Paribello on June 22, 2009 at 11:59am

I don't think that there is any easy answer to your question. You really need to take into consideration what you want to be doing once you've finished school and what each of the programs and their respective faculty members (would-be supervisors) have to offer. You need to interview them just as much as they need to interview you.

Companies will only differentiate the two based on the experience you gain in one or the other. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a company will particularly care if you have a masters degree in XXX. As long as it is relevant to what they do, and you show you have at least some of the skills and trades that they require and are capable of learning, you'll be a desired prospect. Another thing to consider is, what kind of person are you? Are you more of a "hands-on", wanting to design, build, etc. kind of person or are you more theoretical and mathematically inclined? Personally, I would choose BioMed. Eng. only because I am very hands-on. Do you have an engineering background? Did you enjoy doing it?

For your 2nd question, based on my own job hunting experience, you would be working some in a lab, some at a desk and some in a clinical setting. It all depends on how in-depth they go with R&D. Someone who is strictly research spends a lot of time at a desk and some in a lab. The opposite is true if you're heavily into development. If you're working for medical imaging, you can count on having some connection to a hospital network. Being in contact with physicians, doctors, surgeons, etc. really depends on the work that you do. For my masters, I was at a desk about 55%, in the lab 40%, and the remaining time I was in the OR watching surgery and asking questions and talking with the surgical team. Now that I'm working, I'm more research oriented and probably spend about 80-90% of my time at my desk with the remaining time being in the lab and meeting with other engineers, scientists and grad students. The type of engineering design work that I am doing now is different from when I did my masters.

It might be a good idea to research companies and jobs that you foresee yourself doing once you're finished to get a better idea of which program to select. Some medical robotics companies to check out are: Intuitive Surgical In., Integrated Surgical Systems, CSTAR (I've worked a bit with these people) and Stryker.

Good luck!

Comment by A.Aghajanian on June 18, 2009 at 7:04pm

Hi David,

Thank you very much for the explanation. It was useful. However, I have still some questions to ask you and I would appreciate your guidelines.

I have checked some of Masters or Phd programs of Biomedical engineering schools in Southern California and I noticed that there are different specialties that the student should choose upon starting the program. One of them is image processing & voice recognition. Now, what would be your recommendation if someone wants to get into image processing applied in medical and study 2nd Master degree, is better to study computer science to master on algorithms for intelligent systems and FPGA and so on ….as Gustavo mentioned in his comment or is better to major in Biomedical engineering with image processing emphasis. I really don’t know what difference is between a biomedical engineering who studied image processing branch with a computer scientist who does DSP and image processing. Do industries differentiate them? I would like to know so make my decision to select which graduate school.

The second question that I had is about companies that are hiring image processes engineers for medical applications. I really do not have an idea where those engineers work and who hires them. Is a lab environment with contract with hospitals or regular engineering office environment?... and are you in contact with physicians? are physicians who direct you what innovations they need to be done in medical imaging? or you are in contact with likewise engineers only?!

Any information/advice, even the one that might seem obvious to you but not to me, will be appreciated again.

Thank again David.

Comment by David Paribello on June 18, 2009 at 10:55am

Hi Aghajanian, Gustavo,

I don't mean to mislead you and must point out that I'm not overly concerned with the DSP portion of medical imaging. I do have some experience with it. It is true that you should have strong programming skills. To date c++ is an excellent starting point, but is by no means standard. One language our lab relies heavily on is Python. A couple open source software packages are: Slicer3D and Atamai Viewer. Atamai is no longer being updated, but is still quite heavily used here. Our group and others here utilize Matlab for DSP. Matlab and Python are closely related to C++. Like anything, don't throw all your eggs in one basket. The more tools you have, the better prepared you will be to tackle problems.

This field is still in its infancy - we've only begun to touch the surface. So, yes, it is expanding. Quite rapidly! I am in the image guided surgery and prevention area of medical imaging. I'll exploit CT/US/virtual imaging to help develop new surgical procedures and/or interventions. Basically, these are used to help create new visual surgical aids. It would be difficult for me to comment on starting salaries as it all depends on the geographic location, demand, competition, etc. I can tell you that I was offered a very wide range, anywhere from mid 40k - low 60k (USD). Obviously the particular company, job description and experience will influence potential offers.

I hope this helps? I'd be happy to answer any other questions?

Comment by Gustavo Espejel Salazar on June 18, 2009 at 8:51am

Hi David,

I also have interest as Aghajanian in medical imaging. I have a BS in Electonic Systems and I am looking for a MS in Computer Science in order to learn and understand algoithms for intelligent systems and apply them in medical image processing. I am a good C/C++ programmer, and also a good designer of embeddded systems with FPGAs and CPLDs. It would be great if we can talk about what are the principal fields of applications of embedded systems in the medical area of image processing.

Comment by A.Aghajanian on June 17, 2009 at 7:04pm

Hi David,

It seems that you have lots of experience in medical imaging. Indeed, I was looking for people like you which can guide me. I have BS. in Physics and MS in EE. I know a little bit about DSP and image compression and am interested in learning more and more about image procession (not as an hardware designer) just as software side of it. It is my understanding that I need to be strong in C++ programming, to know mathematical algorithms well to be able to be a good DSP/image processor engineer to find a job in industries that use image processing. Or, other software is being used in real world for coding?! Please correct me, if I am wrong.

In addition, I would like to know if this field is growoing well...if the demand for DSP & image processing engineers is going higher....what are salary rangers for beginners....
Any information that you provide, I would really appreciate since I need some guidelines to make my decision about changing my carrer toward that direction.

Thank you in advance

Comment by David Paribello on June 15, 2009 at 6:16am

Hi, I've got a B. Eng. in Engineering Physics with a specialization in photonics and nanotechnology and a M. Eng. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Medical Imaging/Robotics.

In the past I was involved with developing ways to optimize time spent in the OR specifically for minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafts (MISCABG) using the da Vinci robot by Intuitive Surgical Inc. Currently I'm helping to oversee a non-destructive method for imaging kidney stones (i.e. intact) using a custom made CT scanner. Our research group has also developed the world's first laboratory-grade instrument that accurately measures the performance of digital radiographic detectors.

Comment by Fouzai Jamil on June 13, 2009 at 4:20am

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