Advances in Computer, Information Sciences for Molecular Imaging, Nuclear Medicine Showcased at Nuclear Medicine Meeting

The explosive growth in the power of digital computers used for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine will be showcased at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's (SNM; Reston, VA, USA) 54th annual meeting in Washington, DC, USA.

SNM, the world's largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, debuts its InfoSNM program, which will provide both educational programs on information science and technology and innovative uses of computers in research and education as well as in the clinic. "The use of computers and information science--and how they are essential to clinical data processing, image data management, education, and science for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine--will be featured at InfoSNM,” said SNM's scientific program chair Dr. Frederic H. Fahey.

InfoSNM will offer computer demonstrations by vendors, computer classrooms used for commercial presentations and general computer education, and computer-based presentations on the use of information science and technology that has been developed in laboratories, according to Dr. Fahey.

New research for the clinic or research lab will be presented in six computer presentation sessions. Topics include: the development of a positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) database of patient information and scanning parameters; clinical trial data collection and image analysis using hand-held technology; a tumor metrics measurement and tracking system; using simulation to research ideas in emission tomography; dementia evaluation using automated software-based age/sex-matched normal database comparison; four-dimensional (4D) phantoms for medical imaging simulation of mice and men; coregistration and visualization of cardiac CT studies and dynamic PET studies using scene-graphs, direct volume rendering and 2D transfer functions; and comparative evaluation of serial hybrid imaging studies for quantitative assessment of therapeutic response.

Demonstration programs will also be presented at the meeting, providing information on searching PubMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine service that offers more than 16 million citations from Medline and other life science journals; freeware imaging display programs; open-source tools for imaging research; and designing an ergonomic reading room.

SNM is an international scientific and professional organization of more than 16,000 members designed to promote the science, technology, and practical applications of molecular and nuclear imaging to diagnose, manage, and treat diseases in women, men, and children.


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Society of Nuclear Medicine