Reviewer: William J Davros, PhD, ABMP (D)(Cleveland Clinic Foundation)
Description: This book is designed to cover the full scope of image processing as it relates to medical applications. It uses mathematics as a tool to assist with concept understanding without being overbearing with derivations and is well illustrated with line drawings, gray scale drawings and images, and color images. It also includes three well-done appendixes, a solid bibliography, and an exhaustive index. Of particular note is the inclusion of computer-based activities meant to reinforce learning objectives.
Purpose: The purpose is to prepare junior and senior undergraduates and first-year graduate students to be end-users of image processing and analysis technology. It seeks to deliver on this purpose not only instructing through prose, but also through a wealth of examples, exercises, and computer-based activities. It uses mathematics only when doing so supports broader conceptual understanding of the topic. This book seeks to not only explain how to do a particular process, but to give insight as to why it is important that the process be done.
Audience: The author intends this book for biomedical engineers, computer scientists, radiological scientists, and physicists. However, the quality is such that the audience could be extended to include medical physicists, digital artists, digital animators, and art restoration professionals. It also would be appropriate for graduate students in these disciplines who have an interest in the mathematical and computer-based manipulation of all types of imaging. It does use limited mathematical equations that involve calculus, linear algebra, convolutions and summations, so readers should be well versed in intermediate mathematics.
Features: Part one, "Introduction to Image Processing" is actually more of an introduction to medical imaging than to image processing. Chapters cover imaging systems, medical images obtained with ionizing radiation, and medical images obtained with non-ionizing radiation. This is the weakest section in the book, but it does put forward the method by which medical images are acquired and as such has a place in the book. Part two, on fundamental concepts of image processing, is a tour de force explanation of image processing in the spatial and frequency domains. I particularly like the section on Fourier transforms and their uses in image processing. This section is loaded with fantastic examples that clearly drive home the messages about image improvement through processing in either the spatial or frequency domains. Part three, on image analysis, extends the concepts of image processing to higher order operations that can markedly alter images and three-dimensional objects in image space as well as characterize images into various parameters. There is a nice section on morphologic changes and how these operators perform their functions. There is also an outstanding section on image segmentation that has continued to be an area of intense interest from a research and clinical utility point of view. The final part, on medical applications and ongoing developments, consists of two chapters. The first of these provides excellent real-life examples of the clinical utility of image processing, nicely tying the concepts taught earlier in the book to their logical conclusion. The last chapter is a bit disappointing, but after the superb effort evident in the previous chapters, the author has some license for a tired finish. The book concludes with three strong appendixes that nicely organize the mathematics of much of the book in a single location for easy and in-depth study. These include topics such as Fourier transforms, set theory, Boolean operators, probability, and concepts related to shape and texture.
Assessment: This book is well written, hangs together as a complete work, is coherent and easy to read, and makes good on the claims set forth in the preface and introduction. It also has a broader audience than the author has modestly set forward. The examples, illustrations, and chapter constructions are outstanding. The two middle sections are the heart of the book and the index is useful and complete. This book is a must for anyone going into image processing, period.
