Events Calendar

Seminar in Biomedical Engineering

Speaker: Andrew Laine, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chair of Biomedical Engineering (Columbia University)

Talk Title: QUANTITATIVE IMAGING INFORMATICS IN COST EFFECTIVE PET IMAGING AND CLASSIFICATION OF LUNG DISEASE”

Abstract: “QUANTITATIVE IMAGING INFORMATICS IN
COST EFFECTIVE PET IMAGING AND
CLASSIFICATION OF LUNG DISEASE”

Andrew F. Laine, D.Sc.
Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Department of Radiology (Physcis)
Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Columbia University, New York, NY
USA

This talk presents a novel method for emphysema quantification, based on parametric modeling of intensity distributions in the lung and a hidden Markov measure field model to segment emphysematous regions. The framework adapts to the characteristics of an image to ensure a robust quantification of emphysema under varying CT imaging protocols and differences in parenchymal intensity distributions due to factors such as inspiration level. Compared to standard approaches, the present model involves a larger number of parameters, most of which can be estimated from data, to handle the variability encountered in lung CT scans. The method was used to quantify emphysema on a cohort of 87 subjects, with repeated CT scans acquired over a time period of 8 years using different imaging protocols. The scans were acquired approximately annually, and the data set included a total of 365 scans. The results show that the emphysema estimates produced by the proposed method have very high intra-subject correlation values. By reducing sensitivity to changes in imaging protocol, the method provides a more robust estimate than standard approaches. In addition, the generated emphysema delineations promise great advantages for regional analysis of emphysema extent and progression, possibly advancing disease subtyping, including COPD.

An important tool for studying brain disorders is positron emission tomography (PET), a nuclear imaging technology that allows for the in vivo functional characterization and quantification of blood flow, metabolism, protein distribution, and drug occupancy using radioactively tagged probes (tracers). Full quantification of PET images requires invasive arterial input function (AIF) measurement through online arterial blood sampling for the duration of the scan (1-2 hours). The AIF is used to correct images by accounting for the tracer bioavailability, which depends on an individual's physiological capacity for clearance, distribution and metabolism of the tracer. However, AIF measurement is invasive, risky, time consuming, uncomfortable for patients, and costly. Perhaps most importantly, it is impractical at the point-of-care and therefore limits clinical utility of PET. We believe an integrative multi-modal approach is possible via the amount of personalized information about the physiological and biochemical makeup of individuals available in their electronic health record (EHR). This talk will outline a novel approach to combine EHR and dynamic PET imaging data in an optimization framework based on simulated annealing to non-invasively estimate the AIF. Techniques that will be outlined are applicable across imaging modalities, organs and diseases, such as functional imaging of prostate cancer images where increasingly more complex tracers are utilized for assessment and require AIF measurement.


Biography: Andrew F. Laine, D.Sc.
BIO-SKETCH
Andrew F. Laine received his D.Sc. degree from Washington University (St. Louis) School of Engineering and Applied Science in Computer Science, in 1989 and BS degree from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). He was a Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering at the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) from 1990-1997. He joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 1997 and served as Vice Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University since 2003 - 2011. He is currently Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Heffner Biomedical Imaging at Columbia University and the Percy K. and Vida L. W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Radiology (Physics). He is a Fellow of IEEE and AIMBE, and he is currently the President of IEEE EMBS (Engineering in Biology and Medicine Society).
Professor Laine is a leader in medical imaging, image analysis and signal processing, computational biology, and biometrics research. He was the first to apply multi-resolution representations for feature analysis of digital mammography and cardiac ultrasound. He pioneered work on medical imaging that he first introduced in 1992 using nonlinear processing techniques of wavelet representations for contrast enhancement. He currently analyzes real-time video 3-D ultrasounds of the heart in an effort to better understand and treat heart disease. He is developing software that will measure the strain on the muscles of the heart in real-time 3-D and localize infarcted or ischemic tissue that could be salvaged by intervention, thus recognizing at an early stage what tissue is damaged or at risk. Director of the Heffner Biomedical Imaging Laboratory at Columbia Engineering, Laine holds two patents related to 3-D processing of ultrasound, has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, and has graduated more than 25 doctoral students in the field of medical image analysis.


Host: Stanley Yamashiro

Location: OHE 122

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta