Our primary research interest centers on advancing medical imaging techniques to address the challenges in medicine including early detection of diseases, high-precision therapeutics, and accurate prognosis. In particular, we have a keen interest in X-ray computed tomography (CT) for its applications to the aforementioned medical challenges.
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SOFT (Safe, Optimized, Functional, and Task-specific) CT is our strategy to seek solutions to them. Safe CT reflects the need of every effort to reduce imaging radiation dose to the patient. Low-dose CT is perhaps a more commonly used term for this. We investigate novel approaches that can provide acceptable quality images at substantially reduced radiation dose. Most CT image reconstruction algorithms basically assume ideal line integrals of X-ray transform. However, there exist a host of physical factors that affect the X-ray projection measurement. Optimized CT emphasizes our effort to model the transform more accurately and to correct for the factors appropriately. CT has long been recognized as an anatomic imaging modality. While it is true that CT dominantly provides anatomic information of the body, it is likely that CT can expand its contribution to the functional imaging field. Recent progress in the development of nanoparticles for contrast agent and in the development of spectral CT systems paves a road to the functional CT. Largely thanks to the advanced technologies of flat-panel detectors for X-ray, CT has been increasingly and widely used in many applications. Each application has its specific purpose of using CT, and the CT system therefore has to be tailored to the specific purpose. Task-specific CT technology is the last but not the least strategic item of our research in CT.
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Our research interests also include: Other imaging modalities such as SPECT, PET, or MRI; Modality-fusion not only between the imaging methods but also between imaging and other area like radiation therapy; Novel techniques to increase the tumor control probability in X-ray radiation therapy; Modern radiation therapies including particle radiation therapy, and so on. |