Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, November 16, 2015
Quantitative Imaging Initiatives: What, Why, Who, and How?
Edward F. Jackson, PhD, FAAPM, FACR
Professor & Chair, Department of Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI 53705 - USA
Over the past decade, there has been an increasing focus on quantitative imaging biomarkers
(QIBs). To evolve from qualitative imaging assessments to the use of QIBs requires the development
and standardization of data acquisition, data analysis, and data display techniques, as well as
appropriate reporting structures. As such, successful implementation of QIB applications relies
heavily on expertise from the fields of medical physics, radiology, statistics, and informatics as well
as collaboration from vendors of imaging acquisition, analysis, and reporting systems. When
successfully implemented, QIBs will provide image-derived metrics with known bias and variance
that can be validated with anatomically and physiologically relevant measures, including treatment
response (and the heterogeneity of that response) and outcome. Such non-invasive quantitative
measures can then be used effectively in clinical and translational research and will contribute
significantly to the goals of precision medicine. This presentation will focus on 1) overviewing the
potential for QIB applications, 2) discussing key challenges in the implementation of QIB
applications, and 3) providing overviews of efforts to address such challenges from federal,
scientific, and professional organizations, including, but not limited to, the RSNA, ESR, NCI, FDA, and
NIST.