Binary classification of dead detector elements in flat panel detectors using convolutional neural networks.

Medical physicists routinely perform quality assurance on digital detection systems, part of which involves the testing of flat panel detectors. Flat panels may degrade over time as an increasing number of individual detector elements begin to malfunction. The pixels that correspond to these elements are corrected for using information elsewhere in the detector system, however these corrected elements still constitute a loss in image quality for the system as a whole.

Dead detector element detection in flat panels using convolutional neural networks.

Background: Independent testing of image quality metrics is important to provide an unbiased determination of medical imaging performance. Due to the underreporting by vendors of dead detector elements, which are elements that do not function but may be corrected using information from surrounding pixels, the health of all imaging detector elements is infrequently reported and extraordinarily difficult to independently determine or verify through traditional means without vendor largesse. In many instances, dead detector data, or dead pixel maps, are only available at the discretion of the vendors, which renders these data inaccessible to many medical physicists.

Orientation of the round window membrane: A normative study of inner ear anatomical orientation using 2D projections of 3D volumes.

Introduction: Orientation of the Round Window Membrane (RWM) is an important metric to establish if utilized as a potential access for targeted delivery of magnetically guided nanomedicines to the inner ear. Orientation with respect to an internal reference frame (such as the planes defined by the semicircular-canals [SCC]) may provide an internally consistent basis if the basis is orthogonal and consistent (from patient to patient).

Materials And Methods: Utilizing a micro computed tomography (CT), 20 temporal bones are scanned for anatomical information.

Targeted Ganglionated Plexi Denervation Using Magnetic Nanoparticles Carrying Calcium Chloride Payload.

Objectives: This study sought to develop a novel targeted delivery therapy to ablate the major atrial ganglionated plexi (GP) using magnetic nanoparticles carrying a CaCl payload.

Background: Prior studies indicated the role of hyperactivity of the cardiac autonomic nervous system in the genesis of atrial fibrillation.

Methods: Twenty-eight male mongrel dogs underwent a bilateral thoracotomy.

Comparison of computed tomography shielding design methods using RadShield.

Purpose: To comprehensively compare four computed tomography (CT) scanner shielding design methods using RadShield, a Java-based graphical user interface (GUI).

Methods: RadShield, a floor plan based GUI, was extended to calculate air kerma and barrier thickness using accepted methods from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), the British Institute of Radiology, and a method using isodose maps, for spatially distributed points beyond user defined barriers. For a stationary CT scanner, the overall shielding recommendations found using RadShield were also compared to those found by American Board of Radiology certified diagnostic medical physicists using the conventional NCRP dose length product method and the isodose map method.

RadShield: semiautomated shielding design using a floor plan driven graphical user interface.

The purpose of this study was to introduce and describe the development of RadShield, a Java-based graphical user interface (GUI), which provides a base design that uniquely performs thorough, spatially distributed calculations at many points and reports the maximum air-kerma rate and barrier thickness for each barrier pursuant to NCRP Report 147 methodology. Semiautomated shielding design calculations are validated by two approaches: a geometry-based approach and a manual approach. A series of geometry-based equations were derived giv-ing the maximum air-kerma rate magnitude and location through a first derivative root finding approach.

A Two-Magnet System to Push Therapeutic Nanoparticles.

Magnetic fields can be used to direct magnetically susceptible nanoparticles to disease locations: to infections, blood clots, or tumors. Any single magnet always attracts (pulls) ferro- or para-magnetic particles towards it. External magnets have been used to pull therapeutics into tumors near the skin in animals and human clinical trials.