3-D imaging at the heart of precision health

Imaging is central to the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases―when it's combined with artificial intelligence techniques, the future of precision health comes into sharper focus.

Salena Kitteringham - 16 September 2019

At the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute's Alberta Health Services Servier Lab, a team of University of Alberta radiologists is developing better ways to look at the heart. They're taking data from ultrasound, MRI or CT and applying artificial intelligence to process the images in 3-D.

"It is very important for surgeons operating on babies with congenital heart disease to have a very good idea of what exactly they are dealing with, which can be difficult to ascertain from a typical two-dimensional image," said Michelle Noga, associate professor in the Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging.

Researchers from the department-including Jacob Jaremko, Kumaradevan Punithakumar and Lawrence Le-are utilizing artificial intelligence to develop new methods of ultrasound image processing to transform the imaging evaluation of the heart, infant hip dysplasia, the thyroid gland and dental disease.

The U of A's medical imaging expertise is thanks in no small part to a longstanding partnership with MIC medical imaging. These radiologists provide clinical imaging services at the University of Alberta Hospital and many other Edmonton sites. They also support research programs, provide most of the clinical teaching to three residency programs-diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and pediatric radiology-and offer fellowship programs to train subspecialists in diagnostic and interventional radiology.