2. Technical and scientific challenges of medical imaging

Depending on the techniques used, medical imaging examinations can provide information on organ anatomy (size, volume, location, shape of any lesions, etc.) or function (physiology, metabolism, etc.). The former is known as "structural imaging", the latter as "functional imaging".

Among the structural imaging methods most commonly used in medicine are those based on X-rays (conventional radiology, digital radiology, computed tomography, angiography, etc.) or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ultrasound and optical methods (light rays).

Functional imaging methods are also highly varied. They include nuclear medicine techniques based on the emission of positrons (PET) or gamma rays (SPECT) by radioactive tracers which, after injection, concentrate in regions of intense metabolic activity, electrophysiological techniques which measure changes...