The present work shows an application of the Chan-Vese algorithm for the semi-automatic segmentation of anatomical structures of interest (lungs and lung tumor) in 4DCT images of the thorax, as well as their three-dimensional reconstruction. The segmentation and reconstruction were performed on 10 CT images, which make up an inspiration-expiration cycle. The maximum displacement was calculated for the case of the lung tumor using the reconstructions of the onset of inspiration, the onset of expiration, and the voxel information. The proposed method achieves appropriate segmentation of the studied structures regardless of their size and shape. The three-dimensional reconstruction allows us to visualize the dynamics of the structures of interest throughout the respiratory cycle. In the future, it is expected to have more evidence of the good performance of the proposed method and to have the feedback of the clinical expert, since the knowledge of the characteristics of anatomical structures, such as their dimension and spatial position, helps in the planning of Radiotherapy (RT) treatments, optimizing the radiation dose to cancer cells and minimizing it in healthy organs. Therefore, the information found in this work may be of interest for the planning of RT treatments.

Cardiovascular imaging analysis is a useful tool for the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases. Imaging techniques allow non-invasive quantitative assessment of cardiac function, providing morphological, functional and dynamic information. Recent technological advances in ultrasound have made it possible to improve the quality of patient treatment, thanks to the use of modern image processing and analysis techniques. However, the acquisition of these dynamic three-dimensional (3D) images leads to the production of large volumes of data to process, from which cardiac structures must be extracted and analyzed during the cardiac cycle. Extraction, three-dimensional visualization, and qualification tools are currently used within the clinical routine, but unfortunately require significant interaction with the physician. These elements justify the development of new efficient and robust algorithms for structure extraction and cardiac motion estimation from three-dimensional images. As a result, making available to clinicians new means to accurately assess cardiac anatomy and function from three-dimensional images represents a definite advance in the investigation of a complete description of the heart from a single examination. The aim of this article is to show what advances have been made in 3D cardiac imaging by ultrasound and additionally to observe which areas have been studied under this imaging modality.

Vascular access in hemodialysis is one of the pillars of success of the program. Therefore, efforts should be directed firstly to achieve the greatest number of vascular accesses of the arteriovenous fistula type, and secondly to reduce complications related to access cannulation in order to functionally preserve the access. Several strategies have been described to improve this last aspect; this article describes the use of ultrasound to improve the probability of successful cannulation in cases considered difficult by the nursing team.

In Costa Rica, there is no explicit recommendation from the competent authorities for the use of a specific phantom, so experts must explore what suppliers offer, among which the Normi Mam Digital phantom from PTW stands out. This article presents the results of the dosimetry and image quality control applied to the Normi Mam Digital phantom to validate it as equipment that complies with the recommendations of the Human Health Series No. 17. The results obtained were satisfactory, proving that the equipment complies with the tolerances recommended by international health bodies.

Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) has been widely used and studied in blunt and penetrating trauma for the past 3 decades. Prior to FAST, invasive procedures such as diagnostic peritoneal lavage and exploratory laparotomy were commonly used to diagnose intra-abdominal injuries. Today, the FAST examination has evolved into a more comprehensive study of the abdomen, heart, thorax, inferior vena cava, among others, with many variations in technique, protocols and interpretation. Trauma management strategies such as laparotomy, endoscopy, computed tomography angiography, angiographic intervention, serial imaging and clinical observation have also changed over the years. This technique, at times, has managed to replace computed tomography and peritoneal lavage diagnosis, without producing delays in the surgical procedure. As such, the relationship between the patient’s clinical information and the results of the exam should be guided to guide therapeutic approaches in difficult to access settings such as intensive care units in war zones, rural or remote locations where other imaging methods are not available. This review will discuss the evolution of the FAST exam to its current status and evaluate its evolving role in the acute management of the trauma patient.

In recent years, ghost imaging has made important progress in the field of remote sensing imaging. In order to promote the application of solar ghost imaging in this field, this paper studies the computational ghost imaging based on the incoherent light of blackbody radiation. Firstly, according to the intensity probability density function of blackbody radiation, the expression of contrast-to-noise ratio (R_CN) describing the quality of computational ghost imaging is obtained, and then the random speckle pattern simulating blackbody radiation is generated by computer with the idea of slice sampling, finally, a digital light projector is used to modulate and generate the random modulated light that simulates the blackbody radiation light source, and this light source is used to realize the computational ghost image of the reflective object in the experiment. The “ghost image” of the object under different measurement frame numbers is reconstructed, and the contrast-to-noise ratio describing the imaging quality is measured. The results show that the image quality is relatively good when the average intensity (gray) of the randomly modulated speckle is about 160. On the other hand, the contrast-to-noise ratio of the image gradually increases from 0.8795 to 1.241, 1.516, 1.755, 2.100 and 2.371 as the number of measurement frames increases from 2,000 to 4,000, 6,000, 8,000, 12,000 and 20,000, respectively. The experimental results are basically consistent with the theoretical analysis. The results are of great significance for the application of ghost imaging with incoherent light, such as sunlight, which is approximately regarded as blackbody radiation, in the field of remote imaging.