1.1 Medical Imaging

The enormous development in detectors for Medical Imaging has been largely due to contributions from the technological innovations in other fields of physics, such as solid state physics, space physics and high energy Physics (HEP). In particular the latter has greatly contributed greatly to the development of new types of detectors, particularly for ionizing radiation. However, it is extremely important to recall that a detector for medical applications is a " special detector", the performance specifications being related to patient comfort, diagnosis and eventual therapy. In this respect, some specific concerns will be presented in the next session.

Table 1.1 lists the major fields in medical diagnosis together with the parameters measured and the specific medical applications. The progress in the last twenty years has only been possible with the advent of integrated electronics and fast computers. This has permitted the shift from analog to digital imaging, with more quantitative information being available for diagnosis and prognosis.