Workshop on Optical Medical Imaging

Scientists from Optical Technology, Biochemical Science, and Statistical Engineering Divisions hosted a lecture series and workshop entitled “Optical Biomedical Imaging for ‘Bench to Bedside’” at NIST on Aug 17-20. The goal of the workshop was to identify current trends, scientific issues, and important measurement needs in optical medical imaging.

Optical imaging methods are advancing rapidly in medicine, and it is important to ensure that good metrological practices and standards are developed and promulgated early in the process. Currently, certain conventional and emerging techniques used for real time, in vivo clinical imaging, and molecular in vivo imaging, lack methods to ensure accurate quantitative results. The workshop aimed to address specific measurement challenges in such key subjects as photon migration in tissue, interaction mechanisms of photons and biological mass, sources and contrasts, endogenous and exogenous bio-markers, and biomedical optical imaging in multimodal platforms. Invited contributors included experts from Tel Aviv University, Ohio State University, Catholic University of America, the National Cancer Institute, and the Food and Drug Administration.

As a result of the workshop, NIST will explore various opportunities to address these needs. These opportunities may include leading collaborations for standards development, developing novel tools to better quantify medical imaging, such as hyperspectral imaging and dynamic tissue phantoms, or otherwise advancing measurement science for health-related imaging.