Image processing of medical infrared images for monitoring local conditions during radiotherapy

Abstract

Radiation therapy (radiotherapy) is a valuable technique used in medicine for cancer treatment. It is a fact that many of the incidents and accidents involve only partial body irradiation and the extremities are the most frequently injured parts of the body. As it is still not general practice to use infrared (IR) thermographic imaging for the more precise diagnosis of local injuries, the availability of these techniques is very rarely mentioned in the publications. In this paper attention is drawn to what was introduced more than a decade ago, namely the use of IR thermographic procedures in diagnosing local radiation injuries. Further justification for introducing these techniques is that, in the relevant cases, the assessment of absorbed radiation dose through the widely known biological indicators or biological dosimetry assays is not always possible.

Keywords:

• image processing
• medical infrared images
• monitoring
• radiotherapy