According to physicist Jean-Marc Lina, of the Mathematical
Research Center (CRM) at Université de Montréal,
radiologists distinguish barely more than 20% of the information
revealed by a mammography. “This means that 80% of
the information is not interpreted, simply because the
eye cannot make out all the details of the image.”
In his opinion, in a few years, analysis of images in medicine
will be done mainly by digital instruments. The co-founder
of PhysNum, a research group attached to the CRM, feels
that the new technology will allow radiologists and clinicians
to make faster, more accurate diagnoses than they do now.
In recent work, Mr. Lina and his team succeeded in discovering
malignant microcalcifications on a mammography using an
analytical software program. These microcalcifications
are precursors of cancer of the breast. They then showed
the same mammography to a specialist at the CHUM, who came
to the same conclusion. For Mr. Lina, these results show
that computer technologies are getting better and better. “We
don't want to replace the radiologists; but we do want
to help them make a diagnosis by giving them a second reading.”
Since it was created in 1990, PhysNum has gone through
several changes of direction. After working on civil nuclear
reactors and artificial neural networks, in 1998 the research
group moved on to the methodology of cerebral imaging.
The work was initially done in collaboration with the imaging
team at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital
in Paris, and now continues under the umbrella of the Regroupement
neuroimagerie-Québec (RNQ), formed in February.
The RNQ brings together more than 70 member researchers
from eight research centres connected with three Québec
universities (Montréal, Sherbrooke and McGill).
One of the objectives of the RNQ is to study the functioning
of the brain in conjunction with its anatomical structures,” the
researcher specifies. The research will enable them to “see” the
brain in action. It will make it possible to better understand
how a drug modifies brain activity, for example, or how
the brain recovers after an operation.
What do physicists do in this group of neuroscience specialists?
The role of PhysNum is to design mathematical tools in
order to link together information provided by different
kinds of cerebral imaging, such as the electroencephalogram,
functional magnetic resonance imaging and optical imaging.
Each type of imaging possesses its strengths and weaknesses:
but when they work together, they can construct models
of greater spatial and temporal precision.
Researcher: Jean-Marc Lina
Telephone: (514) 343-6111, extension 4078
Email: lina@crm.umontreal.ca
Funding: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada
