Current state of image processing for medical irradiation therapy

Digital image processing is gaining increasing importance in medical diagnosis and therapy. New imaging methods, such as 4D-CT, open new possibilities for the application of radiotherapy for respiratory moving tumors. Associated with 4D-CT imaging, the amount of image data is tremendously increasing and requires new tools for image analysis, which predominantly should work with as few interactions as possible. Mathematical models of motion are developed by use of spherical harmonics for safer radiotherapy with fewer side effects. Pointing to the future is the application of particle beams for irradiation.