Automatic understanding of medical images as a new paradigm for advanced computer aiding of medical investigations

Medical procedures based on this or that use of various images have become a subject of great importance and interest for computer science. This is because contemporary medical diagnostics is increasingly based on various forms of imaging. Today, technologies collectively labeled as Medical Imaging represent a leading source of information used both in contemporary treatment techniques and research, whether in medicine, biology or biomedical engineering. This information may concern both the morphology of the organs analyzed and their function, as some types of medical imaging support the presentation of an image of functional (and not just morphological) properties of a given organ: PET or fMRI. Images combining good morphological imaging (e.g. CT) with a modern topographic functional examination (e.g. PET) are increasingly used allows one to formulate conclusions on the correct or pathological course of biological processes running within the observed structures. Nowadays, such a combined set of image information increasingly frequently forms the foundation for the scientific reasoning or the process of diagnostic reasoning in the present meaning of the term.