THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Dale Miles - Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, USA
Digital Radiography: Out of the Classroom, Into the Community

Digital radiographic technology has proliferated in the marketplace, while the education of dentists and their personnel in these methods has lagged behind. The manufacturers are not providing the adequate training and thus, it is up to the educational institutions to bridge this training gap. Despite the numerous systems available, clinicians have been very slow to adopt the methods. This means that there is time to train the next generation of clinicians properly if we begin now, and create effective programs.
This presentation will outline the various programs and educational tools we have created at Indiana University School of Dentistry to train the "end-user", the dental auxiliary, and the "end-purchaser", the dental students and state's clinicians, in the methods of digital image acquisition and digital image processing so that they will adopt the technology, and be proficient in it. It will also discuss some of the "perceived" impediments to clinician acceptance. The introduction of laboratory sessions in the pre-clinical curriculum for dental and dental auxiliary students will be shown. The use of digital techniques in the predoctoral and postdoctoral programs will be presented. Examples of the laboratory activities will be shared. The creation, successes and limitations of the continuing education program called the "Electronic Office Workshop" for mid-west dentists will also be presented. Current and projected research efforts to enhance the tools IUSD will make available to the IU alumni will be outlined. Finally, plans and timelines for improving the teaching of these skills, and increasing their use will be discussed and debated with the participants.

Dr. André Mol - Assistant Professor University of Rochester Eastman Dental Center
Digital Quantitative Radiography: Tools and Toys

A meaningful application of quantitative radiography requires an understanding of the fundamentals of the imaging chain, which now include digital image processing and analysis in 2D and 3D. One of the most critical and challenging phases of the diagnostic imaging process is the extraction and quantification of relevant information from relatively complex images. Digital techniques provide novel approaches to visualization and registration of dental images and innovative tools for segmentation, classification and quantification of radiographic information. New developments have resulted in attainable high performance systems providing precise measurements with the click of a button. A high responsibility rests on the scientist and the clinician to further develop or select those quantitative techniques that are or promise to be useful and accurate.

Dr. Max A. Viergever - Professor, Image Sciences Institute, Utrecht University and University Hospital Utrecht, The Netherlands
Volumetric Visualization for Medical Diagnosis and Intervention.

Volumetric visualization plays a role of increasing importance in medical imaging. In off-line diagnosis, advanced algorithms offering maximal functionality can be employed. Most patient studies, however, require some form of interactive visualization in preprocessing the data for analysis, and sometimes even in the acquisition phase. This puts high demands on the efficiency of algorithms. The time aspects are even more critical in medical interventions, where high quality visualization is needed within seconds (surgery) or even subsecond (endoscopy, catheter treatment).
The lecture will discuss, guided by a selection of clinical applications, the requirements that data acquisition and preprocessing (coregistration of multimodality images, segmentation, simulation) have to fulfil; the coupling of preprocessing and visualization; and the strategy to choose the appropriate visualization algorithms and tools. The presentation will contain a variety of imaging studies from clinical practice.

Dr. Ann Wenzel - Professor, University of Aarhus School of Dentistry, Aarhus, Denmark
Digital Picture Archiving and Communication for the dentist.

Digital imaging, radiographic and clinical, has conquered the dental clinic. When large amounts of digital data are gathered, the dentist has a need for quick storage, easy access, rapid display, stable communication, and safe archiving in a so-called PACS - in the radiographic field reduced to RIS (Radiological Information System).
Standardization is mandatory for reliable image storage and inter-clinic communication, so-called IS&C (Image Save & Carry) standards. Should images be stored in e.g. TIFF and texts as ASCII, or should all information be pooled in mammoth definitions such as DICOM?
Data compression may provide faster access and transmission and less storage needs. High resolution may be a demand in image acquisition, but should information then be thrown away in destructive compressions such as JPEG, or is the need skyscrapers for uncompressed data? Even if it does not affect immediate diagnostic accuracy, the irreversible image compression may, in addition, impede the use of the image in programs for computer-assisted interpretation.

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