The Master’s programme on Biomedical Image Sciences focuses on biomedical imaging, image processing and medical physics in the broadest sense. This includes image acquisition (how to obtain the best possible image of an organ or tissue of a patient), image analysis (how to extract from the image the information necessary to make a diagnosis or to plan a therapy), and visualisation (how to optimally present the image material or the analyses to the medical specialist). The field of biomedical image sciences is evolving rapidly. Medical diagnosis and treatment are increasingly supported by imaging procedures. The quality of the imaging apparatus has improved vastly over the last few decades. It is now possible to depict organs and tissues in amazing anatomical detail and in dynamic mode, but perhaps even more striking is that all kinds of functional processes in the body can be imaged and monitored. These rapid developments call for methodology to analyse and interpret the content of these images so as to arrive at an optimal diagnosis. In addition, images are increasingly used in patient treatment, not only in planning operations, but also to guide surgical or radiological interventions intraoperatively. Examples of applications are the automatic determination of the volume of a heart chamber or the automatic screening of large quantities of lung scans for possible diseases. Other examples include image-guided orthopaedic surgery or the comparison of brain structures of, for instance, psychiatric patients and healthy individuals. In radiotherapy, proper imaging can enhance the accuracy of radiation treatment planning. In addition, the appropriateness of new treatment methods can be predicted by simulation or studied using experimental models.

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