Abstract
Nicholas Ayache, Director of Research at INRIA, presented the advances in medicine and surgery brought about by medical imaging and digital modeling of the human body. New imaging techniques (scanner, MRI, PET, etc.) provide images with distinct and complementary characteristics. These images can be merged using mathematical algorithms to produce 3D or 4D images that give much more information than the separate images. This improves diagnosis and provides support for drug or surgical therapy: planning, simulation, monitoring and follow-up. N. Ayache presented numerous examples of applications: computer-assisted neurosurgery and liver surgery, algorithmic anatomy of the brain or heart, monitoring the evolution of tumors, electromechanical models of the heart with simulations of pathologies, etc. The seminar concluded with a presentation of new in vivo microscopic imaging techniques, enabling, for example, real-time exploration of lung alveoli at the level of individual cells.
