Potential of Epidemiological Imaging for Image Analysis and Visualization Applications: A Brief Review

Recently, large population-based studies gain increasing focus in the research community. Epidemiological studies acquire numerous data by means of questionnaires and examinations. Many of these studies also collect imaging data, for instance, magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasonography from hundreds or even thousands of participants. Here, we consider several on-going epidemiological studies conducted in Europe as well as challenges of subsequent image analysis and visualization of heterogeneous data, which were obtained within these studies. In particular, the main focus is on airway extraction tasks and the visual analytics problems. Available solutions and future directions for computer science specialists are presented and analyzed in terms of user-friendliness, speed, and efficiency.