**1. Introduction**

Present status of the globe, special issue for the international community in this 21st century struggle against COVID-19 has been taken a tremendous place by the greatest health, economy, education, and food challenges that are denigrating normal process safety lifestyle of human, animal, agriculture, etc. [1]. Simultaneous global emergency situation handled by World Health Organization (WHO), policymakers, research center, institutions, universities, and scientific societies that are still finding affordable and practical solutions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management to abate affected and death rate, manage patients in each stage of the disease control, secure quality and safety for patients, front liners, healthcare workers, and general people by accurate diagnosis kits, respirators, face shields,

ventilators, intensive care units (ICUs), personal protective equipment (PPE), medical devices, medicine, and vaccines [2, 3].

COVID-19 disrupted medical services more than half (53%) of the countries for hypertension treatment; 49% for treatment for diabetes and diabetes-related complications; 42% for cancer treatment, 31% for cardiovascular emergencies, and almost two-thirds (63%) for rehabilitation services [4].

In a devastating unexpected situation of COVID-19 hampered and increased higher risk for cancer patients, doctors, medical physicists, nurses, and other staff to ensure safe, sanitization, segregation, face/body shielding maintain social distance, and prepare radiotherapy infrastructures [5]. Clinical medical physicists approach who are working clinical services, education, informatics, equipment performance evaluation, quality assurance, treatment planning, brachytherapy, in vivo dosimetry, motion management, etc. mitigate infection risk to staff [6, 7]. Medical physicists formulated certain strategies based on published evidence to help to formulate their own protocols to carry out planning and treatment considering time, distance, and shielding it remains unchanged for COVID-19 [8].

Biomedical engineers are preserving life in different ways to fortify during COVID-19 pandemic for healthcare infrastructure, imaging modalities, medical equipment designed to avail contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for causing COVID-19 infections, rapid and reliable test kits, face mask, face shield, ventilator, oximeter, better nasal swabs, 3D printing, artificial intelligence applications, and vaccine development [9, 10].

On the other hand, human history has high death rate for some diseases per year. According to WHO report in 2019, the top 10 causes of death accounted for 55% of the 55.4 million deaths worldwide [11]. Leading causes of death globally are illustrated below (**Figure 1**).

The two fields of human health and medical imaging are inextricably linked one another. The use of high-quality imaging modalities is essential for accurate diagnosis [12]. Early detection and accurate assessment of lesions are the goals of various image modalities. The properties of imaging modalities and methodologies contribute to produce an image for clinical visibility [13]. The use of digital processing is a powerful tool to quickly analyze enhanced/intensified images [14]. Nowadays

**Figure 1.** *Leading causes of death globally [11].*

*Digital Image Processing and Its Application for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Area DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100619*

artificial neural networks and deep learning applied for better understanding medical image analysis [15].

Significant image processing can assist to provide accurate anatomical information that can always play a vital role in early-stage detection, reducing death rates, and take better treatment decisions [16].

The goal of this empirical study is to show that there is a significant link between medical physics and biomedical engineering with digital image processing, as well as how to apply image processing techniques in this area and what types of benefits can be obtained. So, this is the fundamental concern for introducing the medical physics and biomedical engineering working field, what sorts of modalities are used here for diagnosis and treatment reasons, what essential features can be seen in various modalities images, and which image processing techniques are preferred.

### **2. Medical physics**

The application of physics to medicine is known as medical physics which encompasses therapeutic radiological physics, medical, nuclear physics, and medical health physics [17]. A fundamental component of medical physics is the requirement for broad imaging facilities and accurate explanations [16]. The journey of medical physics and imaging began with the discovery of X-ray that is known as medicine in radiation [18]. Radiation therapy (RT) was first used to treat cancer over a century ago. Since then, enormous progress has been made to improve the effectiveness of this modality and minimize side effects [19]. Radiation therapy is a form of radiation medicine that consists of external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy that is used to treat a variety of cancer cases. Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) is a cancer treatment that uses high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors [20].

Various machines have been used to produce radiation beams throughout the history of radiation therapy [21]. High-energy X-ray or electron beams used for cancer treatment that is known as external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) [22]. Brachytherapy is a treatment in which radioactive material is implanted into patient body.

One type of radiation therapy used to treat cancer is brachytherapy or internal radiation therapy [23].

Stereotactic irradiation, total body irradiation, total skin electron irradiation, intraoperative radiotherapy, endocavitary rectal irradiation, conformal radiotherapy, image guided radiotherapy, adaptive radiotherapy, respiratory gated radiotherapy, and PET/CT scanners and PET/CT image fusion are some special techniques use for treated cancer to achieve better outcome [24].

#### **2.1 Importance of digital image processing: Medical physics in radiation therapy**

Medical imaging, tumor localization, skin reference marks, treatment planning, virtual simulation are key parts of radiation treatment [25].

Medical diagnosis for detection, staging, grading, treatment planning before radiation therapy, treatment guidance and verification, evaluation of response to therapy, and treatment follow-up is involved with imaging of tumors and surrounding normal tissues [26].

#### *2.1.1 Tumor localization*

In oncology, benign, pre-malignant, and malignant tumors are the most prevalent forms. Early imaging techniques aid in the reduction of cancer-related morbidity. Pre-processing, segmentation, and morphological operation are the three stages of tumor image processing [27]. The goal of this image processing is always to determine tumor location [28]. The main concern of segmentation, detection, and extraction of tumor area from imaging modalities images that helps to perform radiologists or clinical experts for treatment planning [29].

#### *2.1.2 Treatment planning*

Treatment planning is a computerized procedure that employs a variety of technologies to update treatment outcomes [30]. Image datasets are required by treatment planning systems in order to construct a detailed plan for each beamline route for delivering radiation. The complex programming for multi-leaf collimator (MLC) leaf is sequencing to shape the beam around critical structures during dose delivery [31]. From the initial characterization of tumor volumes through the development of digitally reconstructed radiographs for patient treatment setup and treatment verification, medical images such as CT images are used in the treatment planning process. CT enables tumor imaging as well as the reconstruction of threedimensional (3D) anatomical information, which is then utilized to create patient models with all of the relevant anatomic, geometric, and electron density data. CT has become the method of choice for 3D treatment planning due to these characteristics, as well as its widespread availability and inexpensive cost [32].

#### *2.1.3 Virtual simulation*

The virtual simulator is a software program that helps with the geometric component of 3D radiation treatment planning [33].

After completion of treatment planning, the patient is directly placed at the LINAC. The actual position is registered by the LINAC-based imaging units [34].

It is obvious that without a high-quality image, all radiation treatments will proceed incorrectly, potentially increasing cancer mortality. As a result, image processing is becoming increasingly important in radiation oncology.

#### **3. Biomedical engineering**

The application of engineering ideas and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare reasons is known as biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic) [35]. BME's areas of expertise include bioinstrumentation, biomaterials, biomechanics, cell, tissue, and genetic engineering, clinical engineering, medical imaging, orthopedic, and rehabilitation engineering [36].

#### **3.1 Importance of digital image processing in biomedical engineering**

The concern of BME is the acquisition of images for diagnostic and therapeutic applications where use advanced sensors and computer technology [37]. A set of anatomical information structures provide by a biomedical images helps to investigate and visualize for treatment [38]. Accurate implant, prepare the biomedical device, joint, and other organ replacement is required good quality images.

#### *3.1.1 Bioinformatics*

The growing usage of medical equipment has resulted in a tremendous amount of data being generated, including image data. Bioinformatics solutions give an

#### *Digital Image Processing and Its Application for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Area DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100619*

effective way to picture data processing in order to recover information of interest and combine several data sources for knowledge extraction; additionally, image processing techniques aid scientists and physicians in diagnosis and treatment [39]. Some bioimage informatics are mentioned here: high-throughput and high-content analysis of cellular phenotypes, Atlas building for model organisms, understanding the dynamic processes in cells and living organisms, joint analysis using both bioimage informatics and other bioinformatics methods [40].

## *3.1.2 Biomechanics*

Medical imaging is crucial in the construction of anatomically realistic, cuttingedge finite element models that can be employed in biomechanical research [41]. In the discipline of biomechanics, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is being used. However, because DIC is based on a number of key assumptions, it necessitates rigorous optimization to provide accurate and precise findings [42].

#### *3.1.3 Biomaterial and tissue engineering*

Repair, replacement, restoration of hard and soft tissues continue to grow as the population ages using biomaterials require to investigate internal anatomy so imaging has been taken a crucial role in this field [43].

### *3.1.4 Genetic engineering*

Molecular imaging offers a novel way to observe cellular and molecular phenomena such as cell survival, migration, proliferation, and even differentiation at the whole-organism level without causing harm. For monitoring cell grafts in vivo, a variety of imaging methods and methodologies used for investigating the condition [43].

## *3.1.5 Biomedical optics*

Techniques, equipment, instruments, probes, computer algorithms and software, and clinical trials make up the discipline of biomedical optical imaging [44]. Without medical imaging modalities, image processing medical physics and biomedical engineering is impossible.
