Image analysis in critical care medicine.

Computer techniques have been developed to image, noninvasively, anatomical structure, vessel blood flow, and physiological and biochemical functions, utilizing a number of physical principles. These devices, though costly, appear to provide sufficient diagnostic benefits to warrant their use in some critical care units. The emergence of x-ray, digital subtraction angiography, ultrasound, emission and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging techniques and their medical applications are described. It is shown that the physical variables measured by these techniques are sensitive to disease conditions and, thus, their incorporation in critical care procedures are likely in the future.