From tanks to tumors

This article summarizes proceedings of the "Tanks to Tumors" workshop that was held in Arlington, Virginia, 4-5 December 2001. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering, Space and Sensor Technology Directorate; the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; and the Army Research Office. The purpose was to explore means for exploiting the technological opportunities in the integration of image processing, Web-based database management and development, and infrared sensor technology for the early detection of breast cancer. A second objective was to provide guidance to a program sponsored by the Army, with help from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Significant military advances in thermal imaging and automatic target recognition coupled with the medical understanding of abnormal vascularity (angiogenesis) offer the prospect of automated detection from one to two years earlier than other, more costly and invasive screening methods. Applications of infrared imaging and automatic target recognition image processing for early detection of breast cancer.