Research

Artificial Intelligence

AI will play an increasingly important role in imaging research and its clinical application. Our department focuses on the use of AI for both acquisition and post-processing in medical imaging, with the aim of developing new technologies and optimizing current techniques to improve healthcare through interdisciplinary research. We have ready access to large imaging databases for AI research. Additionally, our department is equipped with several high-end computational power GPU Clusters to facilitate AI projects. To further support AI initiatives, we have established the Departmental CUHK lab of AI in Radiology (CLAIR) or AI Laboratory. 

Our current research interests in AI encompass a wide range of areas. By actively pursuing these research interests, we will positively contribute to the advancement of AI in medical imaging and improve patient care.

Head and Neck

Our department has a long-standing world-wide reputation for Head & Neck imaging covering all diseases especially Head & Neck cancer, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Over the past 30 years we have been at the forefront of research and development in MRI and Ultrasound. We have published numerous papers, obtained competitive grants and disseminated our knowledge through national and international meetings and workshops.

Quantitative Imaging

Quantitative imaging (QI) is the extraction of quantifiable features from medical images for the assessment of normal or the severity, degree of change, or status of a disease, injury, or chronic condition relative to normal. Quantitative imaging includes the development, standardization, and optimization of anatomical, functional, and molecular imaging acquisition protocols, data analyses, display methods, and reporting structures. These features permit the validation of accurately and precisely obtained image-derived metrics with anatomically and physiologically relevant parameters, including treatment response and outcome, and the use of such metrics in research and patient care.  Several practical aspects of QI include accuracy, precision, and clinical validity. The accuracy of a measurement describes how close the measurement is to a correct answer.

Paediatrics

Our department has collaborated with different clinical and non-clinical departments on children’s research involving imaging. 

Orbital Imaging

Our research team has a special interest in MR imaging of thyroid associated orbitopathy (TAO). The imaging features provide important information about grading of disease activity and monitor treatment responses. Our recent research focus is on automatic segmentation of orbital contents and radiomic analysis for characterization of TAO for prediction of treatment response.

Breast

Mammography screening for breast cancer is being advocated in many countries but Hong Kong has not yet had a territory-wide screening program. This is part of the research focus of CUHK to investigate the efficacy of conducting such a program in Hong Kong.

Body

Obesity and related complications, such as fatty liver, have constituted a heavy burden in many societies and different treatments have been proposed to control weight. Our research team applies advanced MR water-fat & T2* imaging and MR spectroscopy for assessment of central obesity, ectopic body fat and related hepatic condition such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and pancreatic steatosis. CUHK is one of the pioneer groups to launch large scale clinical research in patients with obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using non-invasive imaging techniques validated by liver biopsy results.