Medical imaging and physiological modelling: linking physics and biology

Medical image analysis is increasingly providing a sophisticated set of tools for processing measurement inputs into clinically relevant outputs, although this is, on the whole, completed without consideration of the underlying physiology. In contrast, physiological modelling provides a predictive tool based on a physical and biological understanding of the underlying processes. In this editorial, we discuss the possibility of integrating physiological modelling data with medical images and measurements with the goal of providing new types of physiologically meaningful information with increased clinical relevance.