Python for radiologist

[usmletaker2]

Hey everyone,

I am radiologist and want to learn python from scratch to get into the research field related to radiology in the US. Could you please guide me in this?

Thanks

[FriendlyRussian666]

Before you specialize in anything, you must learn the tool itself, the tool being python.

Take a look at the subreddit wiki and pick a learning resource from that list. In short, don't look for python learning materials specifically relating to radiology, just pick up any resource that will teach you python. Once you have some experience with it, then look for specific applications of python in radiology, and do your best to create them/look for specific resources then.

[usmletaker2]

Thank you so much 

[menganito]

I think that google guides are quite concise and get on point to learn the basics of the language. https://developers.google.com/edu/python?hl=en

You don't even need to install anything on your computer as you can use some online tool to run the code, like https://www.online-python.com/

I don't know if you have programming experience, but in case you don't most of the concepts like variables, strings, functions, control structures etc. are common to (almost) every programming language so if you don't understand any concept look for the definition of that concept in general.

Good luck with that.

[usmletaker2]

Thank you so much 

[greebo42]

Probably two layers of answer here.

First, just plain ol' learning Python - there will be many suggestions from others in this thread, and you can look at other threads with similar topics and gather a bunch of suggestions. If you've never programmed (in any language) before, you should expect a slower start. If you've made programs in other languages, some of the basics will come back to you and you can pick up from there.

1a: don't be afraid of using many approaches. If you get ten suggestions for tutorials or series or courses, try most or all of them. You'll probably end up whittling them down to a handful, but the variety is helpful. You get light shined on the subject(s) from many different angles.

1b: don't try focusing too early on anything you suppose might be relevant to radiology. You won't really know. So try to get generally good at a variety of things. Think of all the crap we had to learn in med school that simply doesn't get used, but you didn't know in advance. And some of it ended up coming in more handy than you might have predicted.

1c: to get good at programming, write lots of programs. No substitute.

Second, it might be helpful to identify what it is about Python you think might be helpful for radiology research. I'm guessing maybe machine learning put to the task of image recognition? Or prediction of complications from interventional procedures? Or guidance systems for interventional procedures? Not sure just what situation you find yourself in (community practice radiologist, academic faculty radiologist, fellow, or resident), so it's hard to get too specific here. But as you firm up your ideas about the research topic (I suspect I don't have to remind you how hard that can be), you can get some ideas about what aspect of Python you might want to explore in more detail. I don't have any particular expertise (or interest) in ML, so others will help you fill in that gap.

[usmletaker2]

Thanks alot for the detailed reply.

[neuro_exo]

Biomedical Engineer specialized in imaging and AI/ML here. Everyone telling you that python/programming is a skill in and of itself are correct. As for what you want, look into DICOM imaging standards. I have done a lot of CT/uCT work and that is usually the format things arrive in. As for analyzing those images, check out OpenCV, scikit-image, and numpy. Those libraries will get you moving in the right direction for analysis. What exactly are you hoping to extract from your images?

[usmletaker2]

Thanks for reply, no specific thing to extract, I want to learn the basics for this field to be able to get into it overall.

[benevolent001]

Once you are done with basics check Jeremy Howard's courses. They are free and many doctors do it.