The imageCLEFmed medical image retrieval task test collection

A growing number of clinicians, educators, researchers, and others use digital images in their work and search for them via image retrieval systems. Yet, this area of information retrieval is much less understood and developed than searching for text-based content, such as biomedical literature and its derivations. The goal of the ImageCLEF medical image retrieval task (ImageCLEFmed) is to improve understanding and system capability in search for medical images. In this paper, we describe the development and use of a medical image test collection designed to facilitate research with image retrieval systems and their users. We also provide baseline results with the new collection and describe them in the context of past research with portions of the collection.