Architectural considerations for integrating HIS/RIS/PACS in a distributed and heterogeneous environment

摘要

Abstract: Advances in image processing techniques, databases, workstations, network technologies and communication systems have created great interest in the integration of heterogeneous collections of multimedia data. The success of a medical multimedia information system depends on integration of distributed heterogeneous PACS, RIS and HIS, to provide rapid access to patients' text and image information throughout a hospital. The work presented here adapts a distributed database (DDB) approach to integrating HIS, RIS and PACS in a distributed heterogeneous environment. It is based on previous work on integrating structured (relational) database systems using the `Multidatabase' approach. Integrating distributed heterogeneous HIS/RIS/PACS causes special problems. Two alternative architectural proposals for providing system support to integrate heterogeneous HIS/RIS and PACS in a distributed environment are presented and discussed. One of these architectures provides system support by using a distributed index approach, where the images indexes are held at the local sites. The second proposed architecture uses a global image index. In this approach the global image index provides the list of available images within the network. Advantages and disadvantages of each approach are also discussed. !5