Book III: Scientific and Research Applications in Medical Care: Image Processing Requirements and Distributed Networks in a Digital Imaging Environment

摘要

This paper will discuss a unified digital image distribution and processing system linking various digital image sources through a broadband local area network and a comnon image format. Ultimately, the system allows for viewing and processing of all images produced within the complex, and for viewing stations at any number of convenient locations. The physical handling of storage media at image sources, can be totally eliminated. Complete archiving, file maintenance and large scale processing capabilities are provided by a central file server. This paper presents a concrete proposal for an initial system which has a central archiving facility for permanently storing and selectively viewing computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine (NM) and ultrasound (US) images. The system proposed can then be slowly expanded to include all the digital images produced by the radiology the department, and ultimately to include all the images by digitizing those produced in an analog fashion.