1,141 research outputs found
On the Use of XML in Medical Imaging Web-Based Applications
The rapid growth of digital technology in medical fields over recent years has increased the need for applications able to manage patient medical records, imaging data, and chart information. Web-based applications are implemented with the purpose to link digital databases, storage and transmission protocols, management of large volumes of data and security concepts, allowing the possibility to read, analyze, and even diagnose remotely from the medical center where the information was acquired. The objective of this paper is to analyze the use of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) language in web-based applications that aid in diagnosis or treatment of patients, considering how this protocol allows indexing and exchanging the huge amount of information associated with each medical case. The purpose of this paper is to point out the main advantages and drawbacks of the XML technology in order to provide key ideas for future web-based applicationsPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Sixth Annual Users' Conference
Conference papers and presentation outlines which address the use of the Transportable Applications Executive (TAE) and its various applications programs are compiled. Emphasis is given to the design of the user interface and image processing workstation in general. Alternate ports of TAE and TAE subsystems are also covered
Information Technologies for the Healthcare Delivery System
That modern healthcare requires information technology to be efficient and fully effective is evident if one spends any time observing the delivery of institutional health care. Consider the observation of a practitioner of the discipline, David M. Eddy, MD, PhD, voiced in Clinical Decision Making, JAMA 263:1265-75, 1990, . . .All confirm what would be expected from common sense: The complexity of modern medicine exceeds the inherent limitations of the unaided human mind. The goal of this thesis is to identify the technological factors that are required to enable a fully sufficient application of information technology (IT) to the modern institutional practice of medicine. Perhaps the epitome of healthcare IT is the fully integrated, fully electronic patient medical record. Although, in 1991 the Institute of Medicine called for such a record to be standard technology by 2001, it has still not materialized. The author will argue that some of the technology and standards that are pre-requisite for this achievement have now arrived, while others are still evolving to fully sufficient levels. The paper will concentrate primarily on the health care system in the United States, although much of what is contained is applicable to a large degree, around the world. The paper will illustrate certain of these pre-requisite IT factors by discussing the actual installation of a major health care computer system at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in Rochester, New York. This system is a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS). As the name implies, PACS is a system of capturing health care images in digital format, storing them and communicating them to users throughout the enterprise
An Open-Source Digital Archiving System for Medical and Scientific Research
In this paper, we present MIDAS, an open-source web-based digital archiving system that handles large collections of scientific data. We created a web-based digital archiving repository based on open standards. The MIDAS repository is specifically tuned for medical and scientific datasets and provides a flexible data management facility, a search engine, and an online image viewer. MIDAS allows researchers to store, manage and share scientific datasets, from the convenience of a web browser or through a generic programming interface, thereby facilitating the dissemination of valuable imaging datasets to research collaborators. The system is currently deployed at several research laboratories worldwide and has demonstrated its ability to streamline the full scientific processing workflow from data acquisition to analysis and reports
An Open-Source Digital Archiving System for Medical and Scientific Research
In this paper, we present MIDAS, an open-source web-based digital archiving system that handles large collections of scientific data. We created a web-based digital archiving repository based on open standards. The MIDAS repository is specifically tuned for medical and scientific datasets and provides a flexible data management facility, a search engine, and an online image viewer. MIDAS allows researchers to store, manage and share scientific datasets, from the convenience of a web browser or through a generic programming interface, thereby facilitating the dissemination of valuable imaging datasets to research collaborators. The system is currently deployed at several research laboratories worldwide and has demonstrated its ability to streamline the full scientific processing workflow from data acquisition to analysis and reports
Content-based image retrieval for brain MRI: An image-searching engine and population-based analysis to utilize past clinical data for future diagnosis
AbstractRadiological diagnosis is based on subjective judgment by radiologists. The reasoning behind this process is difficult to document and share, which is a major obstacle in adopting evidence-based medicine in radiology. We report our attempt to use a comprehensive brain parcellation tool to systematically capture image features and use them to record, search, and evaluate anatomical phenotypes. Anatomical images (T1-weighted MRI) were converted to a standardized index by using a high-dimensional image transformation method followed by atlas-based parcellation of the entire brain. We investigated how the indexed anatomical data captured the anatomical features of healthy controls and a population with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). PPA was chosen because patients have apparent atrophy at different degrees and locations, thus the automated quantitative results can be compared with trained clinicians' qualitative evaluations. We explored and tested the power of individual classifications and of performing a search for images with similar anatomical features in a database using partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The agreement between the automated z-score and the averaged visual scores for atrophy (r = 0.8) was virtually the same as the inter-evaluator agreement. The PCA plot distribution correlated with the anatomical phenotypes and the PLS-DA resulted in a model with an accuracy of 88% for distinguishing PPA variants. The quantitative indices captured the main anatomical features. The indexing of image data has a potential to be an effective, comprehensive, and easily translatable tool for clinical practice, providing new opportunities to mine clinical databases for medical decision support
The organizational implications of medical imaging in the context of Malaysian hospitals
This research investigated the implementation and use of medical imaging in the
context of Malaysian hospitals. In this report medical imaging refers to PACS,
RIS/HIS and imaging modalities which are linked through a computer network. The
study examined how the internal context of a hospital and its external context
together influenced the implementation of medical imaging, and how this in turn
shaped organizational roles and relationships within the hospital itself. It further
investigated how the implementation of the technology in one hospital affected its
implementation in another hospital. The research used systems theory as the
theoretical framework for the study. Methodologically, the study used a case-based
approach and multiple methods to obtain data. The case studies included two
hospital-based radiology departments in Malaysia.
The outcomes of the research suggest that the implementation of medical imaging in
community hospitals is shaped by the external context particularly the role played by
the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, influences from both the internal and external
contexts have a substantial impact on the process of implementing medical imaging
and the extent of the benefits that the organization can gain. In the context of roles
and social relationships, the findings revealed that the routine use of medical
imaging has substantially affected radiographers’ roles, and the social relationships
between non clinical personnel and clinicians. This study found no change in the
relationship between radiographers and radiologists. Finally, the approaches to
implementation taken in the hospitals studied were found to influence those taken by
other hospitals.
Overall, this study makes three important contributions. Firstly, it extends Barley’s
(1986, 1990) research by explicitly demonstrating that the organization’s internal and
external contexts together shape the implementation and use of technology, that the
processes of implementing and using technology impact upon roles, relationships
and networks and that a role-based approach alone is inadequate to examine the
outcomes of deploying an advanced technology. Secondly, this study contends that
scalability of technology in the context of developing countries is not necessarily
linear. Finally, this study offers practical contributions that can benefit healthcare
organizations in Malaysia
Digital imaging technology assessment: Digital document storage project
An ongoing technical assessment and requirements definition project is examining the potential role of digital imaging technology at NASA's STI facility. The focus is on the basic components of imaging technology in today's marketplace as well as the components anticipated in the near future. Presented is a requirement specification for a prototype project, an initial examination of current image processing at the STI facility, and an initial summary of image processing projects at other sites. Operational imaging systems incorporate scanners, optical storage, high resolution monitors, processing nodes, magnetic storage, jukeboxes, specialized boards, optical character recognition gear, pixel addressable printers, communications, and complex software processes
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