1-4244-2577-8/08/$20.00 ©2008 IEEE Current Trends in Medical Imaging Acquisition and Communication A. Stoian 1 , R. Ivan 2 , I.Stoian 3 , A. Marichescu 4 adastoian@yahoo.com , ivan.ion@yahoo.com , stoian@automation.ro , marichescu@automation.ro 1,2 L’Hospital Leman, Thonon-les-Bains, France,web: http://www.ch-leman.fr 3,4 IPA R&D Institute for Automation, Cluj Subsidiary, ipacluj@automation.ro Abstract- A general purpose in biomedical image- processing and image analysis system must dispose of three components which refer to an image acquisition system, a digital computer and image displays tools. Besides these three main aspects an important role is represented by the means of medical image distribution within the medical enterprise. Imaging informatics refers to how medical in- formation images are acquired and distributed within a medical enterprise. Medical imaging in radiology involves a large amount of data that has to be stored and managed throughout the medical system. This paper refers to a medical images archiving and communication system (PACS –Picture Archiving and Communication System) which shares electronic data with other informational sys- tems within the health enterprise. The presented system integrates multimedia technology, hardware platforms, databases, informational system, communication protocols, display technologies and system interfacing and integration. PACS enables radiologist to retrieve, display, store and transmit medical images throughout interfaces that are used to present data to the user via a choice of viewing tools. In using PACS the medi- cal image interpretation may be changed from the conven- tional hard-copy images to soft-copy studies viewed on the system’s workstations. I. INTRODUCTION The last two decades have witnessed significant advances in medical imaging and computerized medical image processing. These advances have led to new two-three and multi- dimensional imaging modalities that have become important clinical tools in diagnostic radiology. Using the computer, mul- tidimensional digital images of physiological structures can be processed and manipulated to visualize hidden characteristic diagnostic features that are difficult or impossible to see with planar imaging methods. Further these features of interest can be quantified and analyzed using sophisticated computer pro- grams and models to understand their behavior to help with a diagnosis or to evaluate treatment protocols. The ability of computerized processing and analysis of medical imagining modalities provides a powerful tool to help physicians. Medical imaging and processing in diagnostic radiology has evolved with significant contributions from a number of disciplines including mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, and medicine. Medical image reconstruction and processing require specialized knowledge of a specific medical imaging modality that is used to acquire images. The character of the collected data in the application environment should be properly unders- tood for selecting or developing useful methods for intelligent image processing, analysis and interpretation. Medical image processing involves a large amount of data that can be difficult to store and manage. Existing medical im- age acquisition, storage, retrieval, and diagnosis procedure cur- rently practiced in clinics or hospitals can be further enhanced by incorporating the ever increasingly powerful multimedia technologies. One of the main concerns in medical informatics is to develop tools for analyzing the content of medical images and to represent them in a way that can be efficiently searched and compared by the physicians. Current trends are focusing on image digitization and better quality of archiving. The resulting Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) are available within a hospital allowing a global access to the med- ical images. PACS is a work flow-integrated system for managing medical images and related data and is designed to streamline operations throughout the whole patient care delivery process. Effective use of PACS throughout the hospital operation would shorten the time for diagnosis and thus improve the efficiency of healthcare deli- very. The PACS concept originated at the The International Socie- ty for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Medical Imaging Conference in Newport Beach, CA, in February 1982 and is a system integration of medical images originally designed for facilitating radiologists. The figure below presents a general view of the health care infor- mation system. Figure 1. Health Care Information System http://www.DownloadEbook.ir http://www.GigaPaper.ir Contact Us: Info@DownloadPaper.ir http://www.DownloadPaper.ir http://www.DownloadBooks.ir http://www.DownloadEbooks.ir http://www.FindPdf.ir http://www.DownloadMaghale.ir http://www.DownloadEbook.ir http://www.DownloadEbook.ir http://www.GigaPaper.ir Contact Us: Info@DownloadPaper.ir http://www.DownloadPaper.ir http://www.DownloadBooks.ir http://www.DownloadEbooks.ir http://www.FindPdf.ir http://www.DownloadMaghale.ir http://www.DownloadEbook.ir