The investigators propose to test the feasibility of developing JAVA-based, internet-accessible teleimage analysis software for applications in nuclear medicine, as further described by their abstract: """"""""Image analysis is essential for disease diagnosis and treatment assessment in nuclear medicine. Current image analysis systems are expensive (with dedicated hardware and platform-dependent software) and inaccessible (connections are only possible through local area networks). """"""""We propose to investigate the feasibility of an affordable teleimaging software system, based on the platform-independent Java language, that allows physicians to analyze images remotely through the Internet. The technical challenges will be to efficiently and securely transmit a large volume of image data through the Internet, a public network, and to satisfy the users' functionality and response time requirements. """"""""In Phase I, we will (1) analyze parallel image analysis operations to maximize speed, (2) investigate progressive fidelity/resolution compression schemes to reduce image transmission delay, (3) study economical and secure encryption techniques, and (4) prototype a Java- based image analysis program to verify our performance estimations and to determine the response times that are acceptable to nuclear medicine physicians. If we determine that such a system is feasible, we will launch a full scale development effort in Phase II. """"""""Our software will have a long lifetime, give physicians more flexibility in where and how they work, and reduce costs by requiring less maintenance and less expensive workstations.""""""""
The proposed application could reduce health care costs in a number of ways. First, the platform independence of the software would give hospitals the flexibility to exploit the competitive personal computing market to obtain the best price and performance in computer hardware. Second, using Java-based software over public networks would promote increased access and sharing of diagnostic imaging equipment and personnel. Third, the centralized distribution scheme used by Java-based software would result in lower maintenance costs of telemedicine systems. Although some of the features we have mentioned are available in new teleradiology systems, the existing systems generally do not include the image analysis functionality we are proposing to develop. We believe that the image processing features integrated into a platform-independent Internet-based application will benefit many physicians and hospitals. Traditionally, the mobility and accessibility of medical imaging groups has been limited by the necessary proximity of the imaging infrastructure. We believe that our approach can reduce the overall cost and improve the flexibility of medical imaging information systems and thereby allow physicians to work more productively and efficiently.
