MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'Journal of Digital Imaging' source. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:37:37 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5640093&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ff212307p4p7147h5%2F Abstract  This paper presents an adaptive denoising approach aiming to improve the visibility and detectability of hemorrhage from brain computed tomography (CT) images. The suggested approach fuses the images denoised by total variation (TV) method, denoised by curvelet-based method, and edge information extracted from the noise residue of TV method. The edge information is extracted from the noise residue of TV method by processing it through curvelet transform. The visual interpretation shows that the proposed approach not only reduces the staircase effect caused by total variation method but also reduces visual distortion induced by curvelet transform in the homogeneous areas of the CT images. The denoising abilities of the proposed method are further evaluated by segme... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5640093 Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:53:16 +0100 5640093 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5640094&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F618246q463q6060x%2F Abstract  There is a growing interest in three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) as a research tool for the study of bone, joint anatomy, and kinematics. However, when CT data are processed and handled manually using image processing programs to yield 3D image and coordinate value, systematic and random errors should be validated. We evaluated the accuracy and reliability of length measurement on CT with OsiriX software. 3D-CT scans were made of 14 frozen pig knees with five transosseous holes in the metaphyseal portion of femur. The lengths between tunnel orifices were measured using Mitutoyo Digimatic digital calipers to establish the gold standard, and with the OsiriX program in 3D multi-planar reformatting mode for comparison. All measurements were recorded by a p... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5640094 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:54:56 +0100 5640094 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5640095&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm72266028xt01047%2F Abstract  To determine which Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) descriptors for ultrasound are predictors for breast cancer using logistic regression (LR) analysis in conjunction with interobserver variability between breast radiologists, and to compare the performance of artificial neural network (ANN) and LR models in differentiation of benign and malignant breast masses. Five breast radiologists retrospectively reviewed 140 breast masses and described each lesion using BI-RADS lexicon and categorized final assessments. Interobserver agreements between the observers were measured by kappa statistics. The radiologists’ responses for BI-RADS were pooled. The data were divided randomly into train (n = 70) and test sets (n = 70). Using train set, opti... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5640095 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:54:54 +0100 5640095 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5640096&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F5221k047780p37g4%2F Abstract  Current speech recognition software allows exam-specific standard reports to be prepopulated into the dictation field based on the radiology information system procedure code. While it is thought that prepopulating reports can decrease the time required to dictate a study and the overall number of errors in the final report, this hypothesis has not been studied in a clinical setting. A prospective study was performed. During the first week, radiologists dictated all studies using prepopulated standard reports. During the second week, all studies were dictated after prepopulated reports had been disabled. Final radiology reports were evaluated for 11 different types of errors. Each error within a report was classified individually. The median time required to dicta... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5640096 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:54:53 +0100 5640096 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5621910&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fh86187531p4k6n44%2F Abstract  In many medical imaging applications, it is desirable and important to localize and remove the patient table from CT images. However, existing methods often require user interactions to define the table and sometimes make inaccurate assumptions about the table shape. Due to different patient table designs, shapes, and characteristics, these methods are not robust in identifying and removing the patient table. This paper proposes a new automatic approach which first identifies and locates the patient table in the sagittal planes and then removes it from the axial planes. The method has been tested successfully against different tables in different products from multiple vendors, showing it is both a versatile and robust technique for patient table removal. Con... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5621910 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:48:35 +0100 5621910 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5621911&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fq3640985r175105w%2F Abstract  Structured reporting uses consistent ordering of results and standardized terminology to improve the quality and reduce the complexity of radiology reports. We sought to define a generalized approach for radiology reporting that produces flexible outline-style reports, accommodates structured information and named reporting elements, allows reporting terms to be linked to controlled vocabularies, uses existing informatics standards, and allows structured report data to be extracted readily. We applied the Regular Language for XML–Next Generation (RELAX NG) schema language to create templates for 110 reporting templates created as part of the Radiological Society of North America reporting initiative. We evaluated how well this approach addressed the project’s ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5621911 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:48:28 +0100 5621911 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5600444&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F3n77412573418436%2F Abstract  The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the robustness of our prior computerized texture analysis method for breast cancer risk assessment, which was developed initially on a limited dataset of screen-film mammograms. This current study investigated the robustness by (1) evaluating on a large clinical dataset, (2) using full-field digital mammograms (FFDM) as opposed to screen-film mammography, and (3) incorporating analyses over two types of high-risk patient sets, as well as patients at low risk for breast cancer. The evaluation included the analyses on the parenchymal patterns of women at high risk of developing of breast cancer, including both BRCA1/2 gene mutation carriers and unilateral cancer patients, and of women at low risk of developing breast canc... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5600444 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:56:40 +0100 5600444 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5600445&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F23563x88786mu885%2F Abstract  Computer-aided diagnosis systems (CADs) can quantify the severity of diseases by analyzing a set of images and employing prior statistical models. In general, CADs have proven to be effective at providing quantitative measurements of the extent of a particular disease, thus helping physicians to better monitor the progression of cancer, infectious diseases, and other health conditions. Electronic Health Records frequently include a large amount of clinical data and medical history that can provide critical information about the underlying condition of a patient. We hypothesize that the fusion of image and clinical–physiological features can be used to enhance the accuracy of automatic image classification models. In particular, this paper shows how image analyti... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5600445 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:56:39 +0100 5600445 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5600446&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fq13233r80j7551k5%2F Abstract  In this paper, a novel lesion segmentation within breast ultrasound (BUS) image based on the cellular automata principle is proposed. Its energy transition function is formulated based on global image information difference and local image information difference using different energy transfer strategies. First, an energy decrease strategy is used for modeling the spatial relation information of pixels. For modeling global image information difference, a seed information comparison function is developed using an energy preserve strategy. Then, a texture information comparison function is proposed for considering local image difference in different regions, which is helpful for handling blurry boundaries. Moreover, two neighborhood systems (von Neumann and Moore ne... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5600446 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:42:32 +0100 5600446 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5586629&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fx010u27430133508%2F This study demonstrated the feasibility of developing an interactive CAD system with a large reference database and achieving improved performance. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-10DOI 10.1007/s10278-012-9451-0Authors Xingwei Wang, Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3362 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USALihua Li, College of Life Information Science and Instrument Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018 ChinaWei Liu, College of Life Information Science and Instrument Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018 ChinaWeidong Xu, College of Life Information Science and Instrument Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018 ChinaDror Lederman, Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3362 Fifth Avenue, Pi... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5586629 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:49:53 +0100 5586629 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5586630&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fln11664n6h147332%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-2DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9447-1Authors Janice Honeyman-Buck, 508 Bramble Fern Ave, Deland, FL 32720, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5586630 Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:44:47 +0100 5586630 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5573663&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fk223532752721741%2F Abstract  The images generated in modern IC laboratories are created with high-quality standard (1,024 × 1,024 pixels and 10–12 bits/pixel) enabling cardiologists to perform interventions in the best conditions. But these images are in most of the cases archived in a basic quality standard (512 × 512 pixels and 8 bits/pixel). The purpose of this work is to complete the research developed in a previous paper and analyze the influence of the matrix size and the bit depth reduction on the image quality acquired on a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) phantom with a test object. The variation in contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and high contrast spatial resolution (HCSR) were investigated when the matrix size and the bit depth were independently modified for different phant... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5573663 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:44:51 +0100 5573663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5573664&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F80m3m2l615571871%2F Abstract  The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate radiologist performance in detection of lacunar infarcts on T1- and T2-weighted images, without and with the use of a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) scheme. Thirty T1-weighted and 30 T2-weighted MR images obtained from 30 patients were used for assessing observer performance. These images were acquired using the fast spin-echo sequence with a 1.5-T MR imaging scanner. The group included 15 patients (age range, 48–83 years; mean age, 67.2 years; 10 men and five women) with a lacunar infarct and 15 patients (age range, 39–76 years; mean age, 64.0 years; eight men and seven women) without lacunar infarcts. Nine radiologists participated in the study. The radiologists initially interpreted... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5573664 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:01:40 +0100 5573664 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5546481&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F7h3q556338009gq3%2F Abstract  In the filmless imaging department, an integrated imaging and reporting system is only as strong as its weakest link. An outage or downtime of a key segment, such as the Picture Archive Communications System (PACS), is a significant threat to efficient workflow, quality of image interpretation, ordering clinician’s review, and ultimately patient care. A multidisciplinary team (including physicists, technologists, radiologists, operations, and IT) developed a backup system to provide business continuity (i.e., quality control, interpretation, reporting, and clinician access) during an extended outage of the main departmental PACS. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-5DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9446-2Authors Steve G. Langer, Radiology Informatics Lab, Mayo Clini... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5546481 Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:47:31 +0100 5546481 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5546480&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fpt844082u1416x77%2F Abstract  This paper presents novel multiple keywords annotation for medical images, keyword-based medical image retrieval, and relevance feedback method for image retrieval for enhancing image retrieval performance. For semantic keyword annotation, this study proposes a novel medical image classification method combining local wavelet-based center symmetric–local binary patterns with random forests. For keyword-based image retrieval, our retrieval system use the confidence score that is assigned to each annotated keyword by combining probabilities of random forests with predefined body relation graph. To overcome the limitation of keyword-based image retrieval, we combine our image retrieval system with relevance feedback mechanism based on visual feature and pattern cla... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5546480 Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:47:31 +0100 5546480 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5546482&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F61427264171l3473%2F Abstract  Traditionally, image studies evaluating the effectiveness of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) use a single label from a medical expert compared with a single label produced by CAD. The purpose of this research is to present a CAD system based on Belief Decision Tree classification algorithm, capable of learning from probabilistic input (based on intra-reader variability) and providing probabilistic output. We compared our approach against a traditional decision tree approach with respect to a traditional performance metric (accuracy) and a probabilistic one (area under the distance–threshold curve—AuCdt). The probabilistic classification technique showed notable performance improvement in comparison with the traditional one with respect to both evaluation metrics... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5546482 Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:47:29 +0100 5546482 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5489413&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fq5176845n3147k7k%2F Abstract  This paper describes development of a decision support system for diagnosis of malaria using color image analysis. A hematologist has to study around 100 to 300 microscopic views of Giemsa-stained thin blood smear images to detect malaria parasites, evaluate the extent of infection and to identify the species of the parasite. The proposed algorithm picks up the suspicious regions and detects the parasites in images of all the views. The subimages representing all these parasites are put together to form a composite image which can be sent over a communication channel to obtain the opinion of a remote expert for accurate diagnosis and treatment. We demonstrate the use of the proposed technique for use as a decision support system by developing an android applicatio... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5489413 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:51:06 +0100 5489413 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5489414&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F016767n054671766%2F Abstract  Advances in handheld computing now allow review of DICOM datasets from remote locations. As the diagnostic ability of this tool is unproven, we evaluated the ability to diagnose acute appendicitis on abdominal CT using a mobile DICOM viewer. This HIPAA compliant study was IRB-approved. Twenty-five abdominal CT studies from patients with RLQ pain were interpreted on a handheld device (iPhone) using a DICOM viewer (OsiriX mobile) by five radiologists. All patients had surgical confirmation of acute appendicitis or follow-up confirming no acute appendicitis. Studies were evaluated for the ability to find the appendix, maximum appendiceal diameter, presence of an appendicolith, periappendiceal stranding and fluid, abscess, and an assessment of the diagnosis of acute a... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5489414 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:51:05 +0100 5489414 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5489416&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fd566434tr5251037%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-4DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9437-3Authors Bruce I. Reiner, Department of Radiology, Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare System, 10 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USAElizabeth Krupinski, Department of Radiology, Psychology and the Arizona Telemedicine Program, University of Arizona, 1609 N Warren, Bldg 211, Rm 112, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5489416 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:58:46 +0100 5489416 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5489415&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm3406315x5238uh6%2F Abstract  Gold chloride technique can be combined with Adobe Photoshop® software to yield a quantitative assessment of the different areas in heterogeneous structures as are ligament. A semi-automatized method based on the sum of two- and three-dimensional morphological criteria upon colorimetric criteria allows the identification and measurement of the area occupied by a structure of interest. It also allows the quantification of color intensity to differentiate structures with similar staining avidity, like vessels and nerves. This computer-assisted, semiquantitative procedure for computerized morphometry is relatively simple to perform. The accuracy, efficiency, and reproducibility of this method based on a commercially available imaging program were considered adequate... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5489415 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:58:46 +0100 5489415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5489417&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fv257g328497x5456%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-5DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9441-7Authors Bruce I. Reiner, Department of Radiology, Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare System, 10 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USAElizabeth Krupinski, Department of Radiology, Psychology and the Arizona Telemedicine Program, University of Arizona, 1609 N Warren, Bldg 211, Rm 112, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5489417 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:58:45 +0100 5489417 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5479380&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fd4rl613280605148%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-4DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9436-4Authors Bruce I. Reiner, Department of Radiology, Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare System, 10 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USAElizabeth Krupinski, Department of Radiology, Psychology and the Arizona Telemedicine Program, University of Arizona, 1609 N Warren, Bldg 211, Rm. 112, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5479380 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:36:24 +0100 5479380 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5470832&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F46628q5vv683w825%2F We present a simple solution to measure angles between structures on different images that can be used both in CT and MR. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-4DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9438-2Authors Zeev V. Maizlin, Department of Radiology, McMaster University Medical Centre, 1200 Main St. West, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5, CanadaPatrick M. Vos, Department of Radiology, St.Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5470832 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:21:49 +0100 5470832 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5470833&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fa795762308l95520%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-6DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9439-1Authors Elizabeth Krupinski, Department of Radiology, Psychology and the Arizona Telemedicine Program, University of Arizona, 1609 N Warren, Bldg 211, Rm 112, Tucson, AZ 85724, USABruce I. Reiner, Department of Radiology, Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare System, 10 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5470833 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:19:01 +0100 5470833 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5433921&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fdp3j01106887580p%2F Abstract  Chest radiologists rely on the segmentation and quantificational analysis of ground-glass opacities (GGO) to perform imaging diagnoses that evaluate the disease severity or recovery stages of diffuse parenchymal lung diseases. However, it is computationally difficult to segment and analyze patterns of GGO while compared with other lung diseases, since GGO usually do not have clear boundaries. In this paper, we present a new approach which automatically segments GGO in lung computed tomography (CT) images using algorithms derived from Markov random field theory. Further, we systematically evaluate the performance of the algorithms in segmenting GGO in lung CT images under different situations. CT image studies from 41 patients with diffuse lung diseases were enroll... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5433921 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:58:54 +0100 5433921 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5424531&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fp55763942j3775p8%2F Abstract  3D imaging systems are used to construct high-resolution meshes of patient’s heads that can be analyzed by computer algorithms. Our work starts with such 3D head meshes and produces both global and local descriptors of 3D shape. Since these descriptors are numeric feature vectors, they can be used in both classification and quantification of various different abnormalities. In this paper, we define these descriptors, describe our methodology for constructing them from 3D head meshes, and show through a set of classification experiments involving cases and controls for a genetic disorder called 22q11.2 deletion syndrome that they are suitable for use in craniofacial research studies. The main contributions of this work include: automatic generation of novel globa... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5424531 Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:49:06 +0100 5424531 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5424532&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fv8717131777p5x63%2F We present a system for the robust definition of complete airway routes suitable for image-guided bronchoscopy. The system incorporates both automatic and semiautomatic MDCT analysis methods for this purpose. Using an intuitive graphical user interface, the user invokes automatic analysis on a patient’s MDCT scan to produce a series of preliminary routes. Next, the user visually inspects each route and quickly corrects the observed route defects using the built-in semiautomatic methods. Application of the system to a human study for the planning and guidance of peripheral bronchoscopy demonstrates the efficacy of the system. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-11DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9433-7Authors Michael W. Graham, Department of Electrical Engineering, Penn State University... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5424532 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 06:47:44 +0100 5424532 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5412600&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fp771146242064827%2F Abstract  Reading room design can have a major impact on radiologists’ health, productivity, and accuracy in reading. Several factors must be taken into account in order to optimize the work environment for radiologists. Further, with the advancement in imaging technology, clinicians now have the ability to view and see digital exams without having to interact with radiologists. However, it is important to design components that encourage and enhance interactions between clinicians and radiologists to increase patient safety, and to combine physician and radiologist expertise. The present study evaluates alternative workstations in a real-world testbed space, using qualitative data (users’ perspectives) to measure satisfaction with the lighting, ergonomics, furniture, c... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5412600 Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:47:29 +0100 5412600 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5412601&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F77448527x3k40221%2F Abstract  Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) has brought a very high level of standardization to medical images, allowing interoperability in many cases. However, there are still challenges facing the informaticist attempting to data mine DICOM objects. Images (and other objects) from different vintage equipment will encompass different levels of the standard, and there are also proprietary “shadow” tags to be aware of. The database architecture described herein “flattens” such differences by compiling a knowledge base of specific DICOM implementations and mapping variable data elements to a common lexicon for subsequent queries. The project is open sourced, built on open infrastructure, and is available at GitHub. Content Type Journal Articl... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5412601 Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:47:28 +0100 5412601 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5412602&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ff0t13w6664403546%2F Abstract  Validation of medical signal and image processing systems requires quality-assured, representative and generally acknowledged databases accompanied by appropriate reference (ground truth) and clinical metadata, which are composed laboriously for each project and are not shared with the scientific community. In our vision, such data will be stored centrally in an open repository. We propose an architecture for a standardized case data and ground truth information repository supporting the evaluation and analysis of computer-aided diagnosis based on (a) the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) provided by the NASA Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (ISO 14721:2003), (b) the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) Element Set (ISO ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5412602 Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:55:03 +0100 5412602 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5412603&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F443453x4x9712110%2F This study assessed the ability of a computer application to match research subjects’ 3D facial reconstructions with conventional photographs of their face. In a prospective study, 29 subjects underwent CT scans of the head and had frontal digital photographs of their face taken. Facial reconstructions of each CT dataset were generated on a 3D workstation. In phase 1, photographs of the 29 subjects undergoing CT scans were added to a digital directory and tested for recognition using facial recognition software. In phases 2–4, additional photographs were added in groups of 50 to increase the pool of possible matches and the test for recognition was repeated. As an internal control, photographs of all subjects were tested for recognition against an identical photograph. Of 3D reco... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5412603 Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:47:27 +0100 5412603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5391866&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fd221715556016506%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-3DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9427-5Authors Thomas M. Deserno, Department of Medical Informatics, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5391866 Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:58:23 +0100 5391866 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5391867&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fn1427402414n56k6%2F Abstract  The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of automated detection of adrenal nodules, a common finding on CT, using a newly developed search engine that mines dictated radiology reports. To ensure Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance, we utilized a preexisting de-identified database of 32,974 CT reports from February 1, 2009 to February 28, 2010. Common adrenal descriptors from 29 staff radiologists were used to develop an automated rule-based algorithm targeting adrenal findings. Each sentence within the free text of reports was searched with an adapted NegEx negation algorithm. The algorithm was refined using a 2-week test period of reports and subsequently validated using a 6-week period. Manual review of the 3,693 CT repor... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5391867 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:54:10 +0100 5391867 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5368310&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fk392v5225v04m215%2F This article describes the development of an open-source software suite that implements DICOM Supplement 142 as part of the National Biomedical Imaging Archive (NBIA). It also describes the lessons learned by the authors as NBIA has acquired more than 20 image collections encompassing over 30 million images. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-11DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9422-xAuthors John B. Freymann, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., EPN, Room 3006, 6130 Executive Blvd, Rockville, MD 20892, USAJustin S. Kirby, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., EPN, Suite 317, 6130 Executive Blvd, Rockville, MD 20892, USAJohn H. Perry, Radiological Society of North America, 820 Jorie Blvd, Oak Brook, IL 60523, USADavid A. Clunie, CoreLab Partners, Inc., 100 Overlook Center, Princeton, NJ 08540, USAC. Carl Jaffe, Boston Un... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5368310 Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:48:55 +0100 5368310 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5368311&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F35k176mj6v773386%2F Abstract  The goal of this study was to develop and validate text-mining algorithms to automatically identify radiology reports containing critical results including tension or increasing/new large pneumothorax, acute pulmonary embolism, acute cholecystitis, acute appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy, scrotal torsion, unexplained free intraperitoneal air, new or increasing intracranial hemorrhage, and malpositioned tubes and lines. The algorithms were developed using rule-based approaches and designed to search for common words and phrases in radiology reports that indicate critical results. Certain text-mining features were utilized such as wildcards, stemming, negation detection, proximity matching, and expanded searches with applicable synonyms. To further improve accuracy, t... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5368311 Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:48:54 +0100 5368311 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5368312&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fr618550456012115%2F This study examined whether radiology report format influences reading time and comprehension of information. Three reports were reformatted to conventional free text, structured text organized by organ system, and hierarchical structured text organized by clinical significance. Five attending radiologists, five radiology residents, five internal medicine attendings, and five internal medicine residents read the reports and answered a series of questions about them. Reading was timed and participants reported reading preferences. For reading time, there was no significant effect for format, but there was for attending versus resident, and radiology versus internal medicine. For percent correct scores, there was no significant effect for report format or for attending versus resident,... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5368312 Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:48:52 +0100 5368312 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5351042&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fcx3117350kv35200%2F This report presents the initial analysis of the intersection of these two major efforts. From 70 published radiology reporting templates, we extracted the names of 6,489 reporting elements. These terms were reviewed in conjunction with the RadLex vocabulary and classified as an exact match, a partial match, or unmatched. Of 2,509 unique terms, 1,017 terms (41%) matched exactly to RadLex terms, 660 (26%) were partial matches, and 832 reporting terms (33%) were unmatched to RadLex. There is significant overlap between the terms used in the structured reporting templates and RadLex. The unmatched terms were analyzed using the multidimensional scaling (MDS) visualization technique to reveal semantic relationships among them. The co-occurrence analysis with the MDS visualization techniqu... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5351042 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:55:37 +0100 5351042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5339499&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fjgq258016x4q7q41%2F Abstract  In medio-lateral oblique view of mammogram, pectoral muscle may sometimes affect the detection of breast cancer due to their similar characteristics with abnormal tissues. As a result pectoral muscle should be handled separately while detecting the breast cancer. In this paper, a novel approach for the detection of pectoral muscle using average gradient- and shape-based feature is proposed. The process first approximates the pectoral muscle boundary as a straight line using average gradient-, position-, and shape-based features of the pectoral muscle. Straight line is then tuned to a smooth curve which represents the pectoral margin more accurately. Finally, an enclosed region is generated which represents the pectoral muscle as a segmentation mask. The main advan... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5339499 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:00:11 +0100 5339499 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5317874&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fa16v18v54718l818%2F Abstract  In a computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) scheme for evaluating the likelihood of malignancy of clustered microcalcifications on mammograms, it is necessary to segment individual calcifications correctly. The purpose of this study was to develop a computerized segmentation method for individual calcifications with various sizes while maintaining their shapes in the CADx schemes. Our database consisted of 96 magnification mammograms with 96 clustered microcalcifications. In our proposed method, a mammogram image was decomposed into horizontal subimages, vertical subimages, and diagonal subimages for a second difference at scales 1 to 4 by using a filter bank. The enhanced subimages for nodular components (NCs) and the enhanced subimages for both nodular and linear compo... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5317874 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:46:58 +0100 5317874 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5277231&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fu776853ggh17241t%2F Abstract  Attending radiologists routinely edit radiology trainee dictated preliminary reports as part of standard workflow models. Time constraints, high volume, and spatial separation may not always facilitate clear discussion of these changes with trainees. However, these edits can represent significant teaching moments that are lost if they are not communicated back to trainees. We created an electronic method for retrieving and displaying changes made to resident written preliminary reports by attending radiologists during the process of radiology report finalization. The Radiology Information System is queried. Preliminary and final radiology reports, as well as report metadata, are extracted and stored in a database indexed by accession number and trainee/radiologist... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5277231 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:07:13 +0100 5277231 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5213259&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F40n1x15820v3k1r2%2F Abstract  Diabetic retinopathy has become an increasingly important cause of blindness. Nevertheless, vision loss can be prevented from early detection of diabetic retinopathy and monitor with regular examination. Common automatic detection of retinal abnormalities is for microaneurysms, hemorrhages, hard exudates, and cotton wool spot. However, there is a worse case of retinal abnormality, but not much research was done to detect it. It is neovascularization where new blood vessels grow due to extensive lack of oxygen in the retinal capillaries. This paper shows that various combination of techniques such as image normalization, compactness classifier, morphology-based operator, Gaussian filtering, and thresholding techniques were used in developing of neovascularization d... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5213259 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 06:05:45 +0100 5213259 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5213258&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fc77910058t2526x8%2F Content Type Journal ArticleCategory EditorialPages 1-1DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9415-9Authors Janice Honeyman-Buck, 508 Bramble Fern Ave, DeLand, FL 32720, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5213258 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 06:05:45 +0100 5213258 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5213260&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fkrw0223828407576%2F Abstract  The use of the endovascular prostheses in abdominal aortic aneurysm has proven to be an effective technique to reduce the pressure and rupture risk of aneurysm. Nevertheless, in a long-term perspective, complications such as leaks inside the aneurysm sac (endoleaks) could appear causing a pressure elevation and increasing the danger of rupture consequently. At present, computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is the most common examination for medical surveillance. However, endoleak complications cannot always be detected by visual inspection on CTA scans. The investigation on new techniques to detect endoleaks and analyse their effects on treatment evolution is of great importance for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) technique. The purpose of this work was to ev... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5213260 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 06:05:44 +0100 5213260 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5150001&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F662tqk7427l23153%2F Abstract  Surgeons have to deal with many devices from different vendors within the operating room during surgery. Independent communication standards are necessary for the system integration of these devices. For implantations, three new extensions of the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard make use of a common communication standard that may optimise one of the surgeon's presently very time-consuming daily tasks. The paper provides a brief description of these DICOM Supplements and gives recommendations to their application in practice based on workflows that are proposed to be covered by the new standard extension. Two of the workflows are described in detail and separated into phases that are supported by the new data structures. Examples for... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5150001 Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:42:18 +0100 5150001 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5099754&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm585v71221q0h645%2F Abstract  A patient has an imaging study performed at one facility and has the study exported to portable media. Later, the patient takes the media to a different institution. The study on that media may need to be imported into that new institution’s imaging system. This would be done to avoid a repeat examination, or so that the study can be on file for reference purposes. Importing prior studies is best performed by creating a new order on the institution’s imaging system and then associating the DICOM objects from the prior study with it. In this way the prior study is actually inserted into the imaging system’s electronic health record (EHR) and is properly indexed so that it can be identified and later retrieved as needed. In the past at the Department of Vetera... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5099754 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:52:37 +0100 5099754 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5099753&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fwj5172xk42655716%2F Abstract  In this paper, we introduce an ontology-based technology that bridges the gap between MR images on the one hand and knowledge sources on the other hand. The proposed technology allows the user to express interest in a body region by selecting this region on the MR image he or she is viewing with a mouse device. The proposed technology infers the intended body structure from the manual selection and searches the external knowledge source for pertinent information. This technology can be used to bridge the gap between image data in the clinical workflow and (external) knowledge sources that help to assess the case with increased certainty, accuracy, and efficiency. We evaluate an instance of the proposed technology in the neurodomain by means of a user study in whic... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5099753 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:52:37 +0100 5099753 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5082550&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fpv5mt7w80l846818%2F Abstract  In this paper, we describe and evaluate a system that extracts clinical findings and body locations from radiology reports and correlates them. The system uses Medical Language Extraction and Encoding System (MedLEE) to map the reports’ free text to structured semantic representations of their content. A lightweight reasoning engine extracts the clinical findings and body locations from MedLEE’s semantic representation and correlates them. Our study is illustrative for research in which existing natural language processing software is embedded in a larger system. We manually created a standard reference based on a corpus of neuro and breast radiology reports. The standard reference was used to evaluate the precision and recall of the proposed system and its mo... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5082550 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:46:42 +0100 5082550 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5082549&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fyqkq01404756352u%2F Abstract  Imaging centers nationwide are seeking innovative means to record and monitor computed tomography (CT)-related radiation dose in light of multiple instances of patient overexposure to medical radiation. As a solution, we have developed RADIANCE, an automated pipeline for extraction, archival, and reporting of CT-related dose parameters. Estimation of whole-body effective dose from CT dose length product (DLP)—an indirect estimate of radiation dose—requires anatomy-specific conversion factors that cannot be applied to total DLP, but instead necessitate individual anatomy-based DLPs. A challenge exists because the total DLP reported on a dose sheet often includes multiple separate examinations (e.g., chest CT followed by abdominopelvic CT). Furthermore, the indi... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5082549 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:46:42 +0100 5082549 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5065769&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F24w882k122x5u388%2F In conclusion, when supported by advanced vessel analysis software, experienced readers are able to achieve good reproducibility. Even inexperienced readers are able to achieve good results in the assessment of carotid artery stenosis when using advanced vessel analysis software. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-8DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9413-yAuthors Christina Biermann, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076 Tübingen, GermanyIlias Tsiflikas, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076 Tübingen, GermanyChristoph Thomas, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Eberhard-Karls-University, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076 Tübingen, GermanyBernadette Kasperek, Diagnostic and Interv... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5065769 Sat, 23 Jul 2011 05:54:51 +0100 5065769 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059148&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ftq6285l816j6x735%2F Abstract  To assess whether quantitative visual scoring (QVS) is a better early predictor of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients on chemotherapy for metastatic melanoma using CT than the currently used Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) standard. Retrospective evaluation of 65 consecutive patients with metastatic melanoma on treatment who had a baseline and follow-up CT after two cycles of therapy. QVS was used to code imaging findings on the radiology reports considering size change, brain metastases, new lesions, mixed lesion response, and the number of organ systems involved. RECIST 1.1 criteria placed patients in the progressive disease, stable disease, or partial response groups. Multiple regression analysis was used to correlate the various ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059148 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:04:36 +0100 5059148 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059149&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fyvn151676715n8m6%2F Abstract  Our goal was to investigate the effect of displayed image magnification on perception of the size of hepatic lesions on abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans. Institutional review board approval and informed observer consent were obtained. Three experienced radiologists reviewed 90 CT image pairs in one session. Each image pair demonstrated a solitary, well-defined hypodense hepatic lesion measuring greater than 1 cm obtained at two points in time. The image pairs were presented three times in random order, once with the left image magnified, once with the right image magnified, and once with neither image magnified. The radiologists were asked to determine on which image the lesion was smaller or if there was no difference. The responses were analyzed stat... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059149 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:09:25 +0100 5059149 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059150&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ffx0417k218x5vw67%2F Abstract  This paper presents the boundary detection of atrium and ventricle in echocardiographic images. In case of mitral regurgitation, atrium and ventricle may get dilated. To examine this, doctors draw the boundary manually. Here the aim of this paper is to evolve the automatic boundary detection for carrying out segmentation of echocardiography images. Active contour method is selected for this purpose. There is an enhancement of Chan–Vese paper on active contours without edges. Our algorithm is based on Chan–Vese paper active contours without edges, but it is much faster than Chan–Vese model. Here we have developed a method by which it is possible to detect much faster the echocardiographic boundaries. The method is based on the region information of an image. ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059150 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:09:24 +0100 5059150 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059151&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F348444p3ng701t05%2F Abstract  This paper presents a termination criterion for active contour that does not involve alteration of the energy functional. The criterion is based on the area difference of the contour during evolution. In this criterion, the evolution of the contour terminates when the area difference fluctuates around a constant. The termination criterion is tested using parametric gradient vector flow active contour with contour resampling and normal force selection. The usefulness of the criterion is shown through its trend, speed, accuracy, shape insensitivity, and insensitivity to contour resampling. The metric used in the proposed criterion demonstrated a steadily decreasing trend. For automatic implementation in which different shapes need to be segmented, the proposed crite... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059151 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:28:48 +0100 5059151 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059152&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fa370p70818n5187k%2F Abstract  Segmentation of the left ventricle in MRI images is a task with important diagnostic power. Currently, the evaluation of cardiac function involves the global measurement of volumes and ejection fraction. This evaluation requires the segmentation of the left ventricle contour. In this paper, we propose a new method for automatic detection of the endocardial border in cardiac magnetic resonance images, by using a level set segmentation-based approach. To initialize this level set segmentation algorithm, we propose to threshold the original image and to use the binary image obtained as initial mask for the level set segmentation method. For the localization of the left ventricular cavity, used to pose the initial binary mask, we propose an automatic approach to detec... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059152 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:28:46 +0100 5059152 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059153&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fh6l2v8623712817n%2F Abstract  The aims of this study were to (1) investigate the repeatability of measured volumes using the atlas-based method in each area of the brain, and (2) validate our hypothesis that the repeatability of the measured volumes with the atlas-based method was improved by using smoothed images. T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were obtained in five healthy subjects using the 1.5-T scanner. We used Statistical Parametric Mapping 5 and WFU PickAtlas software (theory of the Talairach brain atlas). Volumes inside region-of-interest (ROI) were measured in ten sets (five subjects × right and left) on six ROIs, respectively. One set comprises five images (one subject × five 3D-T1WIs). The percentage change was defined as [100 × (measured volume–mean volume in each set)/... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059153 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:28:44 +0100 5059153 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5059154&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fk7q7904l887ktw00%2F Abstract  Successful adoption of new technology development can be accentuated by learning and applying the scientific principles of innovation diffusion. This is of particular importance to areas within the medical imaging practice which have lagged in innovation; perhaps, the most notable of which is reporting which has remained relatively stagnant for over a century. While the theoretical advantages of structured reporting have been well documented throughout the medical imaging community, adoption to date has been tepid and largely relegated to the academic and breast imaging communities. Widespread adoption will likely require an alternative approach to innovation, which addresses the heterogeneity and diversity of the practicing radiologist community along with the ev... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5059154 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:42:40 +0100 5059154 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5032773&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fp8n2142574k5l771%2F We describe the approach and current results in this paper. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-10DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9401-2Authors George C. Kagadis, Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, University of Patras, P.O. Box 132 73, GR 265 04 Rion, GreeceChristos Alexakos, Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, GR 265 00 Rion, GreeceSteve G. Langer, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USATodd French, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5032773 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:54:34 +0100 5032773 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5032774&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F75344046756t9055%2F Abstract  Optimization of brightness distribution in the template used for detection of cancerous masses in mammograms by means of correlation coefficient is presented. This optimization is performed by the evolutionary algorithm using an auxiliary mass classifier. Brightness along the radius of the circularly symmetric template is coded indirectly by its second derivative. The fitness function is defined as the area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) for the mass classifier. The ROC and AUC are obtained for a teaching set of regions of interest (ROIs), for which it is known whether a ROI is true-positive (TP) or false-positive (F). The teaching set is obtained by running the mass detector using a template with a predetermined brightness. Subseque... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5032774 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:54:33 +0100 5032774 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5032775&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fe35362l18lu68274%2F Abstract  Film-based radiographs are still being used to teach in a conference format, which presents several viewing challenges amongst other problems. In the age of cloud computing, which enables the use of online server storage space, this information could be used more effectively if it were digitized. However, digitizing film-based radiographs and making them available for use in the cloud is not as easy as it seems. In order to address the issue of digitizing the film-based radiograph libraries in our radiology department, we looked at several options. The option that we chose was a consumer-grade scanner, and this decision was based on price, resolution, shades of gray, built-in transparency function, and its physical attributes. Our goal was to digitize the film-bas... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5032775 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:54:29 +0100 5032775 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5032777&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm342714lv8603830%2F Abstract  Radiology conferences enable participants the opportunity to ask experts questions through question and answer (Q and A) sessions or individually. Given the time limitations and intimidating circumstances, we incorporated conference text messaging (confexting) as a method of increasing interactivity between the audience and speakers. During a 5-day radiology conference, text messaging was utilized for anonymous interactivity between the audience and speakers during Q and A sessions. There were 324 text messages; 76 of these were either follow-up statements or questions related to earlier text messages. Forty-two questions were submitted via paper notes. There was a general trend of an increasing number of text messages and a decreasing number of paper notes. The a... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5032777 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:54:27 +0100 5032777 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5032776&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fw576245u03321347%2F Abstract  Imaging modality can aid retrieval of medical images for clinical practice, research, and education. We evaluated whether an ensemble classifier could outperform its constituent individual classifiers in determining the modality of figures from radiology journals. Seventeen automated classifiers analyzed 77,495 images from two radiology journals. Each classifier assigned one of eight imaging modalities—computed tomography, graphic, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, photograph, ultrasound, or radiograph—to each image based on visual and/or textual information. Three physicians determined the modality of 5,000 randomly selected images as a reference standard. A “Simple Vote” ensemble classifier assigned each image to... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5032776 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:54:27 +0100 5032776 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4995100&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fl10n54673v3g4715%2F Abstract  Scoliosis is a 3-D deformity of spinal column, characterized by both lateral curvature and vertebral rotation. The disease can be caused by congenital, developmental, or degenerative problems; but most cases of scoliosis actually have no known cause, and this is known as idiopathic scoliosis. Vertebral rotation has become increasingly prominent in the study of scoliosis and the most deformed vertebra is named as apical vertebra. Apical vertebral deformity demonstrates significance in both preoperative and postoperative assessment, providing better appreciation of the impact of bracing or surgical interventions. Precise measurement of apical vertebral rotation in terms of grading is most valuable for the determination of reference value in normal and pathological c... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4995100 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:41:55 +0100 4995100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4995101&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F48t866587738p051%2F In this study, we evaluated the difference of patient radiation and image rejection before and after OT to identify if it is necessary to carry out an OT procedure in a routine task with DR. The study consisted of a measurement of the dose area product (DAP) and entrance surface dose (ESD) received by a reference group of patients for eight common radiographic procedures using the DR system before and after OT. Meanwhile image rejection data during two 2-month periods were collected and sorted according to reason. For every radiographic procedure, t tests showed significant difference in average ESD and DAP before and after OT (p < 0.005). The ESDs from most examinations before OT were three times higher than that after OT. For DAPs, the difference is more significant. Image re... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4995101 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:41:54 +0100 4995101 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4995102&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fbk20ppk877ut5m56%2F Abstract  It is difficult to detect sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) around an injection point of radiopharmaceuticals mapped in lymphoscintigrams. The purpose of this study was to develop a computer-aided detection (CAD) scheme for SLNs by a subtraction technique using the symmetrical property in the mapped injection point. Our database consisted of 78 lymphoscintigrams with 86 SLNs. In our CAD scheme, the mapped injection point of radiopharmaceuticals was first segmented from the lymphoscintigram using a gray-level thresholding technique. Lymphoscintigram was then divided into four regions by vertical and horizontal straight lines through the center of the segmented injection point. One of the four divided regions was defined as the target region. The correlation coefficients ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4995102 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:41:53 +0100 4995102 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4988477&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fu53k8n7735588770%2F Abstract  The pioneering work performed in the social sciences on diffusion of innovation can be applied to medical imaging and shed valuable insights as to how innovation is analyzed and adopted within the population of end-users. Successful innovation must take into account unique stakeholder differences, changes in communication and social interactions, and shifting priorities in market economics. The dramatic changes currently underway in current medical imaging practice provides unique innovation opportunities to those individuals and companies which can utilize this knowledge and effect change in objective and reproducible means. Successful innovation should rely upon data-driven objective analysis, which can scientifically validate the inherent strengths and weakness... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4988477 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:06:01 +0100 4988477 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4916553&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fd47n631vh200v765%2F This study was designed to establish and analyze color Doppler and magnetic resonance fusion images of the heart, an approach for simultaneous testing of cardiac pathological alterations, performance, and hemodynamics. Ten volunteers were tested in this study. The echocardiographic images were produced by Philips IE33 system and the magnetic resonance images were generated from Philips 3.0-T system. The fusion application was implemented on MATLAB platform utilizing image processing technology. The fusion image was generated from the following steps: (1) color Doppler blood flow segmentation, (2) image registration of color Doppler and magnetic resonance imaging, and (3) image fusion of different image types. The fusion images of color Doppler blood flow and magnetic resonance images... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4916553 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 05:48:15 +0100 4916553 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4897993&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fj3p6423qlj7x0001%2F The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate the performance of a biplane correlation imaging (BCI) technique aimed to reduce the effect of anatomic noise and improve the detection of lung nodules in chest radiographs. Seventy-one low-dose posterior–anterior images were acquired from an anthropomorphic chest phantom with 0.28° angular separations over a range of ±10° along the vertical axis within an 11 s interval. Similar data were acquired from 19 human subjects with institutional review board approval and informed consent. The data were incorporated into a computer-aided detection (CAD) algorithm in which suspect lesions were identified by examining the geometrical correlation of the detected signals that remained relatively constant against variable anatomi... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4897993 Fri, 27 May 2011 06:01:07 +0100 4897993 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4897994&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm17m4155jm856157%2F Abstract  A common teleradiology practice is digitizing films. The costs of specialized digitizers are very high, that is why there is a trend to use conventional scanners and digital cameras. Statistical clinical studies are required to determine the accuracy of these devices, which are very difficult to carry out. The purpose of this study was to compare three capture devices in terms of their capacity to detect several image characteristics. Spatial resolution, contrast, gray levels, and geometric deformation were compared for a specialized digitizer ICR (US$ 15,000), a conventional scanner UMAX (US$ 1,800), and a digital camera LUMIX (US$ 450, but require an additional support system and a light box for about US$ 400). Test patterns printed in films ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4897994 Thu, 26 May 2011 05:48:20 +0100 4897994 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4835722&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fl46838808768j703%2F Abstract  The staggering number of images acquired by modern modalities requires new approaches for medical data transmission. There have been several attempts to improve data transmission time between medical imaging systems. These attempts were mostly based on compression. Although the compression methods can help in many cases, they are sometimes ineffectual in high-speed networks. This paper introduces parallelism to provide an effective method of medical data transmission over both local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN). It is based on the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) protocol and uses parallel TCP connections in storage services within the protocol. Using the proposed interface in our method, current medical imaging applications... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4835722 Thu, 12 May 2011 18:56:47 +0100 4835722 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4816528&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F6k24750p6n84613q%2F Abstract  Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of global mortality, yet its early detection remains a vexing problem of modern medicine. Although the computed tomography (CT) calcium score predicts cardiovascular risk, relatively high cost ($250–400) and radiation dose (1–3 mSv) limit its universal utility as a screening tool. Dual-energy digital subtraction radiography (DE; <$60, 0.07 mSv) enables detection of calcified structures with high sensitivity. In this pilot study, we examined DE radiography’s ability to quantify coronary artery calcification (CAC). We identified 25 patients who underwent non-contrast CT and DE chest imaging performed within 12 months using documented CAC as the major inclusion criteria. A DE calcium score was develo... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4816528 Tue, 10 May 2011 05:56:39 +0100 4816528 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4808695&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ff1r2374h33640g8k%2F Abstract  The contribution of computer-aided detection (CAD) systems as an interpretive aid in screening mammography can be hampered by a high rate of false positive detections. Specificity, false positive rate, and ease of dismissing false positive marks from two CAD systems are retrospectively evaluated. One hundred screening mammographic studies with a BI-RADS assessment code of 1 or 2 and at least 2-year normal mammographic follow-up were retrospectively reviewed using two CAD systems. Breast density, CAD marks, and radiologist's ease of dismissing false positive marks were recorded. Specificities from the two CAD versions considering all marks were 23% and 15% (p value = 0.07); mass marks, 35% and 17% (p value < 0.01); and calcification marks 62% and 75% (p v... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4808695 Fri, 06 May 2011 05:50:34 +0100 4808695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4808696&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fe10652235773l374%2F This report highlights the dose variation in common computed radiography (CR) examinations throughout a large health region. The RadChex cassette was used to measure the radiation exposure at the table or wall bucky in 20 CR rooms, in seven hospitals, using CR technology from two vendors. Exposures were made to simulate patient exposure (21 cm polymethyl methacrylate) under standard conditions for each bucky: 81 kVp at 100 cm for anteroposterior abdomen table bucky exposures (180 cm for posteroanterior chest wall bucky exposures), using the left, the right, or the center automatic exposure control (AEC) cells. Protocol settings were recorded. An average of 37% variation was found between AEC chambers, with a range between 4% and 137%. A 60% difference in dose was ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4808696 Fri, 06 May 2011 05:50:33 +0100 4808696 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4808697&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F5578x4611255874t%2F Abstract  We have developed a method to quantify the shape of liver lesions in CT images and to evaluate its performance for retrieval of images with similarly-shaped lesions. We employed a machine learning method to combine several shape descriptors and defined similarity measures for a pair of shapes as a weighted combination of distances calculated based on each feature. We created a dataset of 144 simulated shapes and established several reference standards for similarity and computed the optimal weights so that the retrieval result agrees best with the reference standard. Then we evaluated our method on a clinical database consisting of 79 portal-venous-phase CT liver images, where we derived a reference standard of similarity from radiologists’ visual evaluation. No... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4808697 Fri, 06 May 2011 05:50:32 +0100 4808697 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4750368&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fh374q0567771770r%2F In this study, we explore a mathematical model to characterize the clustered microcalcifications on mammograms for predicting the pathological classification and grading. Our database consists of both retrospective cases (78 cases) and prospective cases (31 cases) with pathologically diagnosed clusters of microcalcifications on mammograms. The microcalcifications were divided into four grades: grade 0, benign breast disease including mastopathies (n = 12) and fibroadenomas (n = 20); grade 1, well-differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma (n = 12); grade 2, moderately differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma (n = 38); grade 3, poorly differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma (n = 27). A feature parameter, defined as the pattern form factor of microcalcificat... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4750368 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:44:31 +0100 4750368 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4728658&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fjw764m2m08121072%2F Abstract  In this paper, we present an effective method to determine the reference point of symphysis pubis (SP) in an axial stack of CT images to facilitate image registration for pelvic cancer treatment. In order to reduce the computational time, the proposed method consists of two detection parts, the coarse detector, and the fine detector. The detectors check each image patch whether it contains the characteristic structure of SP. The coarse detector roughly determines the location of the reference point of SP using three types of information, which are the location and intensity of an image patch, the SP appearance, and the geometrical structure of SP. The fine detector examines around the location found by the coarse detection to refine the location of the reference p... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4728658 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:48:28 +0100 4728658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4728659&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fr4m41447tw523073%2F Abstract  Imaging signs form an important part of the language of radiology, but are not represented in established lexicons. We sought to incorporate imaging signs into RSNA's RadLex® ontology of radiology terms. Names of imaging signs and their definitions were culled from books, journal articles, dictionaries, and biomedical web sites. Imaging signs were added into RadLex as subclasses of the term “imaging sign,” which was defined in RadLex as a subclass of “imaging observation.” A total of 743 unique imaging signs were added to RadLex with their 392 synonyms to yield a total of 1,135 new terms. All included definitions and related RadLex terms, including imaging modality, anatomy, and disorder, when appropriate. The information will allow RadLex users to identi... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4728659 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:48:27 +0100 4728659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4728660&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fc628635264r3777v%2F Abstract  This paper presents a fast and efficient method for classifying X-ray images using random forests with proposed local wavelet-based local binary pattern (LBP) to improve image classification performance and reduce training and testing time. Most studies on local binary patterns and its modifications, including centre symmetric LBP (CS-LBP), focus on using image pixels as descriptors. To classify X-ray images, we first extract local wavelet-based CS-LBP (WCS-LBP) descriptors from local parts of the images to describe the wavelet-based texture characteristic. Then we apply the extracted feature vector to decision trees to construct random forests, which are an ensemble of random decision trees. Using the random forests with local WCS-LBP, we classified one test imag... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4728660 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:24:21 +0100 4728660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4706572&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fvl5jv424n2765107%2F Abstract  The use and benefits of a multimodality approach in the context of breast cancer imaging are discussed. Fusion techniques that allow multiple images to be viewed simultaneously are discussed. Many of these fusion techniques rely on the use of color tables. A genetic algorithm that generates color tables that have desired properties such as satisfying the order principle, the rows, and columns principle, have perceivable uniformity and have maximum contrast is introduced. The generated 2D color tables can be used for displaying fused datasets. The advantage the proposed method has over other techniques is the ability to consider a much larger set of possible color tables, ensuring that the best one is found. We asked radiologists to perform a set of tasks reading f... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4706572 Sat, 09 Apr 2011 05:54:05 +0100 4706572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4689329&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fy15v8q028568t35n%2F Abstract  Commoditization pressures in medicine have risked transforming service provider selection from “survival of the fittest” to “survival of the cheapest.” Quality- and safety-oriented mandates by the Institute of Medicine have led to the creation of a number of data-driven quality-centric initiatives including Pay for Performance and Evidence-Based Medicine. A synergistic approach to creating quantitative accountability in medical service delivery is through the creation of consumer-oriented performance metrics which provide patients with objective data related to individual service provider quality, safety, cost-efficacy, efficiency, and customer service. These performance metrics could in turn be customized to the individual preferences and health care need... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4689329 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:46:15 +0100 4689329 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4689330&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F4807855676616511%2F In conclusion, lossy compressed images with appropriate compression level may be used for FD calculation. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-6DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9383-0Authors B. Güniz Baksi, School of Dentistry, Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Ege University, Izmir, TurkeyAleš Fidler, Department of Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Hrvatski trg 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4689330 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:01:13 +0100 4689330 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4689331&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ftq55811664675501%2F Abstract  The purpose of this study was to measure users’ perceived benefits of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) upgrade, and compare their responses to those predicted by developers. The Task–Technology Fit (TTF) model served as the theoretical framework to study the relation between TTF, utilization, and perceived benefits. A self-administered survey was distributed to radiologists working in a university hospital undergoing a PACS upgrade. Four variables were measured: impact, utilization, TTF, and perceived net benefits. The radiologists were divided into subgroups according to their utilization profiles. Analysis of variance was performed and the hypotheses were tested with regression analysis. Interviews were conducted with developers involved i... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4689331 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:01:12 +0100 4689331 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4679001&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ff21564lpp38g4176%2F Abstract  Image processing turns out to be essential in the planning and verification of radiotherapy treatments. Before applying a radiotherapy treatment, a dosimetry planning must be performed. Usually, the planning is done by means of an X-ray volumetric analysis using computerized tomography, where the area to be radiated is marked out. During the treatment phase, it is necessary to place the patient under the particle accelerator exactly as considered in the dosimetry stage. Coarse alignment is achieved using fiduciary markers placed over the patient’s skin as external references. Later, fine alignment is provided by comparing a digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR) from the planning stage and a portal image captured by the accelerator in the treatment stage. The... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4679001 Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:47:52 +0100 4679001 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4667042&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fh060t63341368006%2F Abstract  Previous studies suggests that cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT) images could provide reliable information regarding the fate of bone grafts in the maxillofacial region, but no systematic information regarding the standardization of CBCT settings and properties is available, i.e., there is a lack of information on how the images were generated, exported, and analyzed when bone grafts were evaluated. The aim of this study was to (1) do a systematic review on which type of CBCT-based DICOM images have been used for the evaluation of the fate of bone grafts in humans and (2) use a software suggested in the literature to test DICOM-based data sets, exemplifying the effect of variation in selected parameters (windowing/contrast control, plane definition, slice t... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4667042 Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:57:17 +0100 4667042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4628745&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F6541g7569mu42840%2F Abstract  The evaluation of the carotid artery wall is essential for the diagnosis of cardiovascular pathologies or for the assessment of a patient’s cardiovascular risk. This paper presents a completely user-independent algorithm, which automatically extracts the far double line (lumen–intima and media–adventitia) in the carotid artery using an Edge Flow technique based on directional probability maps using the attributes of intensity and texture. Specifically, the algorithm traces the boundaries between the lumen and intima layer (line one) and between the media and adventitia layer (line two). The Carotid Automated Ultrasound Double Line Extraction System based on Edge-Flow (CAUDLES-EF) is characterized and validated by comparing the output of the algorithm with th... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4628745 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:00:58 +0100 4628745 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4618694&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm00586441475r2lt%2F Abstract  Browser with Rich Internet Application (RIA) Web pages could be a powerful user interface for handling sophisticated data and applications. Then the RIA solutions would be a potential method for viewing and manipulating the most data generated in clinical processes, which can accomplish the main functionalities as general picture archiving and communication system (PACS) viewing systems. The aim of this study is to apply the RIA technology to present medical images. Both Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and non-DICOM data can be handled by our RIA solutions. Some clinical data that are especially difficult to present using PACS viewing systems, such as ECG waveform, pathology virtual slide microscopic image, and radiotherapy plan, are as well... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4618694 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 06:36:42 +0100 4618694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4576273&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fh14038417730318r%2F Abstract  Aortoiliac and lower extremity arterial atherosclerotic plaque burden is a risk factor for the development of visceral and peripheral ischemic and aneurismal vascular disease. While prior research allows automated quantification of calcified plaque in these body regions using CT angiograms, no automated method exists to quantify soft plaque. We developed an automatic algorithm that defines the outer wall contour and wall thickness of vessels to quantify non-calcified plaque in CT angiograms of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, and lower extremities. The algorithm encodes the search space as a constrained graph and calculates the outer wall contour by deriving a minimum cost path through the graph, following the visible outer wall contour while minimizing path tortuosity... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4576273 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:55:26 +0100 4576273 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4563055&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F652q6n450x26186r%2F Abstract  Post-processing of volumetric data sets lands in a fuzzy boundary between the technologist and the radiologist. Is this the role of the technologist as part of image preparation? Or is it the beginning of the diagnostic process by the radiologist? Technology advances in real-time server side rendering platforms is challenging the traditional role of expensive dedicated advanced visualizations workstations with dedicated personnel. Will this also challenge the role of a dedicated 3D post-processing technologist? Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-4DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9370-5Authors Reuben Mezrich, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USAKrishna Juluru, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY USAPaul Nagy, University of Maryland Schoo... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4563055 Sat, 05 Mar 2011 07:03:24 +0100 4563055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4563056&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F056312kv86582t49%2F Abstract  This paper reports the outcomes of a study on an integrated situational alignment framework for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) labeled as PISA. Following the design research cycle, complementary validation methods and pilot cases were used to assess the proposed framework and its operationalized survey. In this paper, the authors outline (a) the process of the framework’ development, (b) the validation process with its underlying iterative steps, (c) the outcomes of pilot cases, and (d) improvement opportunities to refine and further validate the PISA framework. Results of this study support empirical application of the framework to hospital enterprises in order to gain insights into their PACS maturity and alignment. We argue that the framew... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4563056 Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:47:53 +0100 4563056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4546775&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fu079142q3g256645%2F Abstract  This paper presents a novel method which reconstructs any desired 3D image resolution from raw cone-beam CT data. X-ray attenuation through the object is approximated using ridgelet basis functions which allow us to have multiresolution representation levels. Since the Radon data have preferential orientations by nature, a spherical wavelet transform is used to compute the ridgelet coefficients from the Radon shell data. The whole method uses the classical Grangeat’s relation for computing derivatives of the Radon data which are then integrated and projected to a spherical wavelet representation and back-reconstructed using a modified version of the well known back-projection algorithm. Unlike previous reconstruction methods, this proposal uses a multiscale repr... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4546775 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:08:31 +0100 4546775 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4546774&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F477641862r256131%2F Abstract  Online social networking is an immature, but rapidly evolving industry of web-based technologies that allow individuals to develop online relationships. News stories populate the headlines about various websites which can facilitate patient and doctor interaction. There remain questions about protecting patient confidentiality and defining etiquette in order to preserve the doctor/patient relationship and protect physicians. How much social networking-based communication or other forms of E-communication is effective? What are the potential benefits and pitfalls of this form of communication? Physicians are exploring how social networking might provide a forum for interacting with their patients, and advance collaborative patient care. Several organizations and in... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4546774 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:08:31 +0100 4546774 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4537951&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fg421110r87w45775%2F Abstract  Boundary extraction of carpal bone images is a critical operation of the automatic bone age assessment system, since the contrast between the bony structure and soft tissue are very poor. In this paper, we present an edge following technique for boundary extraction in carpal bone images and apply it to assess bone age in young children. Our proposed technique can detect the boundaries of carpal bones in X-ray images by using the information from the vector image model and the edge map. Feature analysis of the carpal bones can reveal the important information for bone age assessment. Five features for bone age assessment are calculated from the boundary extraction result of each carpal bone. All features are taken as input into the support vector regression (SVR) t... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4537951 Thu, 24 Feb 2011 08:03:02 +0100 4537951 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4499219&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fp661155m42544042%2F Abstract  Lesion segmentation, which is a critical step in computer-aided diagnosis system, is a challenging task as lesion boundaries are usually obscured, irregular, and low contrast. In this paper, an accurate and robust algorithm for the automatic segmentation of breast lesions in mammograms is proposed. The traditional watershed transformation is applied to the smoothed (by the morphological reconstruction) morphological gradient image to obtain the lesion boundary in the belt between the internal and external markers. To automatically determine the internal and external markers, the rough region of the lesion is identified by a template matching and a thresholding method. Then, the internal marker is determined by performing a distance transform and the external marker... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4499219 Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:02:19 +0100 4499219 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4486199&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fq742j5v432536045%2F Abstract  We propose the use of a context-sensitive support vector machine (csSVM) to enhance the performance of a conventional support vector machine (SVM) for identifying diffuse interstitial lung disease (DILD) in high-resolution computerized tomography (HRCT) images. Nine hundred rectangular regions of interest (ROIs), each 20 × 20 pixels in size and consisting of 150 ROIs representing six regional disease patterns (normal, ground-glass opacity, reticular opacity, honeycombing, emphysema, and consolidation), were marked by two experienced radiologists using consensus HRCT images of various DILD. Twenty-one textual and shape features were evaluated to characterize the ROIs. The csSVM classified an ROI by simultaneously using the decision value of each class and info... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4486199 Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:45:13 +0100 4486199 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4457132&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm0u67t0h67835k22%2F Abstract  The current array of PACS products and 3D visualization tools presents a wide range of options for applying advanced visualization methods in clinical radiology. The emergence of server-based rendering techniques creates new opportunities for raising the level of clinical image review. However, best-of-breed implementations of core PACS technology, volumetric image navigation, and application-specific 3D packages will, in general, be supplied by different vendors. Integration issues should be carefully considered before deploying such systems. This work presents a classification scheme describing five tiers of PACS modularity and integration with advanced visualization tools, with the goals of characterizing current options for such integration, providing an appro... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4457132 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:14:06 +0100 4457132 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4440150&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fe343733r08667151%2F Abstract  The purpose of this article is to describe a system we developed for importing images on compact discs (CDs) from external imaging departments into our clinical image viewing system, and to report on key metrics regarding veracity of information seen on the CDs. We recommend careful attention to the process of CD importation because of the error rate we have seen. We developed a system and process for importing images on CD into our EMR. The importation system scans the CD for digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images, and collects all patient information seen. That information is presented to the patient for verification. Once validated, the image data is copied into our clinical viewing system. The importation system includes facilities for c... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4440150 Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:28:48 +0100 4440150 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4426344&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fe13r6353k5r23505%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-2DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9363-4Authors Bruce I. Reiner, Department of Radiology, Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare System, 10 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4426344 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:54:00 +0100 4426344 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4426343&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ff04p826526m66337%2F We present the design decisions undertaken during the design of the software, the libraries used in the implementation, and other implementation details as well as preliminary results from the software package. Our implementation uses the Visualization Toolkit library to do most of the work, with a Qt graphical user interface for the front end. Challenges encountered include reslicing DICOM image data and coregistration of image space and mesh space. The resulting software provides a simple and customized platform to display surface and volume meshes with optical parameters such as hemoglobin concentration, overlay them on magnetic resonance images, allow the user to interactively change transparency of different image sets, rotate geometries, clip through the resulting datasets, obt... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4426343 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:54:00 +0100 4426343 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4426345&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fw2uj55tk52k25521%2F Abstract  Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a common accepted standard estimation of renal function. Gamma camera-based methods for estimating renal uptake of 99mTc-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) without blood or urine sampling have been widely used. Of these, the method introduced by Gates has been the most common method. Currently, most of gamma cameras are equipped with a commercial program for GFR determination, a semi-quantitative analysis by manually drawing region of interest (ROI) over each kidney. Then, the GFR value can be computed from the scintigraphic determination of 99mTc-DTPA uptake within the kidney automatically. Delineating the kidney area is difficult when applying a fixed threshold value. Moreover, hand-drawn ROIs are tedious, time consuming... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4426345 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:53:59 +0100 4426345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4402533&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fe0368mm43877wx51%2F Abstract  Radiology residency and fellowship training provides a unique opportunity to evaluate trainee performance and determine the impact of various educational interventions. We have developed a simple software application (Orion) using open-source tools to facilitate the identification and monitoring of resident and fellow discrepancies in on-call preliminary reports. Over a 6-month period, 19,200 on-call studies were interpreted by 20 radiology residents, and 13,953 on-call studies were interpreted by 25 board-certified radiology fellows representing eight subspecialties. Using standard review macros during faculty interpretation, each of these reports was classified as “agreement”, “minor discrepancy”, and “major discrepancy” based on the potential to imp... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4402533 Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:08:18 +0100 4402533 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4402534&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fwq72741v340650h8%2F Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-1DOI 10.1007/s10278-011-9359-0Authors Kenneth C. Wang, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 North Caroline Street, Room 5165, Baltimore, MD 21287, USAAnthony Jeanmenne, Department of Radiology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL USAGriffin M. Weber, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USAShrey K. Thawait, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 North Caroline Street, Room 5165, Baltimore, MD 21287, USAJohn A. Carrino, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 601 North Caroline Street, Room 5165, Ba... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4402534 Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:30:47 +0100 4402534 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4320121&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fb201v3753043g068%2F Abstract  The attractions of virtual computing are many: reduced costs, reduced resources and simplified maintenance. Any one of these would be compelling for a medical imaging professional attempting to support a complex practice on limited resources in an era of ever tightened reimbursement. In particular, the ability to run multiple operating systems optimized for different tasks (computational image processing on Linux versus office tasks on Microsoft operating systems) on a single physical machine is compelling. However, there are also potential drawbacks. High performance requirements need to be carefully considered if they are to be executed in an environment where the running software has to execute through multiple layers of device drivers before reaching the real ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4320121 Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:45:24 +0100 4320121 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4288099&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fr821026w9865065v%2F The objective of this work is to develop and implement a medical decision-making system for an automated diagnosis and classification of ultrasound carotid artery images. The proposed method categorizes the subjects into normal, cerebrovascular, and cardiovascular diseases. Two contours are extracted for each and every preprocessed ultrasound carotid artery image. Two types of contour extraction techniques and multilayer back propagation network (MBPN) system have been developed for classifying carotid artery categories. The results obtained show that MBPN system provides higher classification efficiency, with minimum training and testing time. The outputs of decision support system are validated with medical expert to measure the actual efficiency. MBPN system with contour extractio... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4288099 Thu, 23 Dec 2010 06:52:48 +0100 4288099 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4269639&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fkk2234020r786796%2F Abstract  It is difficult for radiologists to classify pneumoconiosis with small nodules on chest radiographs. Therefore, we have developed a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system based on the rule-based plus artificial neural network (ANN) method for distinction between normal and abnormal regions of interest (ROIs) selected from chest radiographs with and without pneumoconiosis. The image database consists of 11 normal and 12 abnormal chest radiographs. These abnormal cases included five silicoses, four asbestoses, and three other pneumoconioses. ROIs (matrix size, 32 × 32) were selected from normal and abnormal lungs. We obtained power spectra (PS) by Fourier transform for the frequency analysis. A rule-based method using PS values at 0.179 and 0.357 cycles per mill... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4269639 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:40:07 +0100 4269639 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4250410&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ferj80832827w4038%2F We report a successful radiology communication system based on the principles of flexibility and inclusiveness of users inside and outside the radiology department. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-7DOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9351-0Authors Alexander Valentine Rybkin, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, 1001 Potrero Ave Rm 1x57, San Francisco, CA 94110, USAMark Wilson, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, 1001 Potrero Ave Rm 1x57, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4250410 Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:50:20 +0100 4250410 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4227559&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fv6633832812t9jw6%2F Abstract  The study aimed to assess the accuracy and reproducibility of occlusal caries depth measurements obtained from different imaging modalities. The study comprised 21 human mandibular molar teeth with occlusal caries. Teeth were imaged using film, CCD, two different cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT) units and a microcomputer tomography (micro-CT). Thereafter, each tooth was serially sectioned, and the section with the deepest carious lesion was scanned using a high-resolution scanner. Each image set was separately viewed by three oral radiologists. Images were viewed randomly, and each set was viewed twice. Lesion depth was measured on film images using a digital caliper, on CCD and CBCT images using built-in measurement tools, on micro-CT images using the Mim... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4227559 Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:01:46 +0100 4227559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4194432&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fjl08606t558l2725%2F Abstract  A novel medical image quality index using grey relational coefficient calculation is proposed in this study. Three medical modalities, DR, CT and MRI, using 30 or 60 images with a total of 120 images used for experimentation. These images were first compressed at ten different compression ratios (10 ∼ 100) using a medical image compression algorithm named JJ2000. Following that, the quality of the reconstructed images was evaluated using the grey relational coefficient calculation. The results were shown consistent with popular objective quality metrics. The impact of different image aspects on four grey relational coefficient methods were further tested. The results showed that these grey relational coefficients have different slopes but very high consisten... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4194432 Sat, 20 Nov 2010 06:56:20 +0100 4194432 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4187874&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fjjw70n2t2806n212%2F Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9354-xAuthors Karl Daggfeldt, Biomechanics and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4187874 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:53:55 +0100 4187874 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4187875&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fu35wt7n26k226135%2F Abstract  Image registration is a necessary procedure in everyday clinical practice. Several techniques for rigid and non-rigid registration have been developed and tested and the state-of-the-art is evolving from the research setting to incorporate image registration techniques into clinically useful tools. In this paper, we develop a novel rigid medical image registration technique which incorporates binary projections. This technique is tested and compared to the standard mutual information (MI) methods. Results show that the method is significantly more accurate and robust compared to MI methods. The accuracy is well below 0.5° and 0.5 mm. This method introduces two more improvements over MI methods: (1)for 2D registration with the use of 1D binary projections, we... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4187875 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:56:35 +0100 4187875 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4137207&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fg301408320uj5854%2F Abstract  This work presents the methodology to design a small imaging unit in a small regional hospital that takes into account the real imaging needs in the region regardless of current administrative guidelines. The situation of the imaging facilities in Mexico’s states is studied and compared with other countries, and a project plan is designed for the specific state (Guerrero) where the clinic is to be located. The proposal includes the acquisition of a basic suite of modalities that include an ultrasound system, a mammography unit, and a conventional X-ray system in addition to a CT system that is not available anywhere within the state. The system should be primarily digital and should incorporate a simple picture archiving and communications system that can be the... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4137207 Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:58:00 +0100 4137207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4137206&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fq1ph473337656352%2F Abstract  Recent healthcare policies have influenced the manner in which patient data is handled in research projects, and the regulations concerning protected health information have become significantly tighter. Thus, new procedures are needed to facilitate research while protecting the confidentiality of patient data and ensuring the integrity of clinical work in the expanding environment of electronic files and databases. We have addressed this problem in a university hospital setting by developing the Tampere Research Archival System (TARAS), an extensive data warehouse for research purposes. This dynamic system includes numerous integrated and pseudonymized imaging studies and clinical data. In a pilot study on asthma patients, we tested and improved the functionality... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4137206 Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:58:00 +0100 4137206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129651&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Ff741vgp4p7466477%2F Abstract  Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) have been widely deployed in healthcare institutions, and they now constitute a normal commodity for practitioners. However, its installation, maintenance, and utilization are still a burden due to their heavy structures, typically supported by centralized computational solutions. In this paper, we present Dicoogle, a PACS archive supported by a document-based indexing system and by peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols. Replacing the traditional database storage (RDBMS) by a documental organization permits gathering and indexing data from file-based repositories, which allows searching the archive through free text queries. As a direct result of this strategy, more information can be extracted from medical imaging reposit... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129651 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:45:48 +0100 4129651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113654&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F34151734l6101814%2F Abstract  Our practice has long been concerned with the effects of display quality, including color accuracy and matching among paired color displays. Three years of data have been collected on the historical behavior of color stability on our clinical displays. This has permitted an analysis of the color-aging behavior of those displays over that time. The results of that analysis show that all displays tend to yellow over time, but that they do so together. That is, neither the intra- nor inter-display color variances observed at initial deployment diverge over time as measured by a mean radial distance metric in color space (Commission Internationale d’Eclairage L’, u’, v’ 1976). The consequence of this result is that color displays that are matched at deployment... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113654 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:49:12 +0100 4113654 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113653&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fk50m90qh0767060r%2F Abstract  Numerous articles have offered instructions for working with advanced radiology images in Microsoft PowerPoint (Redmond, WA); however, no articles have detailed instructions to do the same on alternative presentation software. Apple Macintosh (Cupertino, CA) computers are gaining popularity with many radiologists, due in part to the availability of a powerful, free, open-source Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) viewing and manipulating software OsiriX (http://www.osirix-viewer.com). Apple’s own presentation software, Keynote, is particularly effective in dealing with medical images and cine clips. This article demonstrates how to use Apple’s Keynote software to present radiology images and scrollable image stacks, without third-party add-on... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113653 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:49:12 +0100 4113653 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113655&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fa1515274t702629p%2F Abstract  The purpose of this study was the prospective comparison of objective and subjective effects of target volume region of interest (ROI) delineation using mouse–keyboard and pen–tablet user input devices (UIDs). The study was designed as a prospective test/retest sequence, with Wilcoxon signed rank test for matched-pair comparison. Twenty-one physician-observers contoured target volume ROIs on four standardized cases (representative of brain, prostate, lung, and head and neck malignancies) twice: once using QWERTY keyboard/scroll-wheel mouse UID and once with pen–tablet UID (DTX2100, Wacom Technology Corporation, Vancouver, WA, USA). Active task time, ROI manipulation task data, and subjective survey data were collected. One hundred twenty-nine target volume R... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113655 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:49:09 +0100 4113655 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113656&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F237187070t5g3x55%2F Abstract  The electronic health record (EHR) is expected to improve the quality of care by enabling access to relevant information at the diagnostic decision moment. During deployment efforts for including images in the EHR, a main challenge has come up from the need to compare old images with current ones. When old images reside in a different system, they need to be imported for visualization which leads to a problem related to persistency management and information consistency. A solution consisting in avoiding image import is achievable with image streaming. In this paper we present, evaluate, and discuss two medical-specific streaming use cases: displaying a large image such as a digital mammography image and displaying a large set of relatively small images such as a ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113656 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 05:49:08 +0100 4113656 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113657&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F30241v300262q3h5%2F We report here on the experience of the Radiology Information Technology (IT) implementation at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) over the past 11 years; during this time, the weekly image accumulation rate increased from 100,000 to 2,000,000 images. During the implementation period, major difficulties were encountered, largely as a result of the inadequacies of the Radiology IT architecture widely used in the healthcare industry. The approach we chose to correct some of these difficulties has been consolidation of some of the multiple systems and applications. Three examples of systems consolidation are discussed: (1) converting a dual-tier image storage system to a single tier, (2) consolidation of Mammography reading into PACS, and (3) enabling 3D visualizati... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113657 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:49:58 +0100 4113657 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113658&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F268t0082306g771g%2F Abstract  Radiology departments around the country have completed the first evolution to digital imaging by becoming filmless. The next step in this evolution is to become truly paperless. Both patient and non-patient paperwork has to be eliminated in order for this transition to occur. A paper-based set of patient pre-scanning questionnaires were replaced with web-based forms for use in an outpatient imaging center. We discuss this process by which questionnaire elements are converted into SNOMED-CT terminology concepts, stored for future use, and sent to PACS in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format to be permanently stored with the relevant study in the DICOM image database. Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9348-8Authors Tr... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113658 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:49:56 +0100 4113658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4113659&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F94gxn0q8765451h5%2F Abstract  The purpose of this study is to ascertain the error rates of using a voice recognition (VR) dictation system. We compared our results with several other articles and discussed the pros and cons of using such a system. The study was performed at the Southern Health Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Melbourne, Victoria using the GE RIS with Powerscribe 3.5 VR system. Fifty random finalized reports from 19 radiologists obtained between June 2008 and November 2008 were scrutinized for errors in six categories namely, wrong word substitution, deletion, punctuation, other, and nonsense phrase. Reports were also divided into two categories: computer radiography (CR = plain film) and non-CR (ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4113659 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:49:55 +0100 4113659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4070953&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F7701678w55852r36%2F Abstract  One of the new challenges of Information Technology in the medical world is the protection and authentication of a variety of digital medical files, datasets, and images. In this work, the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) slice sequences to hide digital data is investigated and more specifically the case that the hidden data are the regions of interest (ROI) of the MRI slices. The regions of non-interest (RONI) are used as cover. The hiding capacity of the whole sequence is taken into account. Any ROI-targeted tampering attempt can be detected, and the original image can be self-restored (under certain conditions) by extracting the ROI from the RONI. Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9340-3Authors Vassilis Fotopoulos, Department o... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4070953 Thu, 14 Oct 2010 06:12:46 +0100 4070953 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4024677&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fy03516001483q650%2F Abstract  This paper describes the development of a patient-specific spine model through use of active contour segmentation and registration of intraoperative imaging of porcine vertebra augmented with kinematic constraints. The geometric active contours are fully automated and lead to a discrete representation of the image segmentation results. After determining errors within the segmentations, application of reliability theory allows the selection of active contour parameters to obtain best-fit segmentations from a stack of 2D images. The segmented images are then used in conjunction with C-arm fluoroscope images to simulate the result of intraoperative patient-specific model registration including patient and/or structure motion between preoperative and intraoperative sc... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4024677 Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:18:48 +0100 4024677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3996520&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fp3uh214ng4762477%2F Abstract  The purpose of this study is to assess the accuracy and reproducibility of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) measurements of a human dry skull by comparing them to direct digital caliper measurements. Heated gutta-percha was used to mark 13 specific distances on a human skull, and the distances were directly measured using a digital caliper and on CBCT images obtained with Iluma (3M Imtec, OK, USA) and 3D Accuitomo 170 (3D Accuitomo; J Morita Mfg. Corp., Kyoto, Japan) CBCT imaging systems. Iluma images were obtained at 120 kVp and 3.8 mA and reconstructed using voxel sizes of 0.2 and 0.3 mm3. Accuitomo images were obtained at 60 kVp and 2 mA and a voxel size of 0.250 mm3. In addition, 3-D reconstructions were produced from images obt... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3996520 Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:23:56 +0100 3996520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3990830&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fckt5207qw0u459n3%2F In this study, dwell time, transition frequency, dwell sequence conditional probabilities, and dwell sequence joint probabilities were analyzed across photographic poses and three observers. Dwell-time analysis showed that all three surgeons spent the majority of their time on the anterior–posterior (AP) views. Similarly, transition frequency analysis between regions showed that there were substantially more transitions between the breast regions in the AP view, relative to the number of transitions between other views. The results of both the conditional and joint probability analyses between the breast regions showed that the highest probabilities of transitions were observed between the breast regions in the AP view (APRB, APLB) followed by the oblique views and the lateral vie... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3990830 Sat, 18 Sep 2010 05:50:20 +0100 3990830 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3979097&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F602r1710286g2114%2F Abstract  Radiology images are generally disconnected from the metadata describing their contents, such as imaging observations (“semantic” metadata), which are usually described in text reports that are not directly linked to the images. We developed a system, the Biomedical Image Metadata Manager (BIMM) to (1) address the problem of managing biomedical image metadata and (2) facilitate the retrieval of similar images using semantic feature metadata. Our approach allows radiologists, researchers, and students to take advantage of the vast and growing repositories of medical image data by explicitly linking images to their associated metadata in a relational database that is globally accessible through a Web application. BIMM receives input in the form of standard-based... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3979097 Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:56:31 +0100 3979097 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3979098&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fp889312g07534661%2F Abstract  RadLex™, the Radiology Lexicon, is a controlled vocabulary of terms used in radiology. It was developed by the Radiological Society of North America in recognition of a lack of coverage of these radiology concepts by other lexicons. There are still additional concepts, particularly those related to imaging observations and imaging observation characteristics, that could be added to the lexicon. We used a free and open source software system to extract these terms from the medical literature. The system retrieved relevant articles from the PubMed repository and passed them through modules in the Apache Unstructured Information Management Architecture. Image observations and image observation characteristics were identified through a seven-step process. The system... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3979098 Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:58:42 +0100 3979098 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3963977&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F42886700450p2752%2F Abstract  A typical choice faced by Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) administrators is deciding how many PACS workstations are needed and where they should be sited. Oftentimes, the social consequences of having too few are severe enough to encourage oversupply and underutilization. This is costly, at best in terms of hardware and electricity, and at worst (depending on the PACS licensing and support model) in capital costs and maintenance fees. The PACS administrator needs tools to asses accurately the use to which her fleet is being subjected, and thus make informed choices before buying more workstations. Lacking a vended solution for this challenge, we developed our own. Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9337-yAuthors Todd L. Fren... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3963977 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:48:36 +0100 3963977 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3949230&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fw72074263r752124%2F Abstract  The U.S. National Press has brought to full public discussion concerns regarding the use of medical radiation, specifically x-ray computed tomography (CT), in diagnosis. A need exists for developing methods whereby assurance is given that all diagnostic medical radiation use is properly prescribed, and all patients’ radiation exposure is monitored. The “DICOM Index Tracker©” (DIT) transparently captures desired digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) tags from CT, nuclear imaging equipment, and other DICOM devices across an enterprise. Its initial use is recording, monitoring, and providing automatic alerts to medical professionals of excursions beyond internally determined trigger action levels of radiation. A flexible knowledge base, aware ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3949230 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:18:50 +0100 3949230 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3949231&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fm248j8657372q2v7%2F The objective of this study was to find radiologists’ perspective on the relative importance of the required features when selecting or developing a PACS. Important features for PACS were identified based on the literature and consultation/interviews with radiologists. These features were categorized and organized into a logical hierarchy consisting of the main dimensions and sub-dimensions. An online survey was conducted to obtain data from 58 radiologists about their relative preferences. Analytical hierarchy process methodology was used to determine the relative priority weights for different dimensions along with the consistency of responses. System continuity and functionality was found to be the most important dimension, followed by system performance and architecture, user ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3949231 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:18:29 +0100 3949231 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3949232&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F454246728321v332%2F We present a fast, fully automatic segmentation algorithm based on statistical model analysis and improved curve evolution for extracting the 3-D cerebral vessels from a time-of-flight (TOF) MRA dataset. Cerebral vessels and other tissue (brain tissue, CSF, and bone) in TOF MRA dataset are modeled by Gaussian distribution and combination of Rayleigh with several Gaussian distributions separately. The region distribution combined with gradient information is used in edge-strength of curve evolution as one novel mode. This edge-strength function is able to determine the boundary of thin vessels with low contrast around brain tissue accurately and robustly. Moreover, a fast level set method is developed to implement the curve evolution to assure high efficiency of the cerebrovascular se... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3949232 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:18:23 +0100 3949232 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3949233&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F412t5113086u2676%2F Abstract  The effect of heart rate and variation during cardiac computed tomography (CT) on the examination quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to predict heart rate and range during enhanced cardiac computed CT scan from previous non-enhanced cardiac CT scan. Electrocardiograph (ECG) files from 112 patients on three types of cardiac 64-slice CT (non-enhanced, prospective ECG-triggered and retrospective ECG-gated enhanced scans) were recorded. The mean heart rate, range (defined as difference between maximal and minimal heart rates) and the range ratio (defined as maximal heart rate divided by minimal heart rate) during the scans were compared. Scan time was 4.8, 4.6, and 7.3 s on non-enhanced, prospective ECG-triggered and retro... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3949233 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:18:22 +0100 3949233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3949234&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F423451w1v42522l7%2F Abstract  The aim of this study was to design a tele-radiology imaging system for rapid emergency care via mobile networks and to assess the diagnostic feasibility of the Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000 (JPEG2000) radiological imaging using portable devices. Rapid patient information and image exchange is helpful to make clinical decisions. We assessed the usefulness of the mobile tele-radiology system by measuring both a quantitative method, PNSR calculation, for image qualities, and its transmission time via mobile networks in different mobile networks, respectively; code division multiple access evolution-data optimized, wireless broadband, and high-speed downlink packet access; and the feasibility of the JPEG2000 computed tomography (CT) images by qualitatively as... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3949234 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:18:21 +0100 3949234 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3912577&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F46x80311p5146j3l%2F Abstract  Many radiology information systems (RIS) cannot accept a final report from a dictation reporting system before the exam has been completed in the RIS by a technologist. A radiologist can still render a report in a reporting system once images are available, but the RIS and ancillary systems may not get the results because of the study’s uncompleted status. This delay in completing the study caused an alarming number of delayed reports and was undetected by conventional RIS reporting techniques. We developed a Web-based reporting tool to monitor uncompleted exams and automatically page section supervisors when a report was being delayed by its incomplete status in the RIS. Institutional Review Board exemption was obtained. At four imaging centers, a Python script... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3912577 Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:18:11 +0100 3912577 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3905855&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F4v546655484422wg%2F Abstract  Cloud computing has gathered significant attention from information technology (IT) vendors in providing massively scalable applications as well as highly managed remote services. What is cloud computing and how will it impact the medical IT market? Will the next generation of picture archiving and communication systems be leveraging cloud technology? Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9331-4Authors James Philbin, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD USAFred Prior, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO USAPaul Nagy, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3905855 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:01:29 +0100 3905855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3898002&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fn4m2n33m2368n022%2F Abstract  In order to aid radiologists’ routine work for interpreting bone scan images, we developed a computerized method for temporal subtraction (TS) images which can highlight interval changes between successive whole-body bone scans, and we performed a prospective clinical study for evaluating the clinical utility of the TS images. We developed a TS image server which includes an automated image-retrieval system, an automated image-conversion system, an automated TS image-producing system, a computer interface for displaying and evaluating TS images with five subjective scales, and an automated data-archiving system. In this study, the radiologist could revise his/her report after reviewing the TS images if the findings on the TS image were confirmed retrospectively ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3898002 Sat, 21 Aug 2010 05:46:50 +0100 3898002 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3890014&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fl618081822t5gj72%2F Abstract  Sacroiliac (SI) joint dislocations and sacral fractures of the pelvis can be stabilized by SI screws; however, screw insertion into a sacral isthmus region is risky for the adjacent neurovascular structures. Therefore, shape analyses of general SI screw corridors or safety zones are of great surgical interest; however, before such analyses can be conducted, a method for computing 3D models of general SI corridors from routine clinical computed tomography (CT) scans has to be developed. This work describes a method for determining general corridors in pelvic CT data for accurate screw placement into the first sacral body. The method is implemented with the computer language C++. The pelvic CT data are preprocessed before the presented algorithm computes a model of ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3890014 Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:47:27 +0100 3890014 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3883788&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fx7024t6378j61783%2F We describe the implementation of a QA application that is completely integrated with the radiology dictation system. We implemented an IR QA process as a module within the electronic medical record and radiologist dictation system applications used at our institution. After a radiologist completes a dictation, he or she must select from a drop-down list of complications before proceeding to the next case. Delayed QA events can be entered using the same applications. All complication entries are sent to a database, which is queried to run reports. During the study period, all the 20,034 interventional procedures were entered in the QA database, 1,144 complications were reported, 110 (9.6%) of which were classified as major. Although majority of the complications (996) were entered at... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3883788 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 06:46:27 +0100 3883788 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3879137&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fw675523x8238h125%2F Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9324-3Authors John Kornak, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107, USAKarl Young, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease, 4150 Clement Street (114M), San Francisco, CA 94121, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3879137 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:53:10 +0100 3879137 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3879138&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fmt6x1k4130053552%2F Abstract  With the increasing availability of high-resolution isotropic three- or four-dimensional medical datasets from sources such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and ultrasound, volumetric image visualization techniques have increased in importance. Over the past two decades, a number of new algorithms and improvements have been developed for practical clinical image display. More recently, further efficiencies have been attained by designing and implementing volume-rendering algorithms on graphics processing units (GPUs). In this paper, we review volumetric image visualization pipelines, algorithms, and medical applications. We also illustrate our algorithm implementation and evaluation results, and address the advantages and drawbacks of each algor... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3879138 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:53:09 +0100 3879138 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3879139&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F54816m945078263v%2F Abstract  As part of an NIH-funded study of malaria pathogenesis, a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging research facility was established in Blantyre, Malaŵi to enhance the clinical characterization of pediatric patients with cerebral malaria through application of neurological MR methods. The research program requires daily transmission of MR studies to Michigan State University (MSU) for clinical research interpretation and quantitative post-processing. An intercontinental satellite-based network was implemented for transmission of MR image data in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format, research data collection, project communications, and remote systems administration. Satellite Internet service costs limited the bandwidth to symmetrical 384 kbit/s. ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3879139 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:53:07 +0100 3879139 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3866378&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F464j635562unl548%2F Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9325-2Authors Janice Honeyman-Buck, 508 Bramble Fern Ave, De Land, FL 32720, USA Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3866378 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:05:50 +0100 3866378 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3866379&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fu221373ujn61j425%2F Abstract  This software tool locates and computes the intensity of radiation skin dose resulting from fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures. It is comprised of multiple modules. Using standardized body specific geometric values, a software module defines a set of male and female patients arbitarily positioned on a fluoroscopy table. Simulated X-ray angiographic (XA) equipment includes XRII and digital detectors with or without bi-plane configurations and left and right facing tables. Skin dose estimates are localized by computing the exposure to each 0.01 × 0.01 m2 on the surface of a patient irradiated by the X-ray beam. Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Structured Report Dose data sent to a modular dosimetry database automatically... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3866379 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:05:49 +0100 3866379 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3819394&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F1271l134pl373566%2F The objective of this study was to perform the quantitative three-dimensional analysis of the patients’ movements at the different time points during the simulated acquisition of cephalometric radiographs. Fifty-three subjects (32 men, 21 women) were divided into four groups according to their age (Group 1: 9–12, Group 2: 13–19, Group 3: 20–25, and Group 4: 26–30 years old). The experiment (Exp) consisted in providing the subjects with three different kinds of verbal instructions as follows; Exp 1: they were simply instructed not to move, Exp 2: detailed instructions were provided, and Exp 3: they were specifically instructed to clench their molars. The amount of their movement during the 20 s of the cephalomatric X-ray exposure was measured using an optical marke... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3819394 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:52:25 +0100 3819394 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3819395&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fg87rl5974v872816%2F We describe a web-based decision support system for discriminating benign from malignant VCFs as a prototype for a more general diagnostic decision support framework for radiologists. The system has three components: a feature checklist with an image gallery derived from proven reference cases, a prediction model, and a reporting mechanism. The website allows users to input the findings for a case to be interpreted using a structured feature checklist. The image gallery complements the checklist, for clarity and training purposes. The input from the checklist is then used to calculate the likelihood of malignancy by a logistic regression prediction model. Standardized report text is generated that summarizes pertinent positive and negative findings. This computer-assisted diagnosis s... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3819395 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:52:24 +0100 3819395 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3806994&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F34t5520772662260%2F The objective of the study was to investigate the clinical effects of CT key image notes (KIN) in the interpretation of a CT image study. All experiments were approved by the ethics committee of the local district. Six experienced radiologists were equally divided into routine reporting (RR) group and KIN reporting (KIN) group. CT scans of each 100 consecutive cases before and after using KIN technique were randomly selected, and the reports were made by group RR and KIN, respectively. All the reports were again reviewed 3 months later by both groups. All the results with using or not using KIN were interpreted and reinterpreted after 3 months by six clinicians, who were experienced in picture archiving and communication system (PACS) applications and were equally divided i... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3806994 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:59:33 +0100 3806994 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3748730&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F3412030105v60573%2F Abstract  Segmentation of the left ventricle is important in the assessment of cardiac functional parameters. Manual segmentation of cardiac cine MR images for acquiring these parameters is time-consuming. Accuracy and automation are the two important criteria in improving cardiac image segmentation methods. In this paper, we present a comprehensive approach to segment the left ventricle from short axis cine cardiac MR images automatically. Our method incorporates a number of image processing and analysis techniques including thresholding, edge detection, mathematical morphology, and image filtering to build an efficient process flow. This process flow makes use of various features in cardiac MR images to achieve high accurate segmentation results. Our method was tested on ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3748730 Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:03:51 +0100 3748730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3708939&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F45521t6321780tl0%2F Abstract  Most deformation algorithms use a single-value smoother during optimization. We investigate multi-scale regularizations (smoothers) during the multi-resolution iteration of two non-parametric deformable registrations (demons and diffeomorphic algorithms) and compare them to a conventional single-value smoother. Our results show that as smoothers increase, their convergence rate decreases; however, smaller smoothers also have a large negative value of the Jacobian determinant suggesting that the one-to-one mapping has been lost; i.e., image morphology is not preserved. A better one-to-one mapping of the multi-scale scheme has also been established by the residual vector field measures. In the demons method, the multi-scale smoother calculates faster than the large ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3708939 Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:07:44 +0100 3708939 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3693624&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F4u2728n86l345001%2F Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9308-3Authors Geoff Norman, McMaster University Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Hamilton CanadaPeter Bak, McMaster University Department of Radiology McMaster Innovation Park, 175 Longwood Rd South, Suite 101 Hamilton ON L8P 0A1 CanadaAndre Matos, McMaster University Department of Radiology McMaster Innovation Park, 175 Longwood Rd South, Suite 101 Hamilton ON L8P 0A1 CanadaDavid A. Koff, McMaster University Department of Radiology McMaster Innovation Park, 175 Longwood Rd South, Suite 101 Hamilton ON L8P 0A1 Canada Journal Journal of Digital ImagingOnline ISSN 1618-727XPrint ISSN 0897-1889 (Source: Journal of Digital Imaging) Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3693624 Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:21:57 +0100 3693624 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3693625&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2F506t62q72u875v27%2F Abstract  Medical imaging is commonly used to diagnose many emergent conditions, as well as plan treatment. Digital images can be reviewed on almost any computing platform. Modern mobile phones and handheld devices are portable computing platforms with robust software programming interfaces, powerful processors, and high-resolution displays. OsiriX mobile, a new Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine viewing program, is available for the iPhone/iPod touch platform. This raises the possibility of mobile review of diagnostic medical images to expedite diagnosis and treatment planning using a commercial off the shelf solution, facilitating communication among radiologists and referring clinicians. Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s10278-010-9312-7Authors A... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3693625 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:04:25 +0100 3693625 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3693626&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fb57m355581u55691%2F Abstract  Structured reporting offers a number of theoretical advantages, perhaps the most important of which is creation of standardized report databases. The standardized data created can in turn be used to customize data display, report content, historical data retrieval, interpretation analysis, and results communication in both a context and user-specific manner. In addition, these referenceable report databases can be used to facilitate the practice of evidence based medicine, through data-driven meta-analysis and determination of best practice guidelines. This concept will only be realized if the customized data delivery technology provides real and tangible value to end users, accentuates workflow, can be seamlessly integrated into existing information system techno... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3693626 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:04:19 +0100 3693626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3669429&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fh21715nk85n44083%2F Abstract  The use of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in conjunction with an endorectal coil is currently the clinical standard for the diagnosis of prostate cancer because of the increased sensitivity and specificity of this approach. However, imaging in this manner provides images and spectra of the prostate in the deformed state because of the insertion of the endorectal coil. Such deformation may lead to uncertainties in the localization of prostate cancer during therapy. We propose a novel 3-D elastic registration procedure that is based on the minimization of a physically motivated strain energy function that requires the identification of similar features (points, curves, or surfaces) in the source and target images. The Gauss–Seidel method was used in the numerical... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3669429 Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:16:33 +0100 3669429 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3669430&cid=s_33348_37_f&fid=33348&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springerlink.com%2Fcontent%2Fk347503558x63681%2F Abstract  Researchers in medical imaging have multiple challenges for storing, indexing, maintaining viability, and sharing their data. Addressing all these concerns requires a constellation of tools, but not all of them need to be local to the site. In particular, the data storage challenges faced by researchers can begin to require professional information technology skills. With limited human resources and funds, the medical imaging researcher may be better served with an outsourcing strategy for some management aspects. This paper outlines an approach to manage the main objectives faced by medical imaging scientists whose work includes processing and data mining on non-standard file formats, and relating those files to the their DICOM standard descendents. The capacity ... Journal of Digital Imaging journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3669430 Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:48:35 +0100 3669430