Medical Digital Image Transmission - Essay Example

Primary-care physicians can gather medical data, including radiographs, of patients and consult with specialists through video-conferencing without the patient actually having to travel. This enables speedy therapy. Teleradiology, the sending of x-rays, CT scans, or MRIs is a store and forward system in which various hard- and software modules are procured from diverse manufacturers. The key to integrating such a diverse system is to adopt certain standards. The universally accepted standard for teleradiological applications is the American College of Radiology/National Electrical Manufacturers Association (ACR/NEMA) standard DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine).

The ACR standard covers two basic teleradiology systems - the small matrix system and the large matrix system. Small matrix systems (lower resolution) include computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, nuclear medicine and digital fluorography. According to the standard the small matrix digitalisation (acquisition) systems should produce 500 * 500 pixel * 8 bit images or better and the small matrix display systems should produce 500 * 480 * 8 bit displays or better.

Large matrix systems include digitised radiographic films and computed radiography. The digitalised standards are 2000 * 2000 * 12 bit images or better and for display systems 2000 * 2000 * 8 bit displays or better. All the above standard specifications have serious im. The key to integrating such a diverse system is to adopt certain standards. The universally accepted standard for teleradiological applications is the American College of Radiology/National Electrical Manufacturers Association (ACR/NEMA) standard DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine).

The ACR standard covers two basic teleradiology systems - the small matrix system and the large matrix system. Small matrix systems (lower resolution) include computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, nuclear medicine and digital fluorography. According to the standard the small matrix digitalisation (acquisition) systems should produce 500 * 500 pixel * 8 bit images or better and the small matrix display systems should produce 500 * 480 * 8 bit displays or better.

Large matrix systems include digitised radiographic films and computed radiography. The digitalised standards are 2000 * 2000 * 12 bit images or better and for display systems 2000 * 2000 * 8 bit displays or better.For equipment, the ACR standard requires the following:Capability for image sequence selection for transmission and displayAnnotation capabilities for the transmitting station including patient data and brief patient historyProvision for interactive windowing at the transmitting siteProvision for compression of image files for faster transmission and easy storage/access (Professor Carmelina Ruggiero, updated 2002)All the above standard specifications have serious implications that can save both costs and time and make a radiological division more efficient.

For example, this report takes the case of image sequencing. For certain applications like echocardiograms, which are normally videotaped and later reviewed by a radiologist or cardiologist, it is