Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination

    J Digit Imaging. 2009 Aug;22(4):424-36. Epub 2008 Apr 30.

    Implementation of a semi-automated post-processing system for parametric MRI mapping of human breast cancer.

    Lee RE, Welch EB, Cobb JG, Sinha T, Gore JC, Yankeelov TE.

    Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, 1161 21st Ave. S. AA 1105 MCN, Nashville, TN 37232-2310, USA.

    Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigations of breast cancer incorporate computationally intense techniques to develop parametric maps of pathophysiological tissue characteristics. Common approaches employ, for example, quantitative measurements of T (1), the apparent diffusion coefficient, and kinetic modeling based on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI). In this paper, an integrated medical image post-processing and archive system (MIPAS) is presented. MIPAS demonstrates how image post-processing and user interface programs, written in the interactive data language (IDL) programming language with data storage provided by a Microsoft Access database, and the file system can reduce turnaround time for creating MRI parametric maps and provide additional organization for clinical trials. The results of developing the MIPAS are discussed including potential limitations of the use of IDL for the application framework and how the MIPAS design supports extension to other programming languages and imaging modalities. We also show that network storage of images and metadata has a significant (p < 0.05) increase in data retrieval time compared to collocated storage. The system shows promise for becoming both a robust research picture archival and communications system working with the standard hospital PACS and an image post-processing environment that extends to other medical image modalities.

    PMID: 18446412 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    Supplemental Content

    Click here to read Click here to read