Summary

Developments in telecomunication technologies have led to advanced telecommunication services which will strongly affect the clinical practice. Cooperative work on Radiology Images is probably the most intensive application area relevant to the benefits provided using the new developments. This paper presents a new platform for cooperative work on modality generated diagnostic images. The development of the platform is partially supported by the European Union (DG XIII) in the framework of the SAMMIE project (Solution Avancee pour le Marche Medical Intra-hopital Europeen, Telematics for Health project HC 1044 (HC)).

The cooperative work platform, namely, the SBF (Shared Blackboard Facility), is a software package running at low cost computers under the MS-Windows 95 environment. SBF is independent of the communication medium used for data delivery. However, ISDN is suggested due to the bandwidth requirements set by the supported telecommunication services. The minimal bandwidth required is 128Kbps in the form of two ISDN B channels, while the total performance may be improved using additional B channels. SBF is most functional in parallel with a videoconferencing service between the communicating stations. SBF allows the delivery of diagnostic data including several modality generated images, plus patient data and annotation. After this procedure, the cooperating physicians can discuss the images using voice, telepointers, and markups of Regions of Interest (ROI). In addition, a reduced set of image processing algorithms can be initiated remotely. This feature allows the creation of secondary images without additional loading of the communication links. At any step of system operation, the images displayed at the communicating stations are identical, so the SBF platform is a WYSIWIS system. The SBF platform is integrated with teleconferencing hardware (cameras, etc.) and software. The system will be extensively evaluated under real clinical conditions in four clinical sites spread over Europe.

The paper presents the SBF modules, the results of the user interface design, which is based on total quality control procedures, the available tools, and a set of key indicators depicting the system acceptance by the clinical users.

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